Urban migrants in rural Japan : between agency and anomie in a post-growth society / Susanne Klien.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Klien, Susanne, 1972- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban-rural migration--Japan.

Urban-rural migration.

Rural-urban relations--Japan.

Rural-urban relations.

Amenity migration--Japan.

Amenity migration.

Lifestyles--Japan.

Lifestyles.

Social conditions.

Japan.

Japan--Social conditions--21st century.

Physical Description:

xxviii, 203 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2020]

Summary:

Offers an in-depth ethnography of paradigm shifts in the lifestyles and values of youth in post-growth Japan. 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Urban Migrants in Rural Japan provides a fresh perspective on theoretical notions of rurality and emerging modes of working and living in post-growth Japan. By exploring narratives and trajectories of individuals who relocate from urban to rural areas and seek new modes of working and living, this multisited ethnography reveals the changing role of rurality, from postwar notions of a stagnant backwater to contemporary sites of experimentation. The individual cases presented in the book vividly illustrate changing lifestyles and perceptions of work. What emerges from Urban Migrants in Rural Japan is the emotionally fraught quest of many individuals for a personally fulfilling lifestyle and the conflicting neoliberal constraints many settlers face. In fact, flexibility often coincides with precarity and self-exploitation. Susanne Klien shows how mobility serves as a strategic mechanism for neophytes in rural Japan who hedge their bets; gain time; and seek assurance, inspiration, and courage to do (or further postpone doing) what they ultimately feel makes sense to them. Susanne Klien is Associate Professor of Modern Japanese Studies at Hokkaido University, Japan. She is the author of Rethinking Japan's Identity and International Role: Tradition and Change in Japan's Foreign Policy .

Contents:

Introduction

Lifestyle migration and mobility: negotiating urban lifestyles in rural communities

The countryside between aging, lack of perspectives, and creative depopulation through the lens of female settlers

Post-growth forms of living and working: countryside as experimental ground and social imaginary

Between agency and anomie, possibility and probability: lifestyle migrants and the neo-liberal moment

Convergence of work and leisure: blessing or plight?

Liminal belonging and moratorium migration: lifestyle migrants between limbo and purpose of life

Social entrepreneurs between self-determination and structural constraints: examples from Miyagi and Tokushima prefectures

Conclusion: deconstructing Japan's rural-urban divide.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438478050

1438478054

9781438478067

1438478062

OCLC:

1100448838