Ageing and depopulation in the mountains of Japan and Spain

This chapter compares two case studies of small villages based on field surveys, one in Fukuoka, Japan and the other in Aragon, Spain. A general motivation to conduct this study of depopulated villages in the mountainous areas in Japan is to find a way to maintain shrinking villages as loci of continuous living for people who desire to do so. This is in the context of rural depopulation in Japan since the 1960s, and an overall population decline since 2005. The two case study villages are similar in size and in remoteness but experience contrasting outcomes. The objective of this article is to analyze differences between the two case studies in terms of ways of life, especially in relation to, and interactions with, part-time residents and, if any, lessons from the Spanish case in sustaining small villages in remote areas in Japan.