Career formation in professional occupations is heavily influenced by national institutional contexts. In common with many professions, however, in academia international exposure is attractive to employers and valued by employees. This national-international dualism presents early career academics (ECAs) with potentially contradictory challenges in navigating their career development. Drawing on multidisciplinary approaches we researched international mobility in academic career formation. We designed a rigorous fivestage mixed methods quantitative and qualitative methodology to question whether a lengthy early career sojourn in Japan assists British-trained scholars in pursuing an academic career in Japanese studies in the UK. Further, we ask whether and why a lengthy sojourn might hinder academic career formation. Although we researched experiences in Japanese studies, our research is relevant to any discipline where significant periods are spent overseas. We found that early career international mobility caused scholars to experience significant challenges of distanciation and socialisation in navigating their imagined career paths, including the potential to become marooned in Japan. Fortunately, our informants are adaptive in the best use of their circumstances and decisions. We conclude with a brief discussion of theoretical implications and provide advice for ECAs in managing international career transitions.