Successful Aging in a Rural Community in Japan by Kimiko Tanaka and Nan E. Johnson (review)

Reviewed by: Successful Aging in a Rural Community in Japan by Kimiko Tanaka and Nan E. Johnson Susanne Klien (bio) Successful Aging in a Rural Community in Japan. By Kimiko Tanaka and Nan E. Johnson. Carolina Academic Press, 2021. xxii, 168 pages. $30.00, paper; $24.00, E-book. Conventional associations of "rural" and "depopulation" with negative outcomes for the elderly need to be questioned: this argument and the timing of publication of this book about the crucial importance of social capital hits a nerve after the pandemic when the majority of social exchanges came to a halt for more than two years. The findings of the study by Kimiko Tanaka and Nan E. Johnson about the small town of Kawanehonchō in Shizuoka Prefecture indicate that rurality does not necessarily mean stagnation. Located in a remote part of eastern Japan with 90 per cent of the land covered by forests, Kawanehonchō nevertheless boasts one of the longest healthy life expectancies in Japan and across the globe. According to the two authors, "Kawanehonchō highlights the importance of the social quality of the community in achieving healthy aging, regardless of socioeconomic status, geographical remoteness, and lack of advanced medical technology" (p. xx). This study draws on a wealth of participant observation, interviews, and mixed methods that afford detailed insights into the daily lives in a rural community. Successful Aging in a Rural Community is an important addition to several recent research works on the theme of rurality in Japan that portray the issues faced by remote areas yet have chosen to focus on the positive aspects of depopulation: John Traphagan's longitudinal study Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st-Century Japan, Susanne Klien's Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Beyond Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society, and Ralph Luetzeler, Wolfram Manzenreiter, and Sebastian Polak-Rottmann's volume Japan's New Ruralities: Coping with Decline in the Rural Periphery—all were published in 2020 and challenged the understanding of bounded ruralities in their respective ways. Sonja Ganseforth and Hanno Jentzsch's edited volume Rethinking Locality in Japan adds further important momentum to deconstructing conventional interpretations of the rural as it assembles multiple disciplinary approaches to the exploration of rural space and place.1 [End Page 455] Last but not least, Pia Kieninger and Isabelle Prochaska-Meyer's ethnographic documentary 65+ Being Old in Rural Japan about active aging in three depopulated municipalities in the Japanese Alps made in 2014 shows the day-to-day realities of senior citizens from a similarly optimistic view.2 Tanaka and Johnson's study affords important insights into rural issues due to its methodological variety; it draws on pertinent quantitative data as well as qualitative research to introduce the reader to the multifaceted issues faced by rural residents. Furthermore, the authors rightly point out the need for qualitative research beyond Western countries (p. 44) with the aim of exploring the intricate entanglement of space, place, and health-related behaviors. The book consists of ten chapters and starts with a description of how rural Japan has changed socially and demographically. Like many other communities, Kawanehonchō was merged with its neighboring town. Chapter 2 introduces the field site, describing the historical and socioeconomic context that led to depopulation. It also highlights the structural support for healthy aging that makes it attractive for senior citizens. In addition to the Municipal Welfare Office (yakuba) and the Council of Social Welfare (Shakyō), which are officially in charge of extending a variety of supportive services to the elderly, the prefecture offers comprehensive grassroots programs for senior citizens that focus on things other than age and disability. Chapter 3 focuses on the theoretical notion of social capital, collective efficacy, and elderly vitality, arguing that the quality of neighborhoods and communities is crucial to successful aging. Defined as "the ability of the community to come together for the common good,"3 collective efficacy denotes the systemic capabilities in a community to organize day-to-day issues with the aim of defining, preventing, and solving problems. Closely related, social capital refers to a "public good that is provided by a group or community, and, consequently, the benefits of social capital tend to be...