Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes electoral patterns in so called “kaso chiiki” – areas which are both rapidly aging and subject to longstanding redistributive policies – to address the puzzle of stable rural support for the LDP despite ongoing peripheralization.

Paper long abstract:

Increasing socio-spatial inequalities have been linked to a rise of “anti-establishment” parties and politicians in postindustrial countries across the globe. In Japan, however, rural areas have continued to support the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), despite disproportionately high levels of aging, outmigration, and economic decline. In the mid-2000s, the LDP had seemingly alienated its rural support base with a series of reforms targeting agriculture and central-local fiscal relations. The latter triggered a wave of municipal mergers which pushed aging rural areas to the peripheries of larger, more heterogeneous municipalities. Rural discontent contributed to the victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in 2009. Since 2012, however, the LDP has reestablished its electoral dominance – but is the LDP still the party of rural Japan? This paper addresses the missing link between socio-economic decline and rural electoral support for the LDP by analyzing a panel data set on municipal-level electoral results and socio-economic indicators across four general elections between 2012 and 2021. We focus on municipalities designated as “rapidly depopulating” (kaso chiiki), which are marked by above-average levels of aging and depopulation and below-average fiscal and economic strength. These kaso chiiki are subject to longstanding (fiscal and non-fiscal) support measures.

Our results show that kaso chiiki indeed display stronger LDP support and higher turnout ratios. Yet, this pattern is particularly pronounced in “fully depopulating” municipalities, most of which remained intact during the mid-2000s municipal merger wave. In contrast, electoral behavior in “partly depopulating” municipalities – i.e., municipalities which absorbed depopulating areas in the mid-2000s merger wave – does not differ markedly from “normal” municipalities. The results suggest that the LDP’s rural support base is subject to different dimensions of peripheralization since the mid-2000s merger wave. In “fully depopulating” municipalities, where rapid aging and economic decline remain directly linked to geographically targeted redistribution, the traditional alliance between rural voters and the LDP seems intact. In “partly depopulating” municipalities, rural areas are marginalized socio-economically and politically. Here, the LDP is less successful than in "fully depopulating" municipalities - yet, sub-municipal peripheralization does also not amount to significant electoral losses for the LDP.

Paper short abstract:

While structural and cultural barriers continue to restrict women’s political careers in Japan, local assemblies have seen an increase in female politicians. This paper investigates if and how female politicians, specifically in declining rural areas, reproduce or contest patriarchal structures.

Paper long abstract:

Structural and cultural barriers continue to restrict women’s political careers in Japan. More than a decade since the Japanese government announced the goal to reach a quota of 30% of female assembly members, women were still vastly underrepresented in 2021. However, the share of female representatives in municipal assemblies (15.4%) was significantly higher than in prefectural assemblies (11.8%) or the national Diet (9.9% in the Lower House). While this might indicate change at the grassroot level, higher levels of female representation are mostly an urban phenomenon, while city, town and village assemblies in rural areas still fall behind. In 2021, 275 out of 1,741 local assemblies had no female assembly member at all. Even though electoral competition in smaller municipalities might be lower, few women decide to run for office and become candidates; even fewer are successful in the elections.

How does this urban-rural divide affect local politics? An increase in female representation is often understood as an indicator of a subsequent increase in gender equality and could be the key to make way for more innovative policies needed to tackle problems such as depopulation, aging society as well as the ongoing health crisis which are prevalent in most rural municipalities in Japan. Yet being a woman does not necessarily translate into a more liberal political orientation, and not all women in political offices try to challenge the status quo. Especially in rural areas, where the conservative LDP continues to endorse many candidates who are officially running as independents, it can be hard to disentangle the agendas of candidates and the LDP. Against this background, this paper uses qualitative methods (interviews, candidate manifestos) to investigate if and how female politicians in local assemblies reproduce or contest persisting patriarchal structures in Japanese local politics. I am especially interested in how female politicians tackle the challenge of “revitalizing” socio-economically declining municipalities by emphasizing their female perspective. On the one hand, this can give legitimacy to their candidacy. On the other hand, however, embracing a “revitalization” platform might also reproduce existing political structures, including conservative gender roles.

Paper short abstract:

Based on qualitative research in the Aso region in Kyushu, this paper asks how people in rural Japan address problems in the local community. It shows how everyday life aspects of these activities have great potential to explain the dynamics of rural political participation.

Paper long abstract:

Comparative studies argue that Japan shows lower numbers especially in expressive forms of political participation than most other OECD countries. However, at the local level citizen protests against e.g. construction projects in their vicinity are relatively common. Further, ethnographic accounts of rural communities demonstrate a variety of ways of how people actively participate in their local communities in potentially transformative ways. While most studies still stick to a narrow definition of the “political”, this study connects to more recent approaches to political participation which treat such community activities as forms of political participation. Based on qualitative field research between 2018 and 2021, this paper asks how people in the rural Aso region in Kyūshū address local problems and how they talk about their political activities. I took a closer look on numerous community activities in several municipalities in the region and demonstrate how they can be viewed as a specific form of political participation closely linked to the everyday lives of the participants, involving certain ways of lifestyle or even emotions. Further, against the backdrop of demographic decline, many of the activities observed in this paper aim at preserving the local community rather than actively challenging the local authorities. I contrast these preservative political activities with an example for more elite-challenging local activities—the protest against a local cattle barn—to illustrate how everyday life aspects eventually led to conflict within the protest movement. I conclude that especially in times of demographic challenges in rural Japan, we can observe a variety of forms of political participation that enable valuable insights in conflicts within local communities but also into many non-confrontative forms that try to preserve the current community structures.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores possibilities and limitations of participatory planning and democracy in rural Japan from the perspective of self-censorship and social exclusion to find out why residents often prefer not to express their dissatisfaction when they disagree with the local government.

Paper long abstract:

Should a famous architect be paid to design a local museum? Does a small town in rural Japan need its own concert hall? Should a local government build parking lots for tourists or rather a supermarket for residents? Because city planning is often controversial, local governments involve citizens in some of their programs and projects. In rural areas of Japan, on the other hand, public works projects are still mostly planned based on local government decisions and funded with subsidies from the central government. While there are examples of participatory planning in Japan, such as planning cells, in rural Japan local governments often do not provide many opportunities for citizens to contribute their ideas and needs to the planning process. Residents are concerned about the future of their town and the use of public space, but they often voice their criticisms only among themselves and not in public. Based on online and on-site research in two communities in rural Kyushu that included interviews, participant observation, and social media research, this paper addresses how citizens express their needs and concerns about the use of public space and why many residents do not do so openly in socially closely-knit rural communities. From the perspective of self-censorship and social exclusion, this paper aims to find out why residents often prefer not to express their dissatisfaction and often feel powerless when they disagree with the local government. In this way, the possibilities and limitations of participatory planning and democracy in rural Japan will be explored.