Urban-rural migration and rural revitalization in Japan

日本的城乡迁移与乡村振兴

• 批准号: 442984343
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Cornelia Reiher
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Ostasiatisches Seminar - Fachrichtung Japanologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/442984343?language=en
• 关键词: Urban; rural; migration; revitalization; Japan

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.

全球范围内的内部移民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，几十年来农村地区一直面临人口外流、去工业化和人口老龄化问题，农村发展被讨论得相当悲观。然而，最近，越来越多的人有兴趣从城市搬到农村地区，而且越来越多的人实际上这样做了。许多学者认为，受过教育和有创造力的人的流入对乡村振兴以及日本农村社区的未来具有积极影响。然而，支持这一假设的经验证据很少。该项目处于社会人类学和政治学的交叉点，以日本最南端的主岛九州为重点，旨在通过实证研究城乡迁移与乡村振兴之间以及当地实践、城乡迁移与更大的社会、政治和经济结构之间的相互联系，了解城乡迁移对乡村振兴的影响。为了促进有关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、中心及其周边地区之间的权力不平等以及中央与地方关系。项目数据将通过民族志实地考察、正式和非正式访谈以及对不同利益相关者制作的文件和视觉材料的内容分析来定性产生。数据分析旨在理论构建。城乡迁移并非日本独有。在许多后工业社会，寻求轻松晚年的退休人员或追求更可持续生活方式的年轻人都会搬到乡村。日本的特别之处在于不同利益相关者发起的计划和补贴，以吸引人们移居（返回）日本农村，从而振兴当地经济和农业。我们将比较 1) 九州不同县的类似规模的市镇如何适用中央政府的计划，以及 2) 这些计划如何影响各自市镇的移民、移民经历和当地乡村振兴实践。为了了解城乡人口迁移的不同轨迹，我们还将根据中央和地方政府行为体、私人、民间社会或商业行为体发起的情况，对 3) 不同类型的城乡人口迁移进行比较。简而言之，该项目将揭示流动性如何有助于日本农村空间的重新配置。