The grass-roots modernization in a Japanese Village

Abstract

The critical role played by national or central direction in Japan's modernization is well recognized, but the role of rural Japan in the nation's modernizing process has not been adequately understood. Ways of life in rural Japan, or buraku , are usually viewed negatively, and considered stumbling blocks in the process of modernization. However, acloser analysis of Ryumon, an ordinary Japanese village in W Japan which successfully transformed its agricultural system to become a citrus specialty area, has revealed that the villages achieved a new way of life through many years of grass-roots effort in the context of buraku society. Clearly, buraku society must be examined more thoroughly before our understanding of Japan's process of modernization becomes complete.