Mixed forests: Responses to landscape

transformation in the central Japanese highlands

Eric Cunningham
Research proposal Master of Arts, plan B Department of Anthropology University of Hawaii Spring, 2007

Abstract The miraculous rise of the Japanese nation as an economic superpower has restructured the social, cultural, and natural landscapes of the archipelago. While economic, social, and political capital has pooled in Japans megalopolises, the nations natural resources remain spread out across the archipelago. Forests, a staple resource in the past, cover a majority of the interior of Japan. However, in post-war Japan it has become economically advantageous to seek timber and other resources from foreign countries, thus most forest land in Japan today remains largely untouched. This situation doesnt bode well for the villages that dot Japans mountainous interior, far from the economic miracles occurring in the cities. This research proposes to set up camp in one of Japans highland villages in order to gain a vantage point with which to look out on the landscape of the nation-state and evaluate the course of its modernity. With the aid of perspectives from historical ecology and political ecology, the aim of this research is to develop an indigenous model of adaptation with which to explore future prospects for resilience. More broadly, through an exploration of the dynamic trajectory of a local resource-use regime in its articulations with larger national and global systems, this research will contribute to both theoretical discussions and applied situations concerning environmental governance, resource use, and resiliency by adding understanding concerning the persistence of seemingly socio-natural environments. Introduction What are the impacts of globalized political-economic systems on local communities through time? What forces compel, and what strategies allow, some communities to persist despite these impacts? How might such communities inform our understanding of the processes of environmental degradation and contribute to more viable futures? As we recognize more and more the heavy impacts that humans can have on local, regional, and even global environments, the significance of studies concerning human-environment interactions has been amplified. There is a growing desire among scholars and the general public to grasp the processes that drive environmental change and, more importantly, to begin to understand how resilience can be maintained within changing environments. As such, studies examining the effects of globalization and the spread of capitalism on small-scale societies have become more frequent. Such studies often focus on so-called tribal or traditional groupssmall-scale societies that are negatively impacted by incursions from outside entities. Departing from such approaches, this study will explore human-environment interactions through collaborative research in a community in the uplands of southern Nagano prefecture, Japan with a focus on the articulation of the often contradictory internal and external forces that simultaneously transform and sustain these communities.

Mountain forests are an essential part of the Japanese landscape: ecologically, politically, socially, culturally and economically. Throughout Japans history, forest ecosystems have been influenced by human activities. Interactions between forests and diverse human communities have occurred at a variety of intensities, spatial extents and temporal lengths. In the past, the agricultural and forestry practices associated with many mountain communities tended to promote mosaic landscapes, capable of supporting a variety of biotic life (Takeuchi et al. 2003). However, in modern Japan the relationship between mountain communities and forests has changed dramatically. What have been the effects of the emergence of modern political-economic systems on human communities and mountain forest landscapes? What role do these communities play in modern Japan? What does the future hold? These questions are becoming more and more imperative as mountain communities begin to vanish from the modern Japanese landscape with greater frequency. Like other nation-states, the history of Japan is one of power negotiated among various groups at different levels (Broadbent 1998, Tsuru 2000, Vlastos 1986). These negotiations have contributed to a variegation of forest ecologies through a variety of land-use practices: governmental, private, and even religious. However, with the rise of modern industrialization; the switch to capitalist modes of production; and the consolidation of power in urban cores, diversity has given way to simplification and homogeneity with serious implications for biodiversity loss (Sato 2004, Scott 1998). In addition, desires for green legitimacy and environmental stewardship have impelled a collective forgetting of long histories of forest utilization in favor of reforestation campaigns, while the impacts of destructive forest consumption have been relocated overseas (Dauvergne 1997, Jomo 1994, Knight 1997b, Seo and Taylor 2003). Often, governmental policies, both at the national and local level, aimed at renewing mountain communities, draw on idyllic notions of traditional landscapes, thereby masking the real crises facing upland areas and marginalizing them to a phantasmal position of constant vanishing within a Japanese landscape of collective longing and remembering (Ivy 1995, Knight 1994b). Thus, along with the emergence of the Japanese nation, the Japanese people, and the Japanese village we have seen the creation of the Japanese forest, which has become physically manifested through post-war governmental reforestation policies. This situation has left many mountain communities at the peripheries of modern Japan, unable to access vital resources at the local or national levels. This study engages these contemporary issues surrounding mountain communities in central Japan by combining a historical ecology perspective (Bale 1998, 2006, Crumley 1994) with a critical sensitivity to the pervasive influence of asymmetrical structures of power as recognized by recent work in political ecology (Broadbent 1998, Dove 2005, Robbins 2004) and an eye towards resiliency (Berkes, Colding, and Folke 2003, Walker and Salt 2006). In order to understand the underlying causes of upland decline in modern Japan, I will combine local ethnography with quantitative analyses of higher level processes to identify factors driving forest change through time. Also, I will attempt to situate the historical development of modern forest landscapes and mountain

