Expanding the range of lifestyle migrants and related populations: effectiveness of vocational training in a rural community

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the kind of awareness and change that vocational training in the community can bring about and how this impacts the emergence of migrants and related populations. Multiple interviews were conducted with trainees at Kamiyama Juku, a vocational training program in Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture, over a two-year period to discuss their changes and involvement in local revitalization. The results revealed the following two points: First, trainees were able to obtain inspiration for future work through interactions with residents, and their trust and appreciation for residents led to settlement and the emergence of a related population. Second, because vocational training does not require participants to settle after completion, a wide range of people can easily participate, and even those who have little interest in local revitalization have the potential to become migrants or members of the related population. Vocational training in the community can contribute to expanding the range of migrants and related populations.

Keywords:

• Vocational training
• depopulated areas
• rural Japan
• lifestyle migration
• related population

1. Introduction

In recent years, a new trend of migration from urban to rural areas has been increasingly studied. Voluntary migration from cities to rural and suburban areas to improve quality of life is often referred to as lifestyle migration (O’Reilly and Benson 2009). With rural areas depopulating and aging, developed countries are looking to lifestyle migration for revitalization (Carson and Carson 2018). Specifically in Japan, the declining birthrate, aging population, and depopulation of rural areas are among the most pressing issues (Inoue et al. 2022). Therefore, in 2009, the Japanese government launched the “Local Vitalization Cooperator” program, which provides grants to city residents who live in depopulated areas for one to three years and work to revitalize those areas (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications n.d.). However, given that the Japanese population is declining throughout the country, such policies to attract migrants could lead to competition for immigrants between regions (Sakuno 2019). Thus, in recent years, the “Kankei Jinkō (related population)” project has been gaining attention (Ando et al. 2022). Related populations include people who do not necessarily settle permanently, but who volunteer in rural areas or are involved in the revitalization of multiple regions (Sakuno 2019). Dilley et al. (2024) point out that the related population observed in Japan raises new debates about rural mobility beyond the simple dichotomies such as migration/settlement, permanent/temporary, and so on that have been discussed in relation to counterurbanisation in the global north.

To increase related populations, it is necessary to increase the range of the population, including those who are not interested in migration or rural revitalization (Nishida et al. 2022). Kamiyama Juku, held in Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture, offers vocational training in the community. The Japanese government’s local vitalization cooperator program requires participants to relocate their certificate of residence to the designated area of activity and encourages them to establish a permanent residence there after the completion of their activities. In contrast, Kamiyama Juku does not make transfer of residency or settlement after completion of the program a prerequisite or condition for participation. Nevertheless, according to the program director, as of 2020, approximately 40% of its graduates have settled in Kamiyama Town or Tokushima Prefecture.

Local revitalization by migrants is one of the main concerns of “denen-kaiki-ron” (studies on migrants to the countryside) in Japan (Tsutsui 2021). Studies on supporting migrants (Reiher 2020) are active, and studies on the activities of related populations (Qu, Coulton, and Funck 2020) are beginning to attract attention, including the creation of related populations (Owada 2021; Takahama and Imanaga 2021; Kobayashi and Nakatsuka 2022). However, there are no papers yet that describe the emergence of migrants and related populations as a spillover effect of job training that is not contingent on migration. By highlighting the possibility of people who are initially not interested in migrating to rural areas becoming migrants and related populations through vocational training, I hope to contribute to expanding the notion of the base of related populations that are being sought in each region.

Regarding the perception of lifestyle migrants in Japan (Zollet and Qu 2023) and their motivation for migration, the focus is on migration with clear objectives such as self-actualization and community contribution by young people leaving elite companies (Klien 2020), entrepreneurship by migrants (Funck 2020), independence through organic farming (Rosenberger 2017), and interest in social activities (Takeda 2020). As migration from urban to rural areas has become more common, the migration of non-regular workers suffering from low wages and long working hours (Takeda 2020) and migration as a moratorium to postpone decisions about life direction (Klien 2020) have also been noted.

To expand the base of migrants and related populations, it is necessary to attract not only pioneers with a strong sense of purpose, but also more ordinary people who do not have the courage to start their own businesses, but are searching for a more fulfilling life. Additionally, few studies have focused on changes prior to the decision to migrate (Hoey 2005), and little attention has been paid to the potential contributions to the community of those who considered migration but did not follow through.

