Explore Japan
Regions
How Japan changes from one region to another through dialects, food, customs, local identity, climate, history, and relationships with the rest of the country.
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Conservation, Energy Development, and Local Land-Use Conflicts
How communities negotiate conservation, renewable energy, tourism, construction, farmland, forests, and development when environmental goals and local livelihoods come into conflict.
Mountains, Rivers, Coasts, Volcanoes, and Regional Landscapes
How mountains, valleys, rivers, plains, coasts, and volcanoes shape settlement, farming, transport, industry, risk, and the landscapes people identify as home.
Regional Infrastructure, Transport, Healthcare Access, and School Consolidation
How shrinking populations affect buses, railways, roads, hospitals, clinics, schools, public facilities, and the distance residents must travel for essential services.
Regional Revitalization, Tourism, Furusato Nozei, and Local Branding
How communities use tourism, subsidies, migration programs, local products, furusato nozei, events, and branding to attract people and sustain regional economies.
Regions, Prefectures, Geography, and Local Identity in Japan
How prefectures, traditional regions, former provinces, landscapes, hometowns, and local rivalries overlap to create identities that do not always follow administrative borders.
Rice Farming, Agriculture, Irrigation, and Farm Communities
How rice fields, irrigation systems, agricultural calendars, cooperatives, machinery, land inheritance, and shared labor connect farming with the organization of rural communities.