What is Migration for Humans? Historical Transitions and Factors Influencing Mobility

Abstract

Humans have built stable systems for their social lives, although they are animals in motion. Whether people want to settle or move might depend on their characteristics, such as personality and social psychology. This chapter outlines the historical transition of mobility in Japan and Europe, including mobility away from daily life in the middle ages and mobility for pleasure in the early modern period. Then, we introduce a web-based questionnaire survey that examined human characteristics influencing life space mobility, and the relationship between mobility characteristics and their well-being. Several factors influencing either the life space mobility or the subscale of well-being were obtained from the large-scale web-based survey. Ego-resiliency is the ability to cope with and adapt to situations, and it can be said that humans were migrating from place to place because they possessed this ability. The results of this survey showed that ego-resiliency affects both mobility and well-being, and the essentiality of this ability was reaffirmed. “Diversion,” in which people try to get away from their daily routines, was a key factor influencing both mobility and well-being. Finally, we describe the importance of diversion based on the outline of mobility and diversion in the modern period.

1. Introduction

1.1 Movement of humans

Early humans were migrating from place to place; therefore, they can be called Homo Mobilitas. According to the “Out of Africa” theory, humans first evolved in Africa and emigrated from Africa about 70,000 years ago. Then, they moved to the European continent and Eurasia. Approximately 15,000 years ago, they moved from Eurasia to the Americas through Alaska when Alaska was contiguous with Eurasia. Finally, they moved south and spread all across the globe. Their ability to stand upright and their large brain might have enabled humans to leave their birthplace in Africa and move to new environments. They could acquire a distant perspective by standing upright and developing the ability to anticipate new things. The brain is a neural network that is a learning machine, and humans can acquire a high ability to learn through their large brains, which improves their adaptability to new environments. Humans might have desired to move to distant and novel environments to utilize the adaptability of their larger brains. In other words, their brain might have wanted them to move.

Human settlers came to Japan from Eurasia via three routes, approximately 40,000 years ago: north through Sakhalin, west via the Korean Peninsula, and later from the south to the Ryukyus. The two latter routes were across the sea, suggesting that humans had acquired the art of navigation [1]. Unlike the present, Japan was a single land mass from Hokkaido to Kyushu at the time, and humans could spread throughout Japan and settle. Approximately 12,000 years ago, the stone age changed to the era of earthenware. Japanese pottery of that period displayed rope patterns. Therefore, this period was named the Jomon (which means rope pattern) Period. People in the Jomon Period hunted mammoth, boar, and deer, among others, and gathered shellfish and nuts to eat. As the population increased, people formed villages and started to trade approximately 5000 years ago. The typical trading goods were obsidian, the material for making stone tools, accessories, and ritual goods, such as jade and amber. The origin of jade was the Itoi River, located in the middle of the Japanese Archipelago. A large-scale jade processing plant was built at a site in Sannai Maruyama in Aomori Prefecture, about 500 km on a straight line from the Itoi River. Rough Jade stones might have been conveyed to the north by the sea route. However, processed jade was distributed using land routes because of the danger posed by ocean currents [2]. Traders selling jade moved around without settling. Therefore, not all the people at that time settled, and some continued to move.

1.2 Settled and nomadic people

People continued to maintain their hunter-gatherer lifestyles for a while after settling. However, they gradually started crop and livestock farming, which developed social groups because it was inefficient to farm alone. When agriculture ensured a stable supply of food, people needed to save and protect the food from enemies outside the village, which led to the development of territories. Life environments within the territories became stable because of the reduced influence from the outside, which resulted in environments being a closed system. The brain learns and acquires the optimal cognitive-behavioral patterns for a given environment, and people can live without difficulties when they behave according to these optimal patterns, leading to an orderly and stable life. Learning was completed after the brain learned the cognitive-behavioral patterns suitable for the given environment. The group’s common optimal behavior patterns became rules for maintaining the social order, and the society can stabilize when all its members behave according to the rules.

People can live in society easily if they live according to the optimal behavioral patterns they learned. However, the brain has a learning ability and cannot demonstrate its full potential just by reproducing learned behavior patterns. In evolution, the functions unused by living things sometimes become lost due to natural selection, such as monkeys, losing their tails when they evolved into humans. Similarly, the large brain would become unnecessary if it became unnecessary to learn new things. As a result, humans had to move to new, unfamiliar environments to learn new things and maintain their brain’s capability. People become bored when they repeat fixed behavior patterns and desire to do different things. When they live following rules, they gradually feel bound by the rules and want to escape from them, that is, get away from daily life, which could result in the inner motivation of humans to move away.