Therefore, through interviews with trainees, this study determined the kind of awareness and change that vocational training in the community can achieve and how it relates to the creation of migrants and related populations. To explore the possibility that people who have little interest in rural areas can also become related populations, this study adopted Tanaka’s (2021, 77) broader definition of related populations as “strangers who have an ongoing interest in and involvement with a particular region.”

2. Overview of the case study area and Kamiyama Juku

Shikoku, located in the southwest of Japan and one of the country’s four main islands, is one of the most depopulated regions in Japan. Of the 24 municipalities in Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku, thirteen, including Kamiyama Town (Figure 1), have been identified by the government as depopulation-related municipalities (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 2022). In Kamiyama Town, farmlands and settlements are scattered along the upper and middle reaches of the Akui River that flows through the center of the town, and are surrounded by mountains ranging from 300 to 1,500 m in height (Kamiyama Town n.d.). According to Kamiyama Town (2019), forestry used to be the town’s core industry, but it has stagnated due to imported timber, spurring the town’s population outflow. Current agricultural production includes the citrus fruit “sudachi” – it boasts the highest production in Japan (Kamiyama Sudachi Farmers Association 2020). There is also a Buddhist pilgrimage route in Shikoku, the “Ohenro,” and one of its temples is located in Kamiyama. Pilgrimage towns have a culture of residents giving food and drink to the pilgrims, which is said to be the foundation of the open spirit of Kamiyama (Shinohara 2014).

Figure 1. Kamiyama Town’s location.

According to Kanda (2018), Green Valley Inc. (hereafter GV), a non-profit organization established by residents in Kamiyama Town in 2004, took the lead in implementing various programs to attract human resources from Japan and abroad as well as satellite offices of IT companies (Kanda 2018). Consequently, the town’s population, which had been in excess of out-migration since the 1970s, moved into excess migration for the first time in 2011 (Figure 2).　

Figure 2. The population of Kamiyama Town. Source: Kamiyama Town (2023).

In the process, Kamiyama Juku, which began in 2010, also played an important role in attracting young people. The name “Juku” was inspired by the name of a private school where young people learned various studies and ideas during the Edo period (Director of the program, March 12, 2018). According to Green Valley Inc. and Nobutoki (2016), the Director of the Kamiyama Juku is the president of a community management company directing youth volunteer activities in Kamiyama Town. Kamiyama Juku was approved as a vocational training program offered by the Japanese government (Kanda 2018). Trainees receive living support payments from the government for about six months during training. According to the Director of the Juku, as of 2020, 141 people completed the program, 58 of whom have settled in Kamiyama Town or Tokushima Prefecture. Eight terms of training were conducted in 2012–2017; participants included 32 males (39%) and 50 females (61%). Of the trainees who settled in Kamiyama Town or Tokushima Prefecture after the completion of the 2012–2017 training, 46% were male and 54% female. The trainees who have settled in Kamiyama Town make a living by running their own businesses (Kanda 2018) or working for small businesses in or near the town.

3. Methods

I became interested in Kamiyama Juku after listening to a lecture given in 2014 by Mr. Shinya Ominami, the then GV president, at the university where I worked. A shortened one-week version of the Kamiyama Juku was held in February 2015, and I was allowed to participate and observe for six days. Since I felt that this was a well-rounded program to experience community building and interaction with residents, I believed that trainees would experience even greater learning and change during the six months of training.

This study therefore covers the entire period of the Kamiyama Juku, which took place from 4 July to 24 December 2016, and approximately one year later. I conducted four semi-structured interviews (19 in total) with five trainees enrolled during the study period (Table 1). The details of each survey are presented in Table 2. One male and four female trainees participated. The majority of trainees at Kamiyama Juku are female. To supplement the data obtained and to understand their intentions behind its founding, I interviewed the program director. The interview was conducted in Japanese and recorded with an IC recorder. All collaborators were informed that the interviews would be recorded, a paper would be written based on the transcriptions, and that the completed paper would be made available to interested participants. All collaborators provided verbal consent for the research. I also asked the Juku Director to review this manuscript for the portions involving his interview and the description of the Kamiyama Juku and obtained permission for publication. To protect the privacy of the collaborators, I have only used the letters of the alphabet and numbers instead of names to identify them. Interviews were coded using MAXQDA 2020, and thematic analysis was conducted.

