Urban-rural migration and rural revitalization in Japan

全世界的国内移徙流动通常是从农村流向城市地区，将人们从农村推向城市。尤其是日本，农村地区几十年来一直面临着人口外流、去工业化和人口老龄化的问题，因此，人们对农村发展的讨论相当悲观。然而，最近越来越多的人有兴趣从城市搬迁到农村地区，而且越来越多的人确实这样做了。许多学者认为，受过教育和有创造力的人的移民对乡村振兴产生了积极影响，从而对日本农村社区的未来产生了积极影响。然而，只有很少的经验证据支持这一假设。该项目结合社会人类学和政治学，以日本最南部的主岛Kyushima为重点，旨在通过实证研究城乡移民与乡村振兴之间的相互联系，以及地方做法、城乡移民与更大的社会、政治和经济结构之间的相互联系，了解城乡移民对乡村振兴的影响。为了有助于对日本农村地区未来的辩论，该项目将分析流动性如何改变日本的社会结构和秩序，中心与边缘之间的权力不平等以及中央与地方的关系。将通过人种学实地考察、正式和非正式访谈以及对不同利益攸关方制作的文件和视觉材料进行内容分析，从质量上产生项目数据。数据分析的目的是建立理论。城乡移民并非日本独有。在许多后工业社会，退休人员或年轻人寻求放松的日落年龄，他们追求更可持续的生活方式，搬到农村。日本的特殊之处在于，不同利益相关者发起的计划和补贴，以吸引人们搬回日本农村，从而振兴当地经济和农业。我们将比较1）基辅市不同都道府县的类似规模的市如何适当的中央政府的方案和2）这些方案如何影响移民，移民的经验和各自市的地方乡村振兴实践。为了理解城乡移民的不同轨迹，我们还将根据中央和地方政府行为者、私人、民间社会或商业行为者的启动情况，比较3）不同类型的城乡移民。简而言之，这个项目将揭示流动性如何有助于日本农村空间的重新配置。

Internal migration flows worldwide are usually directed from rural to urban areas, pushing people out of the countryside towards cities. This is particularly true for Japan, where rural areas have faced out-migration, deindustrialization and population aging for decades, and thus, rural development has been discussed in a rather pessimistic way. Recently, however, an increasing number of people is interested in relocating from urban to rural areas and a growing number actually do. Many scholars suggest that in-migration of educated and creative people has a positive impact on rural revitalization and thus on the future of rural communities in Japan. However, there exists only little empirical evidence for this assumption. At the interface of social anthropology and political science and with a focus on Kyūshū, Japan’s most southern main island, this project aims to understand the impacts of urban-rural migration on rural revitalization by empirically studying interlinkages between urban-rural migration and rural revitalization as well as between local practices, urban-rural migration and larger societal, political and economic structures. In order to contribute to debates on the future of rural areas in Japan, the project will analyze how mobilities change social structures and orders, power inequalities between centers and their peripheries and central-local relations in Japan. Project data will be produced qualitatively via ethnographic fieldwork, formal and informal interviews and content analysis of documents and visual materials produced by different stakeholders. The data analysis aims at theory building. Urban-rural migration is not unique to Japan. Retirees seeking relaxed sunset-years or younger people, who strive for more sustainable lifestyles, move to the countryside in many post-industrial societies. What is particular about Japan, are the programs and subsidies initiated by different stakeholders to attract people to move (back) to rural Japan and in turn to revitalize local economies and agriculture. We will compare 1) how municipalities of similar size in different prefectures in Kyūshū appropriate central government’s programs and 2) how these programs impact on in-migration, in-migrants’ experiences and local rural revitalization practices in the respective municipalities. In order to understand the different trajectories of urban-rural migration, we will also compare 3) different types of urban-rural migration according to their initiation by central and local government actors, private, civil society or business actors. In a nutshell, this project will shed light on how mobilities contribute to reconfigurations of rural spaces in Japan.