Itinerant merchants have kept moving without accepting the social order and choosing a stable life, even after societies were founded. They survived and traded in unimaginably harsh environments and might have had extraordinarily high environmental adaptability and the ability to endure these harsh environments. Mountain ascetics also have left their comfortable social life and trained in the mountains. Marginal people, such as itinerant performers, bards, and psychics, have kept moving without becoming a part of society. Furthermore, mountain nomads and mountain peoples have avoided contact with permanent residents [3]. These people have sometimes been treated as criminals because they stole crops; however, they might not even have the idea of private possession.

1.3 Factors dividing settlers and nomadic people

In contemporary Japan, it is customary to permanently own a house, live in it, and earn an income by interacting with society. That is, individuals in contemporary Japan live in a closed system. However, their mobility preferences and acceptance of mobility differ depending on the person. Some people are willing to move long distances to earn an income, whereas others are not. Some people want to travel to new places on holidays, whereas others prefer to stay at home. Specific personal characteristics, such as personality and social psychological, might affect these differences. Moreover, individuals’ well-being, defined as comfort, health, and happiness, might differ based on their mobility characteristics, including the preference to live in a closed environment, attempting to leave that environment from boredom, and acting to get out.

In the second section of this chapter, we introduced the historical transition of mobility in Japan and Europe. The third section of this chapter describes a large-scale, web-based questionnaire survey. We collected data from 10,000 to 20,000 participants and examined correlations between mobility and well-being and the personality and psychosocial characteristics affecting this correlation. The results indicated that “diversion” and “adaptability to situational changes” affect mobility and well-being. Adaptability to situational changes corresponds to “adaptability to new environments,” which is the initial trigger that causes humans to move. In contrast, “diversion” is to leave the stable system built by humans temporally. Adaptability includes the abilities humans have acquired through biological evolution, whereas diversion is an aspect of adaptation humans have developed in response to social rules and norms. Finally, we describe the importance of finding and experiencing diversions.

2. Moving in the middle ages and in the early modern period

2.1 Why people moved in the middle ages

Some people move even after becoming a part of society; some governmental officers move for administrative purposes, whereas others travel because of their religious faith. The Tosa Diary (AD 935), a very early Japanese travel literature, describes events during a trip to Kyoto from an official’s original posting. The Sarashina Diary (AD 1059) also describes travel in ancient Japan. At the time, the imperial court was in Kyoto or Nara at different periods and governed by the emperor or court nobles. In AD 1192, the samurai established a shogunate government in Kamakura, 500 km away from Kyoto, because they desired to decrease the Imperial Court’s influence by placing the government’s seat far away from Kyoto. As a result, the number of people traveling between Kyoto and Kamakura increased. For example, the “Izayoi Diary” is a woman’s travel record from Kyoto to Kamakura to make a petition. The authors of this travel literature composed wakas (Japanese poems) about what they saw during their travel and described their impressions of places admired by the people at the time. European people started to enjoy natural sceneries after the seventeenth century [4], whereas Japanese people enjoyed different landscapes during trips from ancient times and composed wakas.

In medieval Europe, pilgrims, itinerant artisans, knights-errant, and peregrine students left their roots in society and moved across the county to develop their skills or themselves. Peregrine students are today’s international students. It became common for economically prosperous English families to allow their children to study in various European universities, which they named the grand tour. The children not only studied, but also learned the manners of fashionable society, and the tour gradually became a kind of enjoyment. Pilgrimages became popular after the middle ages. Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, for example, were very popular. When they arrived at holy places, they celebrated their arrival and spent a pleasant time. People undertook these pilgrimages for religious reasons and pleasure, which provided them with opportunities for diversion.

2.2 Moving as an entertainment in the early modern period

In Japan, “the pilgrimage to Ise” became very popular around the middle of the Edo Period, after AD 1700. Villagers chipped in money, and their representatives went to the Ise Grand Shrine when they accumulated enough savings. During the Edo period, people were allowed to travel on pilgrimages, although they were not otherwise allowed to move freely. The “Douchuuki,” which reports the events during a pilgrimage to Ise, became a travel guidebook to help to travel. In addition, tour guides for pilgrims called “Onshi” appeared in Ise. They greeted the pilgrims after receiving their arrival letter, led them to inns, and guided them to the shrine and famous places. Thus, travel guides were born. The pilgrims were entertained with various delicacies to celebrate their safe arrival and the visit to the shrine. As a result, travel became entertainment.