Table 1. Trainees who were interviewed.

Trainee	Born in	Marital status	Previous workplace	Residence after the Juku	Occupation
1	♀ 1990s	Single → Married	Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo	Kamiyama Town	University student → Food service
2	♂ 1990s	Single	Tokushima Prefecture	Tokushima Prefecture	Company employee → Agriculture
3	♀ 1980s	Single	Tokyo	Tokyo　→ Kanagawa Prefecture	Company employee → Company employee
4	♀ 1980s	Single	Tokyo	Kamiyama Town	Company employee → Lodging business
5	♀ 1970s	Single	Tokyo	Kamiyama Town	Food service → Manufacturing

Occupations indicated before and after participation in the Juku.

Source: Fieldwork by the author, 2016–2018.

Table 2. Survey about the trainees.

	Period	Location	Purpose of Survey	Trainee	Main Questions
1	July 4–9, 2016	Kamiyama	Participant observation of the introduction	1235*	What motivated them to participate in the Juku and what they hoped to gain from the Juku
2	August 17–20, 2016	Kamiyama	Listening to the changes after one month	12345	What they noticed and what impressed them during their one-month participation in the Juku
3	October 28–30, 2016	Kamiyama	Participant observation of an event organized by trainees at Yamamba		No interviews were conducted
4	December 18–20, 2016	Kamiyama	Participant observation of the review of the Juku held on December 19	245	What they learned at the Juku and their plans after completing the program
	December 22, 2016	Online	Interviewed later due to lack of time in Kamiyama Town	3
	December 29, 2016	Online		1
	March 3, 2017	Online		5
5	March 4, 2018	Tokyo	To have them look back on the Juku one year after the end of the program	3	Reflection on the Juku as a whole. How the Juku has impacted their current job and life
	March 12–17, 2018	Kamiyama		1245

* Trainee 4 was not present for the first survey, as she joined the Juku on July 25, 2016 due to her previous job.

When quoting interviews, personally identifiable information was removed or rewritten in more general terms. Additionally, when translating Japanese into English, I opted for free translation and summarized the text while maintaining the speaker’s intent.

4. Results

4.1. Vocational training at Kamiyama Juku and Mr. A’s aims

Recruitment of trainees for the Kamiyama Juku is conducted at the Public Employment Security Office by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. Three of the five trainees had heard of Kamiyama Juku prior to their recruitment through a publication, a local revitalization event, or an acquaintance. Two of the trainees learned of the Juku through “Japan Job Hyakka,” a job site that offers a variety of employment information, including jobs in rural areas.

According to Green Valley Inc. (2021), the Juku primarily teaches trainees about planning and managing events that showcase local attractions while enhancing the basic social skills required to work with diverse people in the workplace and the community. Approximately 30–40% of the curriculum is classroom learning, where participants learn about regional developments in Kamiyama, receive lectures from entrepreneurs active in Kamiyama, and study event planning and management. According to the founder and director of the Kamiyama Juku (Mr. A, born in the 1970s), for the remaining 60–70% of the curriculum, trainees receive hands-on training in agriculture, forestry, road cleaning, and restoration of old houses with the help of Kamiyama Town residents. Trainees generally experience homestays or shared housing in the town. One of the bases of the Juku in 2016 is “Yamamba” (Figure 3), a 190-year-old renovated house in the Agawa area of Kamiyama Town (Figure 1). Some of the Juku’s lectures and events to which residents are invited are held there. Two trainees lived there, and others (including the author) stayed there. Mr. A says it is important to spend 17 h of free time each day outside of the Juku curriculum (Kanda 2018). The trainees spend much of their free time interacting with the residents, including helping with farm work, talking to residents about their lives, and renting a cafeteria to serve meals.

Figure 3. A corner of the old house “Yamamba,” which became one of the bases of the Juku in 2016 (photo by the author on July 7, 2016).

Mr. A is not from Kamiyama Town and does not live in Kamiyama, but was attracted to GV’s universal mission of “making rural Japan (not just Kamiyama) more attractive” and began to become involved in the community revitalization efforts of the town. The first project assigned to Mr. A by GV was to voluntarily maintain the forests and restore the traditional terraced rice paddies in Kamiyama Town.

