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Paper short abstract:

The talk focuses on Japan's recent "share house" trend and discusses it as a new format of urban collective housing informed by Japan's changing socio-economic agenda. I explore the physical space of the "share house" and its social function of generating alternative modes of intimacy and belonging.

Paper long abstract:

In the last decades Japan has been undergoing an extensive societal change centered mainly on family, employment, and patterns of social organization. Later and fewer marriages lead to a growing amount of singles; new patterns of employment produce new groups with diversified income and living conditions; the virtualization of communication generates new spaces of social interaction.

As traditional networks of intimacy and belonging are replaced by more atomized modes of living, new institutions emerge that enable alternative forms of social bonding. This paper focuses on one such institution - a new type of housing referred to as the "share house". "Share house" is a format of collective residence, whereby large living spaces are divided into separate units, furnished, and rented out to individual tenants. Often they are organized by a certain principle, such as same-gender houses, houses for single mothers, multicultural houses etc. The popularity of the "share house" is in sharp contrast with the conventional style of Japanese housing, where "home" is defined by middle-class ideals of privacy and nuclear family.

This talk presents the "share house" phenomenon as a new spatial format addressing Japan's changing socio-economic agenda. I discuss the space of the share house as a physical manifestation of contemporary urban living; I then explore the notion of a place as defined by the process in which a sense of intimacy and belonging is generated - in other words, in which a "house" becomes a "home". I further link the notion of a home to the changing realities of Japanese family, and suggest that in contemporary urban Japan, the "share house" addresses the need in alternative modes of familial intimacy and social bonding.

Is "share house" a passing trend or a lasting development capable of redefining the notions of "public" and "private", of a family and a community? Does this new format of co-residence represent an attempt to revitalize (or perhaps reinvent) Japan's long-cherished communality, or a largely economic solution triggered by Japan's continuous recession? The talk will address these questions and place them in a wider global context.

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Paper short abstract:

Taking a case of one Japanese village community, my paper elucidates a mechanism, under which the historically constituted and therefore locally specific structure of social inequality is perpetuated via an ongoing state-led regional policy, namely community building projects.

Paper long abstract:

In 2009, the Japanese government shifted its policy for regional governance aimed at combatting the ongoing economic stagnation and depopulation in rural communities from large-scale public investment projects to grass roots community-building projects (chiiki okoshi). The greater part of the existing literature treats the participatory aspect of these projects as a sign of the empowerment of local civil society as a whole. However, when we remember that it is the very same central government that is promoting this local activism, the notion of real local empowerment immediately becomes questionable. Indeed, Japanese regional policies have been reshaped in accord with the New Public Commons, widely recognized as the benchmark of a neo-liberal public administration. Taking a critical perspective, my paper is concerned with whether the participants in community building projects are, in fact, the unwitting facilitators of the neo-liberal goals of the State. Moving beyond simple criticism that merely identifies neo-liberal characteristics in community building projects, my paper deals with the consequences of community building projects for the local community. Taking the case of one Japanese village community, the key question I pose is: 'Who actually are the motivated participants in a community-building project in a specific village?' To answer this question, I study the historically constituted and therefore locally specific structure of social hierarchy in the locality — its socio-culture. I demonstrate that the limits to participation in the project at the village level are socio-culturally structured. As a consequence, the overall plan for community building activities embodies a noticeable socio-cultural bias. I argue that this unequal social reality has resulted in what Pierre Bourdieu called symbolic domination in the village. Accordingly, my study concludes that the neo-liberalization of the governing discourse at the State level advances, while simultaneously perpetuating the structure of social inequality at the local level. By presenting the highly locally specific nature, yet highly politically significant structure, of rural communities, my study contributes to the elucidation of a newly emerging, and possibly encompassing, aspect of the complexity and diversity of rural life in contemporary Japan.

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Paper short abstract:

Adopting the analytical tools of actor-network theory, the present paper investigates the controversial role played by pachinko and pachinko halls in the everyday life of suburban Japan, focusing on the spatial production of habits and addictive behaviours.

Paper long abstract:

In 2015 the turnover of Japanese pachinko halls exceeded 23.2 trillion yen, making pachinko the biggest leisure business in Japan. Electronic machine gambling is an enormous economy, which profoundly affects the life of millions of Japanese citizens. But how and where does this concretely occur? While the psy-sciences have developed a wide literature on gambling addiction, few works in the social sciences have focused on the topic of gambling, and researches concerning Japanese pachinko are especially scarce. Compared to any other country, Japan has an exceptionally widespread network of electronic gambling halls. Pachinko halls are located nearby train stations, in commercial districts, next to shopping malls and in every densely populated area. A geography of electronic machine gambling is thus required in order to complicate our understanding of gambling, as well as of the so-called "gambling disorder", in the specific context of Japanese cities. Following demographic, economic and technological shifts of the last decades, since the early 1980s pachinko halls have rapidly transformed. Spreading across suburban areas and increasing in size, pachinko halls have come to be known as one of the entertainment attractions par excellence of Japanese suburban working-class. However, less known is to what extent and how pachinko halls have been participating in the construction of Japanese suburban space. How has the increasing accessibility of gambling facilities mediated the everyday experiences and practices of Japanese suburban population. Drawing from an ongoing fieldwork and adopting the analytical tools of actor-network theory, the present paper investigates the controversial role played by pachinko and pachinko halls in the everyday life of suburban communities of Kanto region.

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Paper short abstract:

The paper examines rural "cities" attempting to brand and revitalise themselves as eco-town in face of economic stagnation and demographic shifts. They do so by co-opting the central government's national goals to become the world's eco-leader, often on the backs of rural efforts and resources.

Paper long abstract:

In 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) began to designate "Biomass towns." The project resulted from the Kyoto protocol, and aimed to identify municipalities committed to carbon emission reduction by increasing use of local biomass energy sources. Additional anticipated benefits included development of advanced biomass-conversion technology and stimulation of the rural areas that would be at the project's core. By 2010, only one-third of the designated towns were on track to the initial energy goals. In the following year, with the number of Biomass towns barely reaching three hundred, MAFF replaced the plan with a centralized alternative. The central government's national goal to become the world's political and economic eco-leader on the backs of rural efforts, in this case, was mildly successful at best.

For some of the rural participants, the Biomass town project brought opportunities. Maniwa in Okayama, for example, was established in 2005 during the Great Heisei Mergers (1999-2006). With nine villages and towns combined into a city of just over 51,000 residents, Maniwa jumped at an opportunity to establish a new identity and became registered as a Biomass town in 2006. 80% forested Maniwa had a preexisting pellet and other wood-derivative product industry, and the designation became a further incentive to brand the city as an eco-town. Its prized jersey cows' wastes and wasted vegetable oil are now recycled into usable energy. Entrepreneurs make profit on woody biomass products, and since 2006 conduct "Biomass tours" that showcase processing technology as well as the new city hall running on biomass energy. The city also promotes more traditional eco-tourism centered on its landscape and the resident Natural Monuments. For cities like Maniwa, survival remains the key as the economic stagnation and demographic shift continue. Since its creation, Maniwa's population has declined by 3,000 every five years and continues to age. The city's goal is often less about global sustainability or national prestige and more about creating local jobs, attracting tourists, and self-sufficiency. This paper explores how postindustrial rural "cities" like Maniwa have persevered under the limitations and opportunities presented by Tokyo.