The Industrial Revolution in England, during the middle of the eighteenth century, gave birth to factory workers. The idea of working hours had not existed until that time. Therefore, the Industrial Revolution caused overwork and health problems, which created the discipline of occupational health. The notion of holidays and vacations developed from the idea of working hours [5]. However, workers did not know how to spend their free time drinking all day at public houses. In 1841, Thomas Cook, a Baptist concerned about this situation, proposed group trips to prevent workers from drinking on holidays as a part of the campaign against drinking. Traveling in large groups became possible due to the invention of the railway. Thomas Cook planned the London International Exhibition tours in 1851, which gained popularity. Then, he started a travel agency to plan and conduct travel. As a result, people could travel easily, and travel became tours.

Travel provided people leading difficult lives with opportunities for diversion by leaving their houses and workplaces, enjoying scenery they would not usually see, and eating different types of food they would not usually eat. The development of transportation, travel agencies, and wealth enabled people to travel. People acquired diversions by moving, in addition to pastimes in daily life, including sports, hunting, and festivals. They acquired hedonic well-being by traveling, through which they could find new things different from their daily life offerings. Tourist spots appeared here and there, including historic architecture, excellent and exotic views, and artificial amusement facilities, which offered people opportunities for diversion. We can feel different and escape from our monotonous life bound by rules when we travel. Today, moving and visiting new places give people typical opportunities for diversion.

3. Web-based questionnaire survey: achieving mobility, mobility potential, and factors affecting the well-being

3.1 Study 1: methods

We administered a web-based questionnaire twice to the same participants and surveyed the traits of contemporary Japanese people affecting the range and frequency of movement, the ability to move, well-being, and the feeling of happiness in daily life. The purposes of study 1 included the following:

1. To investigate correlations between achieving mobility (the range and frequency of moving and the presence of assistance) and subjective well-being.

2. To investigate personal factors (personality and psychosocial characteristics) that affect achieving mobility and subjective well-being.

Participants (N = 13,000 men and women aged 18−89 years) took part in the web-based questionnaire survey. They were living in the following areas of Japan.

1. Kitahiroshima-city, Hokkaido,

2. Minamisoma-city, Namie-city, and Futaba-machi in Fukushima Pref.,

3. Aizu Region in Fukushima Pref. (including Hitachi-city, Ibaraki Pref.),

4. Niigata-city, Niigata Pref.,

5. Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki Pref.,

6. Machida-city, Tokyo,

7. Shiojiri-city, Nagano Pref.,

8. Shizuoka-city, Shizuoka Pref.,

9. Kosai-city, Shizuoka Pref.,

10. Bisan Region in Aichi Pref. (Miyoshi-city, Nisshin-city, Tougou-city, Toyoake-city, Nagakute-city),

11. Eiheiji-Cho, Fukui Pref.,

12. Yabu-city, Hyogo Pref.,

13. Shoubara-city, Hiroshima Pref.,

14. Mitoyo-city, Kagawa Pref.

These areas are advanced pilot regions of the smart mobility challenge project (METI) [6]. The municipalities in these areas had reported that the areas had experienced social problems related to residents’ mobility and the survival of public transportation. These municipalities were trying to solve these problems by introducing new mobility services, such as on-demand transportation.

Variables assessed and questionnaires used in study 1.

• Demographic characteristics: age, gender, and having a driver’s license, among others.

• Life-space assessment: University of Alabama life-space sssessment [LSA] [7].

• Subjective happiness: subjective happiness scale [SHS] [8].

• Subjective well-being: subjective well-being inventory Japanese edition (general happiness, inadequate mental mastery, social support, physical ill-health, family group support, deficiency in social contacts, confidence in coping) [9].

• Personality: big-five personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience) [10].

• Social status: MacArthur scale of subjective social status [11].

• Response styles: expanded response styles questionnaire (evasion, facing the fact, negative introspection, and diversion) [12].

• Ego-resiliency: ego-resiliency scale [ER89] [13].

• COVID-19 worries and behavior changes [14].

We used LSA to measure achieving mobility. Moreover, we assessed the subjective happiness of the participants using the SHS. LSA is an index assessing the spread of an individual’s life space based on a questionnaire. LSA expressed the life space as the distance and the frequency of going out during the preceding 4 weeks and the assistance necessary for going out. The SHS consists of four items, including “I think I am happy in general” and “I can enjoy my life and be happy in any condition,” among others. We used the Japanese versions of LSA and SHS. The survey period was from January 23rd to February 1st, 2021. We analyzed the data of 12,508 participants who responded, “I am not infected with COVID-19.”