I used to be an office worker in the real estate world, and at that time, money was supreme. But in the rice paddies, my educational background and real estate skills were not useful. I keenly felt my lack of ability to survive, and I thought the residents who continued to farm and protect the rice paddies were amazing. Since an old guy like me was able to change his mind so much, I thought that if I gathered young people together and gave them the same experience, they would surely change. (March 12, 2018)

Mr. A used this experience to plan the Kamiyama Juku program. From the above narrative, I can read that one of Mr. A’s aims was to give young people a chance to change their way of living and working through interaction with the residents. He then proposed the program to GV, and GV commissioned him to execute it.

In the following paragraphs, I recount how the five trainees came to participate in the Juku and what they noticed and changed during their time at the Juku and in Kamiyama. First, I will describe the three people who decided to settle in Kamiyama Town after completing the Juku.

4.2. Seeking a new environment and reaffirming her love for her job

After studying architecture, Trainee 4 (Table 1) found a job at a building renovation company in Tokyo. Feeling a sense of stagnation in her unchanging life, the passing of an acquaintance, and the experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered her to seek a career change.

Originally, I was not interested in community development, and one of the deciding factors was the ease with which the Kamiyama Juku allowed me to go wherever I wanted after six months of training. (March 15, 2018)

In an interview just prior to the completion of the Juku, she stated that she wanted to stay in Tokushima Prefecture for a few months and be involved with Kamiyama. This is because she was overwhelmed by the exposure to a way of working that was not a corporate job and wanted to organize her thoughts in a quiet environment.

Looking back on her training, she revealed that she sometimes felt pressured and depressed when she saw the graduates of the Juku who had started their businesses and were active in Kamiyama, asking herself, “Should I be like them even though I never thought about starting a business at all?” Rather, it was the female residents of the Agawa area who became her role models, not the migrants. She participates in community activities organized by women she met through the Juku, one of which was the weekly making of scarecrows (Figure 4) to decorate the community.

Figure 4. Scarecrows decorating the Agawa area made by residents (photo by the author on March 15, 2018).

The women live in a very rich world, where, in addition to farming, they are well-versed in the tea ceremony, kimono, and local history. Moreover, they get along well with each other and enjoy what is in front of them together. That image became my goal. I want to be like that when I reach that age. (March 15, 2018)

At the time of the 2018 interview, she had gone to great lengths to find and settle into a residence with easy access to scarecrow-making activities. She has loved to dance since childhood and is involved in the revival of Agawa’s traditional dances. She said that when she is involved in that dance, residents remember her immediately. She works at a guesthouse run in Kamiyama by a graduate of the program. She wants to live in Kamiyama for at least a few more years.

I did not come here because I do not like the city. I have been thinking about why I quit my job and came all the way here, and recently, something finally became clear to me. I was assigned to work on a renovation plan for the guesthouse. As I worked on it, I realized again that I love design so much. I feel that the starting point of my coming here was to put myself in a constantly stimulating environment and to try new things. (March 15, 2018)

4.3. Becoming involved in community revitalization through interaction with residents

[When I first learned about Kamiyama,] I wasn’t interested in local revitalization or Kamiyama Juku like the other trainees. Is such a trivial story OK? (July 6, 2016)

In the first interview, Trainee 1 (Table 1) said this with a laugh. She is from the Tohoku region in the northeast of Japan, where 15,900 people died in the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 (Metropolitan Police Department 2023). After a food poisoning incident during the disaster, she went to university to become a nutritionist. After graduation, she was offered a job in Tokyo. However, she became so interested in Mr. A’s business, which she learned about through her employer, that she declined the job offer and joined Mr. A’s project.

