From the Editor
2010; Oxford University Press; Volume: 13; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ssjj/jyq068
ISSN1468-2680
Autores ResumoSeveral items in this issue review the problem of regional stagnation.International visitors to Tokyo often remark that Japan seems far livelier and more prosperous than they had gathered from the gloomy news reports of Japan's aging society and economic travails.Yet, once they leave the confines of Tokyo and one or two other relatively dynamic cities such as Nagoya or Fukuoka, the reality of economic stagnation and population loss becomes palpable: signs of decline once limited to remote mountain villages now appear in small towns and even regional cities.Peter Matanle and Yasuyuki Sato examine the recent move toward recognizing that hopes to revitalize by stimulating economic growth are not always realistic, and review alternative approaches.Similarly, Christopher Hood shows that extending the network of shinkansen trains, traditionally a favorite focus of pork barrel politics in Japan, is not uniformly successful in spurring local development.Finally, Philip Seaton and Christopher Thompson cover contrasting case studies in northern Japan: Yubari, a small town in Hokkaido that created a media frenzy by going bankrupt, has become a symbol of opportunistic and short-sighted local officials relying-ultimately in vain-on infusions from the center, while Kamaishi, formerly renowned as a steel town, has made some tentative progress toward regeneration.Together, these analyses of diverging responses to local dilemmas of aging and stagnation deepen our understanding of Japan's regional disparities and ways in which they might be addressed.Starting next year, Social Science Japan Journal will move to a new publication schedule of January and July each year.This shift will align volume numbers with calendar years, so that one volume will no longer extend across two calendar years.Issues 14:1 and 14:2, for example, will appear in January and July of 2011.
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