Maren Godzik

Rebuilding housing in Japan's tsunami-hit towns and cities

The earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011, and the series of tsunamis that followed, caused horrendous damage to thousands of houses and literally erased villages and parts of towns and cities from their sites in the Tohoku region. The process of rebuilding housing in Tohoku has been characterised by the intent to build safer housing with regard to future tsunamis, i.e., not rebuilding houses on the same sites and in the same way. Moreover, residents in the affected areas not only lost their houses and all their belongings, but, often, also their work and other assets that had been the basis for their lives, such as shops, factories and fishing boats – not to mention family members. Agricultural land along the coast has become unusable because of salinisation. The rebuilding process, therefore, depends on how support is provided to the population to rebuild their lives. The nuclear accident in Fukushima has further complicated the situation, as prospects for making the region habitable again are unclear in many areas. Japans economic stagnation and its demographic development have represented additional challenges to reconstruction. This paper discusses the measures taken to provide housing in north-eastern Japan, drawing on official documents for post-earthquake reconstruction, secondary literature and participant observation in Tohoku.

Ruheständler als Lebenselixier? Ruhestandswanderung und lokale Neubelebungsstrategien am Beispiel von Atami und Ishigaki

Drastic demographic changes in Japan have forced Japanese municipalities to seek ways to prevent further shrinking. One strategy initiated by several towns and cities is to attract retirees. Due to recent changes in elderly people’s lifestyles, it is not unreasonable to opt for this strategy: Spending their remaining years in a new environment seems to be an option for a growing number of the elderly. This paper focuses on the question of to what extent elderly migration and amenity moves have occurred in recent years. A closer look is taken at the situation in the cities of Atami and Ishigaki, for which it was possible to give detailed appraisals of elderly migration. The demographic situation of the cities is quite different: A larger number of ‘older elderly’ mainly from the Kantō area chooses to spend their remaining years in Atami, where private investors offer a wide range of housing aimed at elderly people. Nevertheless, the city is shrinking, which has pushed the municipality to actively support inward migration. Ishigaki, in contrast, is the destination of choice for ‘younger elderly’ and older middle-aged persons who can be characterized as typical retirement migrants. Although the number of migrants is small compared to Atami, the city of Ishigaki – not yet affected by population decline – fears the loss of cultural and natural resources due to migration. However, the cases of Ishigaki and Atami may provide hints for other smaller cities in Japan on how to sustain their populations.

Japan’s urban singles: negotiating alternatives to family households and standard housing pathways

ABSTRACT In comparison to other advanced economies, the rise of people living alone in Japan has been late and rapid, with singletons now accounting for almost half of all households in major cities. The normative and structural frameworks surrounding standard family-household formation, however, remain formidable, reducing life-course opportunities for non-family formers. This paper considers the household and housing pathways being negotiated by younger-adults living independently. In addition to various secondary data sources, we draw on qualitative interviews with 35 individuals from 28 Tokyo households in addressing manifestations of, and resistance to, atomisation and individualisation in the Japanese context. Our analysis focuses on meanings and practices of homemaking among renters and buyers in the growing sector of single-person dwellings, as well as the recent emergence of commercial shared housing . This analysis provides a contrast to discourses surrounding the “singles boom” and “the growing appeal of living alone” in Western cities.

New Housing Options For The Elderly In Japan: The Example Of Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward

This chapter aims to shed light on current developments on the local level, taking Tokyos Edogawa ward as an example. The chapter presents the role and aims of important actors involved. Some results from recent fieldwork are included to give an up-to-date picture of the housing situation of elderly people in Japan. Before the introduction of the long-term care insurance, the families of elderly people were the main actors, with the government providing care facilities for only those people who could not rely on their families. In many respects Edogawa is a very average ward with features that can be found in many urban places in Japan. Keywords: elderly people; Japan; Tokyos Edogawa ward