The residents teach me many things, even though I have never planted rice. They make things by hand that you can only buy commercially in the city, and I want to gain knowledge and life wisdom like them. […] Kamiyama Juku already has a connection with the community, so I think the advantage is that I can meet the residents right away and experience many things. (6 July 2016)

In an interview after completing the Juku, she said the following about her intention to settle in Kamiyama:

[Before I came to Kamiyama] I was often told that it was not good to be different from others. But here, they tell me that my personality, which I used to think was strange, is fine and that I have these strengths as well. […] They would notice and recognize my hard work in cleaning and other community activities. Knowing that they welcomed me not simply because I am a young woman, but also because they recognized my commitment and hard work, made me want to stay at Kamiyama more. (29 December 2016)

A year later, she settled in Kamiyama and started working for a Tokyo-based company that delivers boxed lunches to Kamiyama residents. She often feels emotionally supported by her customers through the meal delivery service, which includes watching and assisting the elderly. She also told me that she would like to engage in activities to pass on the wisdom and experience of the elderly, such as producing sudachi. She further stated that she has yet to leave Kamiyama because the more involved she becomes, the more interesting the people appear.

4.4. Realizing mountain living through Juku

I was worn out from living in Tokyo, with houses too close to each other to open the windows, crowded trains, and so on. Even though I had a physical home, I had no comfortable “place for me.” (6 July 2016)

Trainee 5 (Table 1), the oldest trainee on the program, described her motivation for attending the Kamiyama Juku recruitment information session. After attending the session, she almost gave up on attending the Juku because she felt that someone younger than herself would be more welcome. However, Mr. A suggested that she visit and stay at Yamamba before the program began. She felt at home in Yamamba’s natural surroundings, boiling baths with firewood and tasting fresh vegetables, which led her to join the Juku.

I considered working in other areas. But I wasn’t confident about my physical strength, so I was a bit intimidated. I was able to venture out of Tokyo because I came to Kamiyama not for work, but for fun. (July 6, 2016)

In the second interview, she said she enjoyed her experiences at the Juku, such as making things, farming, and living in Yamamba, which made her want to live more in the mountains.

In Tokyo, I had no choice but to live, but now I have a life I want to protect first, and I want to work to maintain it. (August 18, 2016)

At the time of the interview, after completing the program, she was working at a woodworking shop in Tokushima City (Figure 1), which she learned about through the Juku’s activities. In Kamiyama, she learned about mountain hunting techniques and looked for a home. Thanks to the title of “Juku trainee,” the residents accepted her, and she learned about the lifestyles of various residents and began to feel that she could realize the mountain lifestyle she had wanted. She participates in the weekly scarecrow-making in the Agawa area with Trainee 4 and had the following to say about the female residents:

Maybe the reason why mountain life is interesting is because the women (who live there) are so attractive. In the city, there are not many women I admire, but here, there are many wonderful seniors. (March 3, 2017)

When I interviewed her a year later, she decided to live in an old house introduced by a resident and was in the middle of renovating it herself. She returned to Kamiyama after working temporary jobs in Tokyo to raise money for the renovation. She makes a living by helping out at a woodworking shop in Tokushima City and doing home-based work ordered from urban areas. The person who introduced her to the house was one of the residents with whom she made scarecrows.

When I was looking for a freezer to store meat after dismantling a deer, a woman resident said, “There is a freezer in the barn that we do not use,” so I went to pick it up. The barn had very solid pillars. The lady told me that I could live there. I decided to rent that on a 20-year contract for now.(14 March 2018)

One thing in common among the three who settled in Kamiyama is that they had not decided to settle in Kamiyama at the time they joined the Juku. Trainees 4 and 5 were rather attracted to the Juku because it did not require them to settle down, and it was a training program, not a job. I now describe the two people who left Kamiyama Town after completing the program. The impact of the Juku on their lives too was very significant.

4.5. Kamiyama as entry point into agriculture

Trainee 2 (Table 1) learned of Kamiyama Juku at a community revitalization event when he was a student. Subsequently, he found a job at a company in Tokushima Prefecture but resigned after little over a year. He described his decision to join the program as follows:　　

I was no longer able to perform my duties. Even a single mistake would cause trouble, not only for me but also for my customers. Thinking about it all, I gradually began to feel unwell and took a leave of absence. During my leave of absence, I remembered the Kamiyama Juku and decided to join it and make a drastic change in my lifestyle.(6 July 2016)

He decided to take over his family’s farming business and joined the Juku because he wanted to explore the possibilities of agriculture. In the second interview, he shared with me what he realized after running an event at the program.

If I combine farming and community-related work, I can expand my possibilities. I realized that I don’t have to be perfect, but I can create with someone else. (18 August 2018)

He also cited a local acquaintance in Kamiyama Town who accepts homestays, offers advice, and is loved as a “father” by young migrants. He stated that he would like to be someone who can support others through agriculture, just like that resident.