communities within the context of larger political and economic spheres in order to gain an understanding of the influence of different levels of socio-cultural organization over time. This type of analysis will provide me with conceptual tools needed to examine the position of mountain communities in the modern Japanese landscape. Thus, this study aims to suggest possibilities for maintaining the integrity of mountain communities and upland landscapes in Japan and elsewhere. Background Studies of human/environmental interactions have developed in anthropology since the middle of the nineteenth century. Starting with Julian Stewards work in the 1930s, ecology has become a dominant paradigm in the discipline. In response to later functionalist approaches, critiques of systematics and evolutionary ecology have broadened the scope of ecological anthropology to include inquiry into a variety of sociocultural phenomenon (Biersack 1999, Kottak 1999). In particular, the influence of political systems and historical processes on ecosystems has begun to garner much attention, spurring the evolution of two new approaches, political ecology and historical ecology respectively; though these two approaches have begun to merge in recent work (Bale 2006). Anthropological studies of human-environment interactions have progressed towards greater complexity in addressing the twin nature of humans as both cultural and natural beings (Ellen 2001). However, due to the analytical complications that come with studies of complex systems, research in ecological anthropology has tended to focus on smallscale societies, which has led to theoretical complications in ascribing some type of bounded quality to seamless systems involving societies and natural environments (Ellen 1982). More recent studies have begun to move beyond small-scales (even when studying small-scale groups) to give theoretical significance to the broader regional, national and global systems that impact local environments (Kottak 1999, Little 1999, Moran 1996). In the past, studies on human-environmental relations in Japan have also tended to ignore relationships among local human communities and larger national and global processes. Early studies by western anthropologists often consisted mainly of descriptions of village-level social and cultural organization and were limited in their discussions of the links between villages and Japan as a nation (Embree 1939). Moreover, besides descriptions of subsistence activities, very little attention has been given to environmental concerns. After the war, more and more scholarly work, some of it supported by the Occupation Authority (Beardsley, Hall, and Ward 1972, Bennett 2002, Dore 1978), began to be directed towards Japans rural areas, which comprised most of the countrys land. Contemporary studies have taken a variety of forms, reflecting the complex nuances that have arisen in addressing the rural within the modern Japanese state. Biologists and ecologists from Japans numerous university agriculture and forestry departments have contributed a large body of work concerning Japanese forests and forestry (Azuma 2000, Hasegawa 2005, Kato, Yokohari, and Brown 1997, Kitabatake 2002, Natsuhara 1999,

