Abstract
A series of population problems, such as a low fertility rate and population aging, has become the most urgent issue for Japanese society. These problems are tightly intertwined with the uneven distribution of population throughout the country. Tokyo’s over-centralization has intensified even as a considerable number of settlements have neared the edge of extinction. Essentially, the most important policy target of contemporary Japan involves population geography. While population geographers have certainly been contributing to the practice of policymaking by illustrating the current population conditions, they have distanced themselves from disputes on the ideas or ideologies underlying population policy. In reviewing a timely published book titled Shukusho Nippon-no Shogeki (The Shock of a Shrinking Japan), this chapter explores the possibility of establishing a politico-economic population geography. Finally, the chapter concludes with the insistence that the concept of population itself, usually assumed to be a value-free geographical quantity, be reconsidered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
(J): Written in Japanese.
References
(J): Written in Japanese.
Bailey AJ (2005) Making population geography. Oxford University Press, New York
Bialasiewicz L (2006) ‘The death of the West’: Samuel Huntington, Oriana Fallaci and a new ‘moral’ geopolitics of birth and bodies. Geopolitics 11: 701–724. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650040600890859
Black J (1998) Maps and politics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Cabinet Office (2014) Keizai zaisei shimon kaigi, dai 7 kai kishakaiken no yoshi (Abstract of 7th press interview, Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy). http://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai-shimon/kaigi/special/future/0513/interview.html (J)
Chatterton P, Pusey A (2020) Beyond capitalist enclosure, commodification and alienation: Postcapitalist praxis as commons, social production and useful doing. Prog Hum Geogr 44: 27–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132518821173
Coleman D (2006) Immigration and ethnic change in low-fertility countries: A third demographic transition. Population and Development Review 32: 401–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2006.00131.x
Datta A (2015) New urban utopias of postcolonial India: ‘Entrepreneurial urbanization’ in Dholera Smart City, Gujarat. Dialogues Hum Geogr 5: 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820614565748
Gibson-Graham JK (1996) End of capitalism (as we knew it): A feminist critique of political economy. Blackwell, London
Gibson-Graham JK (2006) A postcapitalist politics. Blackwell, London
Giteleman L (ed) (2013) ‘Raw data’ is an oxymoron. MIT press, Cambridge
Harvey D (2014) Seventeen contradictions and the end of capitalism. Profile Books, London
Headquarters for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan (2015) Machi, hito, shigoto sosei sogo senryaku (Comprehensive strategy for overcoming population decline and vitalizing local economy). https://www.chisou.go.jp/sousei/info/pdf/h27-12-24-siryou2.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2022 (J)
Karatani K (2003) Transcritique: On Kant and Marx. MIT press, Cambridge
Kitchen R (2013) Big data and human geography: Opportunity, challenges and risks. Dialogues Hum Geogr 3: 262–267. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820613513388
Kitchen R (2014) The real-time city? big data and smart urbanism. GeoJournal 79: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-013-9516-8
Kwan MP (2002) Feminism visualization: Re-envisioning GIS as a method in feminist geographic research. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 92: 645–661. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8306.00309
Liberal Democratic Party (2017) Kyosei no jidai ni muketa gaikokujin roudousha ukeire no kihonteki kangaekata (Basic guideline of introducing foreign workers in the age of multiculturalism) https://www.jimin.jp/news/policy/132325.html
Lichter DT (2013) Integration or fragmentation? Racial diversity and the American future. Demography, 50: 350–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-013-0197-1
Luque-Ayala A, Marvin G (2015) Developing a critical understanding of smart urbanism? Urban Stud 52: 2105–2116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098015577319
Masuda H (ed) (2014) Chiho shometsu: Tokyo ikkyoku shuchu ga maneku jinko kyugen (Disappearance of peripheral regions: Rapid population decline driven by the predominance of Tokyo). Chuokoron-Shinsha, Tokyo (J)
McFarlane C, Söderström O (2017) On alternative smart cities: From a technology-intensive to a knowledge-intensive smart urbanism. City 21: 312–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2017.1327166
Minami R (1957) Jinko no gainen (The concept of population). In: Shimonaka Y (ed) Jinko daijiten (Population encyclopedia). Heibonsha, Tokyo, p 3–7 (J)
NHK Special crew (2017) Shukusho nippon no shogeki (The shock of a shrinking Japan). Kodansha, Tokyo (J)
Nakazawa T (2016) Chihososei no mokutekiron (Teleology of ‘regional revitalization’). Keizai Chirigaku Nenpo (Annals of the Japan Association of Economic Geographers) 62: 285–305. https://doi.org/10.20592/jaeg.62.4_285 (J)
Peck J (2002) Political economies of scale: Fast policy, interscalar relations, and neoliberal workfare. Econ Geogr 78: 331–360. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-8287.2002.tb00190.x
Population Decline Examination Subcommittee, Japan Policy Council (2014) Seicho wo tsuzukeru nijuisseiki no tame ni: Sutoppu shoshika, chiho genki senryaku) (For sustaining growth in 21st century: Strategies for overcoming low fertility and vitalizing local economy). http://www.policycouncil.jp/pdf/prop03/prop03.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2022 (J)
Robbins P, Smith SH (2017) Baby bust: Towards political demography. Prog Hum Geogr 41: 199–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516633321
Seager J (2003) The atlas of women: An economic, social and political survey. Women’s Press, Toronto
Sheppard ES (1993) Automated geography: What kind of geography for what kind of society? Prof Geogr 45: 457–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0033-0124.1993.00457.x
Sieber R (2006) Public participation geographic information systems: A literature review and framework. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 96: 491–507.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.2006.00702.x
Taylor PJ (1990) GKS. Polit Geogr Q 9: 211–212.https://doi.org/10.1016/0260-9827(90)90023-4
Taylor PJ, Overton M (1991) Further thought on geography and GIS. Environ Plan A 23: 1087–1090.https://doi.org/10.1068/a231087
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nakazawa, T. (2023). Toward a Politico-Economic Population Geography: A Critique of The Shock of a Shrinking Japan. In: Ishikawa, Y. (eds) Japanese Population Geographies II. SpringerBriefs in Population Studies(). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2076-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2076-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-2075-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-2076-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)