A year after the Juku ended, he is training at an agricultural corporation in a town neighboring Kamiyama. Every month, he visits Yamamba with the vegetables he has grown, helps renovate houses, and interacts with the farmers. One of his dreams is to grow crops in Yamamba and sell his produce directly to the public. When there is a Juku or other event in Kamiyama, he frequently joins in or brings his friends to show them around.

4.6. Returning to rural living after realizing the attractiveness outside of Tokyo

Trainee 3 (Table 1) was interested in moving to a place rich in nature, but she did not believe she had a vocation to serve the community, and she was concerned about integrating with the locals. The Kamiyama Juku is only six months long, and the fact that a relationship between the Juku and the local community had already been established made it attractive to participate in the program. In the second interview, she said that during her Juku activities, she mentioned for the first time that it was her dream to become a picture book author, something she had never been confident enough to say before. In an interview near the end of the Juku, she said that her final assignment at the program, a personal project, became one of the most important experiences of her life. It was an exhibition of paintings that she and an alumna of the Juku jointly presented.

Before joining Kamiyama Juku, I had not thought about making a living from picture books. However, I knew I still loved picture books and drawing because people were happy and supportive of my drawings at Juku events and other occasions. After holding the exhibition, I decided to continue painting even if the public did not appreciate it. I hope to make a career out of it someday. (22 December 2016)

A year after the Juku ended, she was working in Kanagawa Prefecture while attending a school to draw picture books. The interview was held a day before she moved from Tokyo. She had rented an apartment in Tokyo since she was a student and lived there since the program ended, but eventually decided to return to her hometown in Kanagawa.

In Tokyo, it was like I was living for consumption. But I felt a kind of peer pressure, and questioning or worrying about it was not allowed. […] [At the time] I assumed Tokyo was the best place for both university and a job. But when I was exposed to Kamiyama people who live by their own values, I felt as if I was freed from the stereotypes I had been living with. […]Even in Kanagawa, everyone works nicely, and there is nothing that is inferior to Tokyo. I love my hometown because of the ocean and mountains, and I can sleep peacefully and soundly. (4 March 2018)

She said she continues to keep in touch with Kamiyama, attending alumni reunions in the town, and gatherings in Tokyo with those who have been to the Juku.

5. Discussion

Through the awareness and changes in the trainees, this study examined how vocational training in the community is related to the creation of migrants and related populations, a topic that has not previously been studied.

The first change in trainees is that their interactions with the residents provided considerable inspiration in their consideration of careers. Trainees 1 and 5 expressed respect for the wisdom and experience of the residents, and Trainees 2, 3, and 4 stated that they gained new ways of thinking through interaction with the residents. While migrants in Klien (2020) and Zollet and Qu’s studies (2023) opined that they felt more comfortable with other migrants who were closer to them than the residents, Trainee 4 felt pressured by the migrants who were active in the community and rather found the residents who had aged in the community to be a closer representation of how she wanted to be in the future. Here, I read about the struggle of the trainees who arrived without a clear purpose, like starting a business (Klien 2020).

Moreover, while one of the difficulties for migrants is to gain the trust of locals (Rosenberger 2017), as stated by Trainees 1 and 5 in this study, the title of being a trainee served as a catalyst for interaction with the population. Trainees 1 and 3 feel that the residents recognize and support their efforts, which gives them the confidence to move on to the next job. This is true of the suggestion (Kobayashi and Nakatsuka 2022) that the recognition and patronage of individuals by residents can create a sense of affinity with the community and thus lead to the creation of a related population. The trainees’ trust and appreciation for the community is thought to be a catalyst for settling and becoming a related population after the training.

The second of their changes is their increased involvement and interest in community revitalization. Trainees 1 and 4, who stated that they had little interest in local revitalization before participating in the program, and Trainee 5, who was hesitant to move for work, expressed a desire to settle in Kamiyama Town after completing the Juku and further participate in local activities and pass on residents’ wisdom.

In this study, I focused on trainees struggling to find a fulfilling career that aligns with their aspirations, instead of migrants who have already started their own businesses and are currently active (Klien 2020; Funck 2020). One year after the Juku ended, they had developed visions of their careers. Mr. A said that he initially began the program with the assumption that the trainees would be employed by a company, but they have grown beyond his expectations through interaction with the residents and have chosen various careers for themselves, including settling in Kamiyama (February 3, 2015).

