Mobilities Amid the Production of Fixities: Labor in a Japanese Inn

Building on recent interest in fixities within mobilities studies, this article analyzes the ‘production of fixities’ in Japanese inns, or ryokan. I describe the complex ways that different scales and regimes of mobility interact on the bodies, personal lives, careers, and aspirations of inn employees. I show how the daily grind of producing fixity for tourists engenders ambivalence toward both movement and stasis, mediated through gender, age, and other circumstances. Ultimately, I argue that mobility and fixity should not be seen as opposites, but as mutually constitutive conditions that intermingle in nuanced ways in the everyday lives of individuals.