Urban migrants in rural Japan: Between agency and anomie in a post-growth society

This study, written by Susanne Klien from Hokkaido University, contributes to research on rural areas and urban-rural migration by demonstrating new ways of thinking about rurality as a theoretical concept, as well as identifying Japan’s urban-rural migration not as a Japanese phenomenon but as an aspect of post-growth societies everywhere. Previous research on lifestyle migration mainly concentrated on individuals migrating in order to slow down their lives and opt out of conventional work modes. This book, however, depicts the migrants’ struggles of balancing their pursuit for professional success with their quest for a better quality of life. Drawing on Susanne Klien’s extensive ethnographic fieldwork regarding urbanites living in rural areas of Japan (Klien, 2016; 2019), this study gathers various narratives depicting individuals’ motivations to migrate, their hopes and aspirations of leading a more self-determined, diverse and sustainable life, as well as their struggles in implementing these into their everyday lives. In combining ethnographic fieldwork and face-to-face interviews with “virtual” fieldwork via social media and online interviews, this work represents the forefront of contemporary ethnographic research and sets a high bar for future scholars. I highly recommend this monograph for anyone interested in lifestyle migration as well as ethnographic research on contemporary Japanese society. With its numerous vignettes and accounts from the field, it manages to convey and debate theoretical approaches to rurality and the role of rural areas as well as younger generations’ struggles within post-growth societies, while at the same time it is an immensely enjoyable read.

Chapter 1 sets out to debate rural areas’ roles in contemporary Japan and in the world, and challenges the dominant discourse depicting rural areas as backwards places of stagnation laden with nostalgic notions of traditional Japanese culture. Instead of painting a monolithic picture of the countryside, this chapter introduces a new narrative of rural areas as places of invention and opportunity for change. However, while young and middle-aged urbanites value rural areas as experimental grounds for trying new ventures and renegotiating their work–life balance, Chapter 2 begins to identify various systemic constraints, focusing on female migrants’ experiences. The narratives show that more often than not, women in their twenties to forties tend to show signs of internalized patriarchal norms and traditional gender roles, often aligning their lives and work to fit their families’ needs. Further, various vignettes illustrating women’s need to be likable in order to attain support from their husbands, in-laws or the local community, show the continuing relevance of female virtue and the external perception of female behaviour.

Chapter 3 explores Japan’s shift from a society of economic growth with an emphasis on material wealth to a society valuing social capital, subjective well-being and a better work-life balance. Narratives introduced in this chapter focus on urban-rural linkages as a new way of life, an approach that offers a more fluid understanding of migration as well as of rural areas. In a time where the use of online services and social media are a common praxis and the distance between any two places seems to shrink constantly, conventional understandings of migration as a cut-off point in a person’s life appear outdated. Rather than breaking with their previous lives, contemporary young and middle-aged migrants see their relocation to rural areas as just another step in their personal development, keeping in mind the possibility for future relocations to other places. This fuzziness in individuals’ life-planning continues to be explored in Chapter 4. Here, young migrants’ struggles within a post-growth society are illustrated, arguing that their focus on “small-scale happiness” can be traced back to the economic insecurities that started in the post-bubble era, including precarious employment conditions and shifting societal norms. Further, this chapter outlines the disparity between individuals’ quest for a self-determined, work-leisure balanced life, on the one hand, and the pressure to adhere to conventional lifestyles in combination with the challenges of making ends meet within the limited job market provided by rural areas, on the other hand. Chapter 5 continues to examine migrants’ work-life balance, showing that blurring the lines between work and leisure in combination with young people’s striving for self-determination and personal achievement often leads to individuals’ complete preoccupation with work, leaving no time for leisure or a better quality of life.

Chapter 6 investigates migrants’ difficulties with integrating into rural communities and their position as mobile subjects and outsiders, who do not necessarily see themselves (or are not seen by others) as a permanent part of the local community. Migrants’ narratives are infused with notions of liminality, describing a process of transition, where individuals have detached from their past but not yet reached their future. For some interviewees, this state of liminality represents part of their process of reinventing themselves professionally and personally, even though not all are certain of the direction in which they may develop themselves. As a result, more and more young people find themselves in a state of “moratorium migration”, which is used to gain time to think about one’s own wishes and prospects. This type of migration is explained to be linked tightly to contemporary post-growth society and the neoliberal age, indicating a lack of stability and future prospects for younger generations. Therefore, migrants show a lack of planning or anticipation for their future and instead focus on the present. Their narratives hint that they have clear visions of a good life but often find it to lie just out of their reach.

Chapter 7 completes the volume in recounting the experiences of social entrepreneurs trying to contribute to local communities in former disaster zones by creating employment opportunities for locals and exploring novel modes of working and living. Relating back to the narratives touched upon earlier, this chapter deals with the challenges of balancing work and leisure, and entrepreneurs’ tendency to immerse themselves completely in their work without tending to their personal needs.

This monograph offers three main contributions to the discourse regarding rural areas and Japanese society as a whole. First, regarding rural areas, this study questions prevalent notions of set boundaries between what may be perceived as rural or urban. Instead, it presents the notion of an urban-rural continuum as a fluid form of exchange between urban and rural regions, with individuals continuing to associate with their former place of living or work. Second and strongly linked to the first argument, Klien challenges the assumption that a migration equals a break in migrants’ lives. Instead, migration is depicted as part of an individual’s evolution, as just another step in their search for a fulfilling personal and professional life. Here, the term “moratorium migration”, identifying a migrant’s position in the local community as liminal and implying the constant possibility of relocation to another place, plays a central role.

Last, the stories in this book encapsulate the broader issue of young individuals’ struggles within post-growth society. It shows how the lingering values from a period of economic growth, including collective gambarism and self-exploitation, in combination with today’s insecure job market, neoliberal notions of self-responsibility and personal success, as well as the search for happiness, excitement and a better quality of life, together tear at young individuals, leaving them without a clear vision for their future. While this study focusses on young and middle-aged migrants’ trajectories, it provokes us to think about other young people’s lives in contemporary society. After all, not all individuals facing difficulties in post-growth society decide to migrate to rural areas. Future research could approach this topic from a comparative approach, juxtaposing young individuals who remain in urban areas and those who remain in rural areas with those who choose migration. This could offer additional insight into people’s struggles in post-growth society and their ways to cope with them. Further, whereas this book includes both young and middle-aged migrants, the differences between those groups is only touched upon lightly. It would be interesting to further distinguish between the different age-groups in order to investigate if their struggles and values vary and how that may be rooted within the specific circumstances of their upbringing.

To conclude, this book combines insightful narratives from the field with theoretical reflections on major issues of contemporary societies around the globe. The strong relation between the topics of individual chapters results in minor repetitions of some concepts and examples from the author’s observations. However, these reoccurring themes do not affect the overall reading experience. This book conveys its messages in a highly comprehensible manner and is suitable for scholars as well as students of Japanese society.

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Notes on contributors

Antonia Miserka

Antonia Miserka is a PhD student at the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna. Her research interests include internal migration, subjective well-being and the social aspects of everyday life in rural areas of Japan. She is part of an interdisciplinary research project, financed by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, dealing with social relationships and subjective well-being in rural areas of Japan. In her dissertation she focusses on the role of locality – both local places as well as local communities – for the subjective well-being of residents in rural municipalities.