Japan’s New Ruralities

<p>Seeking to challenge negative perceptions within Japanese media and politics on the future of the countryside the contributors to this book present a counterargument to the inevitable demise of rural society.</p><p>Contrary to the dominant argument which holds outmigration and demographic hyper-aging as primarily responsible for rural decline this book highlights the spatial dimension of power differences behind uneven development in contemporary Japan. Including many fi eldwork-based case studies the chapters discuss topics such as corporate farming local energy systems and public healthcare examining the constraints and possibilities of rural self-determination under the centripetal impact of forces located both in and outside of the country. Focusing on asymmetries of power to explore regional autonomy and heteronomy it also examines peripheralization and the global countryside two recent theoretical contributions to the fi eld as a common framework.</p><p>Japan’s New Ruralities addresses the complexity of rural decline in the context of debates on globalization and power differences. As such it will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology anthropology human geography and politics as well as Japanese Studies.</p>