HEAD FOR THE HILLS:
Growing Number of City Dwellers Leaving for Greener Pastures

FEBRUARY 28, 1997

Urbanites are increasingly opting to live near scenery like this. (Photo: Kyodo)

More and more city dwellers are pulling up stakes and moving out to the country. In the past, urbanites have tended to look upon rural areas (when they thought about them at all) as places to retire. But now an increasing number of working-age adults and young people in the cities are abandoning their cramped, busy lives in favor of a more serene existence. While the flow of new residents to rural areas hasn't exactly skyrocketed, this reverse migration does constitute a discernible trend.

Depopulated Village Hires Urbanites
One true-life success story of people who chose the pastoral life can be found in Nosegawamura, a mountain hamlet in Nara Prefecture whose population of about 760 is spread out over 155 square kilometers of land, 97% of which is mountainous. Virtually all of Nosegawamura's young people leave to find work elsewhere, and the village's population has dwindled to less than one-fifth of what it was 30 years ago. Desperate to fill vacancies in the village government and relieve shortages of nurses at clinics and public-health facilities, Nosegawamura took matters into its own hands in the fall of 1994 by posting help-wanted ads in magazines for job seekers, and by sending information on the village to about 200 universities around the country.

Although village officials were skeptical as to whether these efforts would actually attract any applicants, Nosegawamura ultimately received a total of 17 resumes from university students and adults living in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and other cities. This was a first for Nosegawamura, which in the past had always had to draw its workers from among the few villagers who were high-school graduates. In the spring of 1995, the village hired six of the city dwellers who had sent their resumes. Three students just out of college were employed as civil servants at the village hall, two women who had worked in Osaka-area hospitals were hired as nurses, and a young man formerly employed by a computer-game company went to work for the local forestry cooperative.

In leaving the city behind, these newcomers to the country are motivated by many common factors. "The city's too crowded. I got fed up with riding on jam-packed trains and working like a slave all the time. I wanted to be surrounded by nature and live at a relaxed pace." "The days were just passing by one after another, like I was on a conveyor belt. I felt stifled. I wanted to work someplace where I could have face-to-face contact with patients." "I don't like sacrificing myself for the bottom line or getting all caught up in office politics, and I wanted to live in a place with clean air and water."

Encouraged by its success, Nosegawamura hired two more new college graduates from outside the village in fiscal 1996, and plans to follow the same course in fiscal 1997.

Rural Living Attracts People from All Walks of Life
There are also many success stories of individuals who have picked up and moved from the city to the country on their own initiative.

Nine years ago, one 60-year-old Osaka sushi shop owner sold his restauran t, packed up his family of five, and moved to Oita Prefecture in rural Kyushu. "I wanted my children to be raised as well-rounded humans, surrounded by nature and free to play to their hearts' content," explains the man, who now owns a small coffee shop. He has even organized a group to promote rural living. The group, which has grown to 650 members, produces a newsletter 10 times each year to showcase life in the country as well as rural homes for sale. About 20 families active in the organization have actually moved to the countryside.

Five years ago, a cartoonist in his thirties, who is known for his comic-strip portrayal of his life with a pet dog, left Tokyo and moved to northern Hokkaido. "I lived in Tokyo for 11 years," the manga artist explains, "but I got sick of the crowds and the packed trains, and I dreamed of living in the country and raising dogs."

And one actor, who will soon turn 60, is famous for having spent the past 20 years shuttling between his work base in Tokyo and his country home in the Yatsugatake foothills of Yamanashi Prefecture. Says the actor, "I understand how those young people who moved to Nara Prefecture felt. I also kept a place in the country because I wanted to raise my child amid natural surroundings. And I also wanted to achieve balance for myself, both as a living being and as a resident of the planet Earth."

Japan's Third Modern Urban Exodus
The current wave of migration out of the cities is the third such trend Japan has seen in modern times.

In the 1950s, people left the provinces and came to the cities in search of a more prosperous life. Thus began an era of departures from rural areas, and the flow only grew broader and more pronounced as Japan embarked on its path of rapid economic growth. However, the early 1970s saw the emergence of an antiestablishment, hippie movement, whose adherents viewed rural areas as ideal settings in which to establish communities of like-minded people. This movement spurred Japan's first wave of departures from the cities.

During the mid-1970s, as the country's remarkable economic growth continued, a rash of environmental problems began to erupt. In Japan's second wave of migration to rural areas, people fled the cities to improve their quality of life: to escape the deteriorating urban environment, to enjoy safer food and water, and so on.

The third and current migratory trend began in the latter half of the 1980s, and this time a variety of reasons are at work. At first, most of those moving to rural areas were retirees looking for a place to spend their golden years. More recently, however, people are also heading for the country because they seek the improved quality of life afforded by a natural environment or because they want to farm organically. There are also those who move for reasons related to work or child-rearing, or in order more readily to engage in outdoor activities such as skiing, diving, mountain climbing, or camping.

There is even a magazine for aspiring country dwellers. Established in 1987, around the beginning of the third wave of urban emigration, the magazine began as a quarterly, subsequently went bimonthly, and now comes out every month. Its current circulation is 180,000.

Meanwhile, would-be ruralists are also getting more support from the government. The Institute for 21st Century Rural Revitalization, a rural-community study group established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, has begun issuing a quarterly publication aimed at creating a network of exchange between rural communities and cities, and is also providing information over the Internet. It looks as though the number of people packing up and moving out to the country will only increase.