Two Myths of the Strong Consciousness of Land Possession in Japan

Until now, it has been said that there is a strong and blind consciousness of land possession in Japan.  Although the land has a value when it is used, the Japanese have a strong interest to possess land itself despite the low land value. This strong consciousness of land possession in Japan is often called “the myth to the land”. Historically, the myth was explained by mainly two reasons. On the one hand, strong consciousness had been born by the devastation of WW2.People could only trust land value. In this explanation, land has been characterized as exchangeable goods. On the other hand, the strong consciousness of land possession had been born by the social norm of agriculture. In this explanation, land has been characterized as inexchangeable goods.

Why do the strong consciousness of land possession differ in rural and urban areas? Few studies have focused on this differences in rural and urban areas. This study aims to understand the rural and urban differences by using the case study of the forest ( land + trees ) of Nichinan town in Tottori Prefecture , one of the most rural areas in Japan. Especially, I will focus on “absentee landlords” who own their property away from their current residence. Almost all these “absentee landlords” was born in Nichinan town and had spent time there previously. Some of them have moved to the urban area and some of them have moved to other rural areas. Despite of low economic value of land, why do these absentee landlords maintain their consciousness of land possession? In this study, by using 30 interviews of absentee landlords, I will explain the mechanism of rural and urban consciousness of land possession by the method of QCA (Qualitative Comparative Analysis).