The length of time and the pressure to produce results (Klien 2020; Reiher 2020) make it unlikely that many people with little interest in settling down or revitalizing a region would apply for a position at the local vitalization cooperator. However, internships in the region for just a few weeks, which allow for easy participation, highlight the struggles of the organizers directing participants to the related population (Takahama and Imanaga 2021).

In the vocational training targeted in this study, participants did not initially possess the primary goal of contributing to the community, but after developing a vision of their own careers, they spontaneously began the path to migration and related populations. Vocational training is open to everyone, regardless of their interest in the community. The fact that trainees who had no intention of settling down became migrants or related populations suggests the possibility that many more people could be involved in community revitalization if they knew what the community had to offer. Therefore, this study was able to illustrate that vocational training in the region may contribute to the expansion of migrant and related populations, which has not been highlighted in previous studies.

Additionally, by incorporating the concept of related populations, the study was able to identify the potential for future contributions to the community by those who do not move to the area. For example, although Trainee 2 left Kamiyama, he visits the town every month and is considered part of the related population of Kamiyama. Trainee 3 also decided to leave Tokyo, where she had lived since her student days, and return to her hometown in Kanagawa Prefecture as a result of her experience at the Juku. If we viewed migrants only in terms of numbers, her decision would not attract much attention. In terms of personal change, however, the liberation from Tokyo is an extremely significant change. The fact that she realized the advantages of living outside of Tokyo and returned to her hometown is not a failure of migration; rather, it opens up the possibility for her to discover and contribute to the appeal of various regions in the future.

Finally, I discuss the use of related populations in vocational training. Mr. A is not a resident of Kamiyama but is truly part of the related population of Kamiyama, running the Kamiyama Juku and serving as a board member of GV. This shows the potential for strangers to become aware of and utilize local resources, as emphasized by Carson and Carson (2018). Trainees who settle may further migrate to other areas, as suggested by other studies (Shimojima and Ohe 2016; Klien 2020). However, as the GV mission that attracted Mr. A suggests, increasing the number of people involved in the revitalization of various areas as members of the related population may help revitalize depopulated areas nationwide.

6. Conclusion

Through interviews with the trainees, this study determined the kind of awareness and change that vocational training in the community can achieve and how it relates to the creation of migrants and related populations. Although the small number of interviewees is perhaps a limitation, multiple interviews were conducted with the same person over approximately two years to monitor changes in each individual and ensure the quality and depth of interviews.

The study revealed the following two points: First, the trainees were able to obtain inspiration for future work through their interactions with the residents. Moreover, their trust and appreciation for the residents was found to lead to settlement and their becoming members of the related population. Second, their involvement and interest in community revitalization increased. As the vocational training was not based on settlement, a wide variety of trainees could participate for a wide range of purposes. Even if they are not initially interested, through vocational training in the community, trainees may discover an interest and potential to become migrants and members of related populations.

In Japan, where the population has been declining nationwide, local governments, particularly those in depopulated areas, anticipate an increase in both immigrants and the related population. Vocational training in the community is open to those who are not considering settling and, consequently, can contribute to expanding the range of newcomers and related populations.

This study has highlighted the possibility of contributing to the revitalization of the community as a ripple effect of vocational training in the community, an area that has not been previously studied. Future research could examine integration into the community (Takeda 2020), considering the opinions of the residents and other factors to determine the requirements for a full-fledged settlement after the completion of vocational training.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Kedouin Hirotomo, President of RELATION Inc., and his employees for facilitating this long-term research at the Kamiyama Juku; the trainees for their willingness to be interviewed on multiple occasions; the migrants and residents for sharing their stories; and Green Valley Inc. for assisting me with my research in Kamiyama. Finally, I would like to thank the editors, anonymous reviewers, and researchers for their constructive and encouraging comments on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available as the participants of this study did not provide written consent for their data to be shared publicly.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by research funds provided to each faculty member by Toyo University (2019–2023) and the Hiroshima University TAOYAKA Program for creating a flexible, enduring, peaceful society, which was funded by the Program for Leading Graduate Schools, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2014–2019).