Osumi, Ikeda, and Okamoto 2004), however much emphasis has been placed on studies dealing with economic forestry, techniques of silviculture and resource management, with little attention given to socio-cultural issues (Fenton 2005, Iwai 2002). Other studies have drawn on discourses of Japanese traditional landscapes without critically examining the empirical reality of their historical existence (Kambu and Nishi 2006, Kobori and Primack 2003, Takeuchi et al. 2003). Though historical studies concerning the social organization of rural communities in the past are available (Fukutake 1967, Ooms 1996, Sato 1990, Ushiomi 1968, Walthall 1984, Waswo and Yoshiaki 2003), largely missing has been analyses of cultural beliefs and practices as they relate to the historical development of human-forest relations in mountain communities (regarding historical fishing villages see Kalland 1995). Therefore, images of traditional Japanese landscapes have fed into public (mis)perceptions of rural Japan, distorting the realities of mountain communities, which are facing extinction in modern Japan (Knight 2000, Moon 1997, Partner 2001, Thomas 2001, Thompson 2004a, Tsutsui 2003, Wigen 2005). Totmans historical studies have done much to advance our knowledge of the role that humans have played in shaping forest landscapes in Japan (Totman 1989, Totman 2000). Others have undertaken regional studies of the ecological change due in part to politicaleconomic expansion during the Edo period (1603-1867) (Walker 2001a, Walker 2001b) and of post-war trends towards urbanization (Knight 1997b, Knight 2000, Knight 2003, Knight 2006). Meanwhile, studies in geography and other social sciences have begun to explore the links between space, power and discourse in rural communities during the Meiji period (1867-1912) (Thomas 2001, Wigen 1995, Wigen 1998, Wigen 2005) and in the pre-war period (1912-1941) (Vlastos 1998b, Waswo and Yoshiaki 2003). These new engagements with issues of scale, power and history have broadened our understanding of the processes that influence the nature of human interactions with the environment in different parts of Japan. However, there remains a need for historically relevant ecological research that gives attention to local practices and beliefs that contribute to the coherence and persistence (resilience) of local communities, while accounting for the internal and external forces that threaten the integrity of upland landscapes. Research Design and Questions The current research proposes to address the following questions: what processes drive upland forest transformation in Japan? How is forest transformation related to declines in upland communities? What are the prospects for linking regional histories with participatory ethnography in order to empower residents and generate viable possibilities for alternative futures? In this research I draw on John Bennetts concept of adaptation, which is defined as the purposive manipulation of social and natural environments by individual actors in their pursuit to fulfill needs and obtaining what they want. In a larger sense, adaptation involves the process by which the natural environment is progressively incorporated into the socio-cultural realm through interactions with human actors creating socio-natural environments, labeled the ecological transition (Bennett 1976, Bennett 1993). This concept of adaptation suits the present research in three ways. First, it is broad enough to allow community members to engage in the process of defining what adaptation means;

in other words, what they perceive as needs and desires. The conception also allows for a multidimensional analysis in which behaviors may be interpreted as being adaptive or maladaptive in different contexts across space, time, and social groups. Thus, contradictions and conflicts that arise among actors and institutions at various levels can be recognized and further explored. Finally, it integrates the social and natural worlds to conceptually create a unified environment through which human actors seek to fulfill needs and desires. This allows for explanations to draw on both social and natural contexts to create a reasonable narrative of what is driving human behavior in a particular instance and how this changes over time in response to modifications in the socio-natural environment. In this model I envision adaptation as an ideal, comprised of commonly held needs and desires, which is continually sought, but never fully attained. As such, it is conceived of as a process marked by conflict between various actors, institutions, phenomena, and processes at different levels. Thus, adaptation is described as a tenuous state that emerges from interactions between actors, institutions, and the environment. As a correlate to adaptation, this research will also focus on resilience, defined as a measurement of the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before a system changes its structure by changing the variables and processes that govern behavior (Holling and Gunderson 2002). Adaptation and resilience are conceived of as processes that interact in a dynamic tension between what is needed or desired from a particular socio-natural system and what that system can provide without changing its state. Because the qualities of resilience are dynamic and constantly changing they can be difficult to measure quantitatively. In this study measures of resiliency will be based on extant data regarding upland ecosystems in Japan, as well as their productive ability (providing resources). Therefore, increased resiliency will be measured through the existence of ecological memory, defined as natural capital, such as biodiversity, which can be drawn on in response to change; and through the existence of institutional memory, defined as human knowledge capable of dealing with change, such as ecological knowledge (Berkes and Folke 2002). In order to identify interactions between national level policies and institutions and behaviors at the community level units of analysis should be defined. At the national level we can of course refer to Japans modern political boundaries and institutions of governance. Defining a community level unit of analysis, however, presents a unique set of conceptual problems. Locating effective community boundaries and delineating the nature and scale of social and political institutions within which individual behaviors occur can be analytically troublesome. A majority of studies of rural areas in Japan, both historical and contemporary, have relied on the village (mura) as the minimal level of socio-political organization. However, the village concept has been questioned as an accurate reflection of socio-political organization through time (Scheiner 1998). It has been argued that villages have long operated as administrative units for elites, while real social power and leadership has existed below the level of the village within a set of mostly horizontal relations comprising what has been termed buraku (hereafter referred to as hamlet, a loose translation) (Irokawa 1975). Often the hamlet concept is imbued with an organic quality, conceived of as a natural set of social relations based on common interests and values, in contrast to the bureaucratically imposed village, which implies a

