This panel investigates processes through which local governments in three Tohoku towns are addressing depopulation and economic decline. Three themes are developed: (1) how communities are sentimentalized as local governments draw from stereotyped images of a traditional, rural Japan; (2) the intersection of institutions and ideologies as local governments attempt to maintain and attract population; and (3) specific practices associated with reducing population decline and generating economic growth. The panel focuses attention on the Tohoku region of Northern Japan, an area in which out-migration and economic decline have been particularly problematic. Each paper considers different, but interconnected, aspects of local government responses to population decline and approaches toward generating growth. Mock looks at the manner in which governments in Akita use modern housing projects to attract and retain population. Ogren considers how the local dialect is used by weavers in Iwate to sentimentalize the community, a process that is incorporated into government promulgated ideologies related to town-building (machi-zukuri). Traphagan follows on Ogren’s work by considering the juxtaposition of modernity and tradition in the institutionalization of machi-zukuri as an Iwate town attempts to build a "living environment" that symbolizes both. Finally, Thompson investigates an Iwate town government’s use of the internet to address problems arising from center-periphery relationships with Tokyo. The panel will be organized to stimulate discussion and audience participation. Rather than reading papers, findings from each author’s research will be presented in a 15-minute block with a 10-minute discussion period following. Papers will be posted to a web site in draft form prior to the meetings.

John Mock, Minnesota State University, Akita

Akita Prefecture and the entire Tohoku Region has been undergoing a population shift—from rural areas to regional cities and from the entire region to the great metropolitan centers—for at least the last century. Many of the small villages and townships in the Tohoku region have been plagued by rapid depopulation that has caused problems in education, social services, and many other areas. One small (population 9,000) township, administratively created forty years ago from three villages, has been trying to stem the tide of depopulation creatively through a variety of schemes, bringing in the prefectural airport, sponsoring an "international university," and several ventures into helping to provide various kinds of housing to maintain and attract population.

This paper examines the attempts to hold and attract population through various housing schemes, within the overall framework of township policies and finances. The primary focus of the analysis are the attempts by the town to educate young folks from within the town and outsiders in the value of living in the township, both for low-rent housing and subsidized "upper end" housing. The various kinds of housing available in the township, the attempts to construct acceptable "modern" housing, financial systems to make housing affordable, and a variety of other issues are examined specifically in light of their impact on the social order of the township, both intended and unintended.

Holly Ogren, University of Texas, Austin

This paper focuses on the use of local dialect and standard Japanese in linguistic interactions between women involved in a local form of weaving in a Northern Japanese community, and their customers. This type of weaving, called saki-ori, is part of a broader set of machi-zukuri (‘community-building’) practices which are aimed at retaining the local population through fostering a sense of pride in and shared history about the community. The women who promote saki-ori through their work act both as maintainers of a local traditional craft form and brokers who sell saki-ori products.

I argue that the women who work in saki-ori related services are involved in a process of sentimentalizing the community, a process that is an essential part of machi-zukuri activities. Language also plays a role in this process, as witnessed by the inclusion of local dialect in community promotional brochures. However, how language is used in service encounters between those promoting local products and their customers remains unexplored.

This paper therefore focuses on local dialect and standard Japanese in language use. Data are drawn from interactions between women who work at two places dedicated to saki-ori weaving, and their customers: a facility which offers people the opportunity to try saki-ori weaving for a minimal fee, a store which sells saki-ori products. Through my analysis, I suggest ways in which linguistic resources are strategically used by speakers in presenting themselves and their products to outsiders.

Christopher S. Thompson, Ohio University

The residents of regional Japan, a full one-third of the country’s populace, have played a major supporting role in Japan’s rise to affluence during the post war period. While Tokyo’s central role in the management of the nation is well known, seldom do we learn about how national policies shape the lives of people in small towns and villages outside the industrial belt. Inadequate attention has been given to the problems that Tokyo policies have created for regional towns. As a result, the significance of the creative measures taken by regional municipalities to solve these problems is not well understood. This paper addresses the center-periphery relationship in contemporary Japan from the viewpoint of the regional municipality by exploring the "Cyber Townsman" concept, which is a new WWW-based town development tool used in Towa-chô, a small town in Iwate Prefecture. The "Cyber Townsman" is used to engage Towa inhabitants in information exchanges with city residents for the purpose of seeking solutions to local problems caused by the center-periphery relationship. This is one way Towa-chô, like many other regional municipalities, is working to solve its development needs in a host of unprecedented ways. In this paper, I will address the major problems that Tokyo policies have created for Iwate towns, and offer examples of how Towa-chô and other Iwate municipalities are addressing these issues to prepare for the 21st century.

John W. Traphagan, California State University, Fullerton