Presentation short abstract

Based on three months of fieldwork on Ama Island, this study examines how local initiatives—such as the Island-as-Library concept, Adult Island Study Abroad, and community-based welfare—reflect elements of real-existing degrowth rooted in the island’s resistance to the Heisei municipal mergers

Presentation long abstract

Drawing on three months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted on Ama Island in Japan between September and November 2025, this research explores how the island’s locally driven initiatives embody elements of real-existing degrowth. Ama is known for its unique history of resisting the Heisei no Daigappei municipal mergers, a stance that reaffirmed local autonomy and collective decision-making. This historical trajectory provides the foundation for a set of practices that challenge dominant growth-oriented development narratives.

In my presentation, I will introduce key initiatives—such as the Island-as-Library concept, which reimagines the entire island as a distributed space of shared knowledge and collective learning; the Adult Island Study Abroad program, which brings in newcomers in their twenties as “関係人口" or relational population to engage directly with local challenges; and community-based welfare approaches that strengthen intergenerational ties and mutual support. Together, these initiatives demonstrate how social relations, cultural continuity, and everyday practices can serve as concrete examples of real-existing degrowth from Japan.

Through daily observation, conversation, interviews, and discussion with town council members, this study analyzes how these practices foster resilience, cultivate slow and intentional forms of living, and reinforce communal responsibility.

By situating Ama’s practices within broader debates on degrowth, this research contributes a Japan-based case to discussions of real-existing degrowth, illustrating how initiatives on this small island can offer grounded, pragmatic models for post-growth futures rooted in lived experience rather than abstract theory.