The provision of elderly care in Japan has long been dependent on female family members. However, because of the rise in the number of delayed marriages, the increase in divorce and non-marriage and other effects of household restructuring, this is no longer a viable solution. This paper investigates the emerging 'transnational householding' strategies employed by Japanese elderly people as a response to this. Combining macro-analysis of the demographic and institutional changes in Japan with micro, ethnographic study of the Japanese retirees in north Thailand, the paper teases out how ageing, together with other social factors, is part of the global householding trend in the Asia Pacific.