3.2 Study 1: results

We examined the correlations among variables using path analysis and developed the model displayed in Figure 1. This model fitted the data very well and indicated the following:

1. Factors affecting LSA included having a driver’s license or not, age, physical ill-health, ego-resiliency scale score, and diversions.

2. Factors affecting SHS included cooperativeness, inadequate mental mastery, physical ill-health, ego-resiliency scale score, and diversions.

3. Factors affecting LSA and SHS included physical ill-health, ego-resiliency scale score, and diversions.

4. There was no direct correlation between LSA and SHS, suggesting that subjective happiness might increase when physical ill-health improves, ego-resiliency (adaptability to situational changes) increases, and an individual feels good because of diversions when mobility achievement increases.

Figure 1.

Correlations among items based on path analysis.

3.3 Study 2: methods

Study 2 focused on two aspects of well-being, that is, eudaimonic and hedonic well-being [15], related to mobility achievement and mobility potential, including mobility capability. Aristotle first identified eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. eudaimonic well-being is the humanistic happiness created by maintaining and increasing a person’s abilities and positive human relationships [16]. In contrast, hedonic well-being is a pleasant condition produced by positive feelings, mental and physical health, and maintaining or increasing motivation [16].

We conducted a web-based survey using a questionnaire, assessing eudaimonic and hedonic well-being [17], to verify the following hypotheses based on the results of study 1.

1. Increased mobility achievements will not directly lead to an improvement in happiness, but increasing mobility potential will increase well-being factors.

2. Mobility achievement and well-being are not directly correlated.

3. Specific subscales of mobility potential will affect mobility achievement.

We conducted study 2 from February 2nd to 21st, 2022 and analyzed the data of 19,268 participants that responded, “I am not infected with COVID-19.” Participants (N = 20,480 men and women aged 18–89 years) participated in study 2. The participants were living in the following areas of Japan, which included areas in the advanced pilot regions of the smart mobility challenge project (METI) [6].

1. Obihiro-city, Muroran-city, and Kitahiroshima-city in Hokkaido,

2. Sendai-city, Miyagi Pref.,

3. Niigata-city, Niigata Pref.,

4. Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki Pref.,

5. Iruma-city, Saitama Pref.,

6. Machida-city, Tokyo, 23 Wards of Tokyo,

7. Shiojiri-city, Nagano Pref.,

8. Shizuoka-city, Kosai-city, and Hamamatsu-city in Shizuoka Pref.,

9. Kasugai-city, Aichi Pref.,

10. Eiheiji-cho, Fukui Pref.,

11. Osaka-city, Osaka,

12. Yabu-city, Hyogo Pref.,

13. Shoubara-city, Hiroshima Pref.,

14. Misato-cho, Shimane Pref.,

15. Mitoyo-city, Kagawa Pref.,

16. Kiyama-cho, Saga Pref.,

17. Chatan-cho, Okinawa Pref.

We used the motility assessment scale to assess the mobility potential [18]. This scale comprises five sub-scales; mobility skills, residential access qualities, neighborhood mobility quality, openness to new people and places, and travel self-confidence. The residential access qualities and neighborhood mobility qualities assess not only physical accessibility and availability of neighborhood transportation but also the significance of accessibility and neighborhood transportation (i.e., whether participants perceive accessibility and transportation are indispensable for moving). We used the following question items to assess these variables.

Residential access qualities.

<Accessibility>

• I can easily reach public transportation facilities from my house.

• I can easily reach my workplace from my house.

• I can easily reach the supermarket from my house on foot to buy commodities and groceries.

• I can easily reach my elementary or junior high school from my house on foot.

The participants responded to these questions using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Yes) to 5 (No).

<Significance of residential access qualities>

• I think quickly reaching public transportation facilities from my house is essential.

• I think quickly reaching my workplace from my house is essential.

• I think quickly reaching the supermarket from my house on foot to buy commodities and groceries is essential.

• I think quickly reaching my elementary or junior high school from my house on foot is essential.

The participants responded to these questions using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Agree) to 5 (Disagree).

Neighborhood mobility qualities

<Accessibility>

• I can easily reach the highway from my house.

• There are streets around my house to enjoy going for walks.

• I can quickly drive around my house.

• There are streets with bicycle lanes around my house.

The participants responded to these questions using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Yes) to 5 (No).

