Mika Toyota

Mika Toyota is a Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Educational Research in Berlin, specializing in transnational migration, aging, and social care systems. Her work bridges sociology, gerontology, and cultural studies through comparative analyses of Japan, Southeast Asia, and Germany.

• PhD in Southeast Asian Studies (University of Hull, UK, 2000)
• Former Professor at University of Rikkyo (2012-2020), Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore (2008-2012)
• Focus areas: aging populations, migrant caregiving, public responses to unclaimed deaths

Her research examines emotional labor in death care industries, transnational retirement strategies, and the politics of migrant skill recognition. Recent publications (2022-2024) analyze social incapacitation among Japanese retirees in Thailand and the evolution of death narratives in Japan.

Toyota's career spans institutions in the UK, Japan, Singapore, and Germany, with fieldwork-based studies on ethnic minorities in borderlands and transnational householding practices. She contributes to debates on globalization's asymmetrical impacts through interdisciplinary lenses.