Vol.77 No.2 (2025)
Contents
Article
KAWAKUBO Atsushi
Japanese Wine Boom in the Transitional Period and Challenges to Sustainable Development:
Changes in the Production and Distribution Structure of Wine Grapes in Nagano Prefecture (123)
Research Notes
TANAKA Kensaku
Residents’ Participation in the Implementation of Paid Passenger Transportation by Private Car in Kamikatsu-cho, Tokushima Prefecture:
A Study on the Relationship Between Service Implementation and the Lifestyle of Paid Volunteer Drivers in Their Local Residential Area (147)
ICHIKAWA Yasuo
Thoughts and Everyday Practices of Countercultural Communities in the Back-to-the-Land Movement (169)
Book Reviews (192)
Miscellany (201)
Notices (205)
Abstract
Japanese Wine Boom in the Transitional Period and Challenges to Sustainable Development:
Changes in the Production and Distribution Structure of Wine Grapes in Nagano Prefecture
KAWAKUBO Atsushi
Faculty of Law, Toyo University
This paper examines changes in the production and distribution structure of wine grapes during the Japanese wine boom and the policies supporting sustainable development of the wine industry, using Nagano Prefecture as a case study. The results reveal that while demand for wine grapes increased during the boom, this demand has mainly been sustained by dual-purpose variety grapes. However, production of these varieties has recently been decreasing due to factors such as aging of farmers and unfavorable weather conditions. Conversely, production of wine-specific varieties is gradually increasing due to the entrance of small wineries and vineyard farmers who have aggressively expanded cultivation during the boom. Large wineries have also increased cultivation of wine-specific varieties in their own vineyards. Thus, it is expected that future production of wine grapes will see a decline in dual-purpose varieties and an increase in wine-specific varieties. However, the overall supply of wine grapes is likely to decrease because the decline in dual-purpose varieties currently exceeds the increase in wine-specific varieties. Therefore, local government support is required to promote policies that support farmers primarily producing dual-purpose varieties and to assist new entrants producing wine-specific varieties. Since new entrants plan to expand their vineyards, their production could double as grapevines mature. That is, new entrants are key to reducing the overall decline in wine grape production. Thus, the wine industry in Nagano Prefecture is now in a transitional phase regarding raw material supply in terms of grower and grape variety. The key to continued success of the boom will be the extent to which demand for Japanese wine made from wine-specific varieties grows in the future.
Key words: Japanese wine boom, winery, wine grape, production and distribution structure, transitional period, Nagano Prefecture
Residents’ Participation in the Implementation of Paid Passenger Transportation by Private Car in Kamikatsu-cho, Tokushima Prefecture:
A Study on the Relationship Between Service Implementation and the Lifestyle of Paid Volunteer Drivers in Their Local Residential Area
TANAKA Kensaku
Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Kanazawa University
This study examined the participation of paid volunteer drivers (PVDs) in carrying out paid passenger transportation (i.e., taxi service in areas with poor public transportation) via private car in Kamikatsu-cho, Tokushima Prefecture. It also focused on various aspects of their lifestyle in their residential area. Zero Waste Academy (ZWA; a non-profit organization), which is the operating secretariat, has increased the sustainability of the operation by allocating revenue to the drivers and concurrently working with other businesses and reducing capital investment. Under these circumstances, the secretariat, serving as volunteer coordinator, has carried out a driver recruitment and allocation system that is closely linked to the daily lives of PVDs. It created a PVD practice environment that does not place an excessive burden on PVDs within their residential area, while gaining their cooperation and trust. PVDs have been able to provide taxi services during their spare time. The purposes of providing services were primarily as a method of supporting people with mobility problems or as a way to earn cash. Also, PVDs view their residential areas from multiple perspectives with regard to the service they provide. Under these circumstances, PVDs considered their business in their residential area as supporting others in the area, as a tool for community-based businesses, and as a means of communication related to these. For PVDs, these practices have improved their daily life and way of life in their residential area. As stated previously, paid transport in Kamikatsu-cho was implemented to contribute to improving the transport environment and the lives of residents by combining PVDs’ participation, which is linked to their lives.
Key words: paid passenger transportation by private car for areas with poor public transportation, paid volunteer driver, lifestyle, Kamikatsu-cho
Thoughts and Everyday Practices of Countercultural Communities in the Back-to-the-Land Movement
ICHIKAWA Yasuo
Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Saitama University
This research focuses on countercultural communities in 1970s France. Using detailed accounts of hippie communes in the underground press, the study reveals the development of thoughts and everyday practices of the back-to-the-land movement. Unlike rural migrants seeking affordable land prices and suburban amenities, they deliberately chose inconvenient living environments far from cities and civilization, based on a strong sense of rurality, and sought alternatives and utopias against mainstream society. In the early 1970s, rural communes explored the relationship between agriculture and nature, spiritual and inner exploration, individual liberation, rediscovering values, and social transformation. Their livelihoods were supported by adoption of high value-added agriculture, artisanal work as supplementary income, seasonal day labor, and hosting visitors. However, these communes also faced tensions between ideals and reality. These included difficulties in achieving self-sufficiency, struggles with food and nutrition, burdens of domestic labor imbalance based on traditional gender roles within couples, and the emergence of leaders and internal disparities among members in communes, which were supposed to be characterized by horizontal relationships. In this way, they harbored self-contradictions in their utopian practices. However, their practices and ideologies were passed down to countercultural communities, leading to the modern era and becoming the foundation for the resurgence of community movements from the 1990s onward.
Key words: countercultural communities, hippie communes, back-to-the-land movement, underground press, France