<Significance of neighborhood mobility qualities>

• I think quickly reaching the highway from my house is essential.

• I think walking streets around my house is essential.

• I think the ability to drive around my house is essential.

• I think having bicycle lanes around my house is essential.

The participants responded to these questions using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Agree) to 5 (Disagree).

We used the questions (translated to Japanese) listed in the Ref. [18] to assess mobility skills, openness to new people and places, and travel self-confidence. The participants responded to these questions using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Yes) to 5 (No).

We assessed eudaimonic and hedonic well-being using the Japanese version of the Hedonic and eudaimonic motives for activities scale (HEMA) [19]. Hedonic well-being is classified into seeking enjoyment and seeking relaxation, which is assessed by “seeking happiness,” “seeking enjoyment,” and “seeking relaxation” subscales of HEMA.

3.4 Study 2: results

Figure 2 shows that the model developed by path analysis has an adequately high goodness of fit to the data. The model suggested the following:

1. Similar to the results of study 1, there was no direct correlation between LSA and sub-categories of well-being.

2. The results indicated that mobility potential and well-being were directly correlated, which supported this study’s hypothesis based on Study 1. Moreover, openness to new people and places, mobility skills, the significance of residential access qualities, and the significance of neighborhood mobility qualities directly affect well-being.

3. Openness to new people and places correlated with all three well-being factors.

4. Mobility skills affected eudaimonic well-being, whereas the significance of residential access qualities and the significance of neighborhood mobility qualities affected Hedonic well-being.

5. The age correlated with openness to new people and places, mobility skills, travel self-confidence, and LSA.

6. Having a car was correlated with residential access qualities, neighborhood mobility qualities, the significance of residential access qualities, the significance of neighborhood mobility qualities, and LSA.

7. Travel self-confidence and residential access qualities affected mobility achievement.

8. Ego-resiliency affected nearly all possible mobility factors, suggesting that it might be an essential factor in mobility possibility and eudaimonic well-being.

9. Diversion correlated with seeking enjoyment and seeking relaxation (hedonic well-being).

Figure 2.

The second survey’s path analysis results.

Openness to new people and places and diversion affected eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. Together with the results of study 1, diversion might be strongly correlated with mobility and well-being.

4. Moving and diversions

Michel de Montaigne, the sixteenth century French philosopher, stated in the “essays” that “diversion” is a way to live a better life. Moreover, Blaise Pascal, a seventeenth century French philosopher, repeatedly described the usefulness of diversions in “the thoughts.” He stated, “Even the king, who has much money, is unhappy without diversions.” The word “diversion” means “to divert,” that is, “divert the consciousness from thing right before the eyes.” Today, stress-coping measures are known as stress-coping strategies. Diversion is one strategy used in emotion-focused coping or coping strategies by changing feelings. People who constantly settle and live within the bounds of the established social order do not fully use their brain’s ability to move to unknown places. Therefore, they might want to leave their social life bounded by rules because the brain needs diversions.

Going to new places by leaving the daily life environment, including the workplace or home, is a release from rules and order. Many people go traveling to experience a different life. However, when traveling becomes repetitious, it becomes a part of ordinary life. Blaise Pascal stated, “Hunters hunt to get rabbits. However, if I tell them to stop hunting because I will give them rabbits, they would say no.” This statement suggests that not only the goals but also the activities to gain the goals are meaningful. People might not be traveling just to spend time at their destinations. People find new things that stimulate them at their destinations. However, when they visit the same places repeatedly, they stop finding new things. Then, the brain would have completed the learning and adaptation process, and people become bored and seek new destinations. On the other hand, the environment keeps changing when moving, and landscapes continue to change, which provides a diversion.

The means of transportation also affect how successful diversion can be. The view from the window keeps changing in trains, whereas passengers on an airplane cannot see much change. Also, people must conform to social manners and cannot freely behave when sharing a cabin with other passengers on trains or airplanes. Travel time becomes boring for people who often use trains or airplanes because it becomes a part of ordinary life, and they must distract themselves with books, videos, or games while traveling. Transportation itself is no longer a diversion. On the other hand, when driving a car, the view, the roads, and the traffic situation continue to change, and drivers must perform their driving capability to different demands every minute. Therefore, driving is a good diversion because drivers do not have time to think about unnecessary things while driving a car. From this point of view, driving a car is a good way to divert.

Acknowledgments

The Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism supported the web-based questionnaire survey (Section 3). The authors thank all the staff and participants who engaged in the survey.