พฤติกรรมและคุณภาพชีวิตของชาวญี่ปุ่นที่มาพำนักระยะยาวในจังหวัดเชียงใหม่

Abstract

The objectives of the present study are to examine the factors inducing Japanese retirees to take long stay in Chiang Mai Province, to understand their consumer behavior and quality of life, and to assess their satisfaction with their stay in Chiang Mai Province. The needed information for the investigation was collected by questionnaire survey from 200 samples of Japanese retirees aged above 50 years old, identified by simple random sampling technique, who have taken a long stay in Chiang Mai Province. The samples are distinguishable into three groups namely 55 of those who had the length of stay each time in Chiang Mai for less than one year, 104 who did for 1 – 5 years, and 41 who did for more than five consecutive years. The analysis was performed upon the results of descriptive statistics and Likert’s scale rating of satisfaction. From the background information, most of the samples under study are characterized as male, 61 – 70 years old, married, with bachelor’s degree or equivalent education, previously employed in private company or business store before retirement, earning averagely 157,000 baht monthly income while employed in Japan before retirement, and now having 85,000 baht average monthly income generally from pension. Both push and pull factors were the reasons for them to choose to stay in Chiang Mai for lengthy period. The most important push factor was the high cost of living in Japan followed by their desire to begin a new life after retirement in a foreign country. Meanwhile the primary pull factor was the much lower cost of living in Chiang Mai compared to Japan followed by the favorable climate and environmental condition in Chiang Mai which is similar to the situation in Japan. On consumer behavior, the study found that most Japanese retirees chose to live in condominium in Chang Phuek, Santitham, and Talad Sompet areas, living with spouse and spending about 47,000 baht per month. On overall quality of life, the Japanese retirees felt it is good in Japan while it is modest in Chiang Mai. Specifically, the quality of life in economic aspect was considered low in Japan and decent in Chiang Mai on the basis of the proportion of expenditure in the total income. Taking into account the social and environmental surroundings as well as the physical wellness from their self-reliance ability and access to healthcare services, the Japanese retirees were of opinion that their quality of life in these three aspects was good when they were in Japan but was just average while living in Chiang Mai. In social aspect, being here, they had difficulty using language for communication. In terms of living environment, they felt that Chiang Mai still has problems regarding congested human communities, household waste and general garbage management, and inconvenient transportation system. On the account of healthcare services, they expressed their lack of trust in various healthcare services providers as well as their difficulty in getting the services. Meanwhile, the assessment on satisfaction with long stay in Chiang Mai revealed that the Japanese retirees’ satisfaction level was high with housing accommodation, moderate with public services, low with visa control and extension procedures, moderate with the community environment, high with warm local hospitality and living together with local people, and moderate with communications especially they were more satisfied with their language communication in daily life compared to what they had to deal with at various Thai government offices or agencies. By comparison across the three groups of samples concerning the push factors, those who stay for long period considered the high cost of living in Japan as the main factor while those who do for moderately long and short periods were quite indifferent between the high cost of living in Japan and the desire to begin a new life in foreign country after retirement as the driving force. With respect to pull factors, the short-duration long stay group placed greater importance than the otherwise groups on the presence of tourist attractions while those who intended to stay for a lengthy period gave greater weight than those in the other two groups on the factor of security in life and property. On consumer behavior, those Japanese retirees staying for long period preferred to live in rented detached house located outside the city more than those in the other two groups. By comparing the expenditure for living in Japan and in Chiang Mai, those who stay for lengthy period appeared able to cut down the most their monthly expenditure and thus their quality of life in economic term improved more than those in the otherwise groups.