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Thursday, August 2, 2012: 1:15 PM
Faculty of Economics, TBA
Oral Presentation
"Who’s afraid of population decline?" In Japan, they are residents of rural areas.
The Japanese countryside is suffering from severe depopulation. Due to the lack of job opportunities, many young people migrate from their home villages, leaving the elders in difficult living environments.
Moreover, according to government reports, 423 villages will be deserted within the next 10 years due to the decline in population. Therefore, Japanese rural people are apprehensive about the population decline.
However, in Japan’s rural areas, courageous people who are very satisfied with their lives hope to continue living in their home villages despite the possibility of desertion due to rapid depopulation. What kind of social background makes these people confident and courageous?
In this report, I use data from my fieldwork, which includes a case study and social surveys of Shimoguri village (loosely translated as “a village of chestnuts”), Iida city, and Nagano prefecture in Japan. The residents of Shimoguri village are confident and courageous even though their home village’s population has been decreasing rapidly.
Two types of social capital, “bonding” and “bridging,” are the key concepts of this report (Putnam 2000). The data of the social survey conducted in Shimoguri village show that both “bonding” and “bridging” promote residents’ feelings of satisfaction and reinforces their intentions to continue living in their villages. “Bonding,” in particular, has a strong influence.
“Bonding” social capital plays an important role in the maintenance of depopulated rural areas.
The Japanese countryside is suffering from severe depopulation. Due to the lack of job opportunities, many young people migrate from their home villages, leaving the elders in difficult living environments.
Moreover, according to government reports, 423 villages will be deserted within the next 10 years due to the decline in population. Therefore, Japanese rural people are apprehensive about the population decline.
However, in Japan’s rural areas, courageous people who are very satisfied with their lives hope to continue living in their home villages despite the possibility of desertion due to rapid depopulation. What kind of social background makes these people confident and courageous?
In this report, I use data from my fieldwork, which includes a case study and social surveys of Shimoguri village (loosely translated as “a village of chestnuts”), Iida city, and Nagano prefecture in Japan. The residents of Shimoguri village are confident and courageous even though their home village’s population has been decreasing rapidly.
Two types of social capital, “bonding” and “bridging,” are the key concepts of this report (Putnam 2000). The data of the social survey conducted in Shimoguri village show that both “bonding” and “bridging” promote residents’ feelings of satisfaction and reinforces their intentions to continue living in their villages. “Bonding,” in particular, has a strong influence.
“Bonding” social capital plays an important role in the maintenance of depopulated rural areas.