hierarchical structure linked to the nation (Fukutake 1967, Irokawa 1975, Scheiner 1998). In other words, the hamlet stands in opposition to the artificial village as a grass roots culture (Irokawa 1985). Though the hamlet may be a useful analytic unit for research into past communities, Japans modern history of municipal amalgamations, land reforms, and urban migration makes it problematic to rely on the concept in contemporary studies. Adding to this problematic is the uncritical conceptual lumping of hamlet and village due mostly to bureaucratic simplifications in labeling. On the one hand, modernist discourses, drawing on notions of culture and tradition, have tended to create a temporally compressed and spatially homogenized village (Knight 1994b). The concept, therefore, requires a critical evaluation concerning its viability as a real socio-political unit (Ivy 1995, Vlastos 1998a, 1998c, Wigen 1998). On the other hand, the persistence of horizontal social relationships and the emergence of geographically and socially diverse community movements, including those that themselves draw on traditions (whether invented or not), prevent the total abandonment of a hamlet concept (Schnell 2005, Thompson 2004a, Thompson 2004b). In light of these ambiguities, its reasonable to begin with a minimal definition of community, adapted from Irokawas hamlet concept, as the smallest social grouping of individuals apart from the family (1975). Starting from such a limited definition allows for the construction of an analytic community, while recognizing dynamic and ephemeral qualities. Drawing on the methodology of grounded theory (Bernard 2002), attention will be paid, during early stages of fieldwork, to the spatial, social, and political extent of the host community, while maintaining sensitivity to divergences between these ways of defining. As fieldwork progresses I will continue to explore this initially defined community concept, paying attention to boundaries, limits, extensions, and exceptions. The goal is to develop a notion of community that is analytically capable of exploring articulations between different levels of socio-political organization and their dynamism through time. In addition, as notions of community begin to take form, I will be able to reflexively trace the influence that higher-level processes have on those occurring at lower levels. For example, what effects would a relationship between a village member and a national government or business leader have on the local socio-natural environment? Such reflexivity will be beneficial to an understanding of the ubiquitous tensions that mark social and political life at all levels. Furthermore, it is hoped that this approach will be useful in tracing structures of power that tend to obfuscate the needs of rural communities, while forging possible pathways for giving voice to rural residents concerning their futures and the future of local landscapes. Figure 1 presents a heuristic model for understanding flows of social, political, economic, and natural resources, suggesting a general movement of economic resources towards a national core and the movement of social, political, and ecological impacts towards peripheral areas. Though simplified, this model provides a starting point for beginning to map out the complex sets of relationships that comprise local socio-natural communities and link them to broader sociopolitical, economic, and ecological systems.

Figure 1

Community participation is a main goal of this project; therefore, fieldwork in the host community will begin with a series of informational meetings. During these initial meetings I will discuss the goals of the project and suggest ways that community members can get involved. The objectives of these meetings will be to inform the community of the project; garner support; and identify potential participants. Following this initial stage of assessment and rapport-building, data collection will take place in four stages, focusing on four questions: 1) What are the needs and desires defined by community members? 2) What obstacles stand in the way of meeting these needs and desires? 3) How are these obstacles challenged? 4) What role do forest environments play in, and how do they reflect, these social processes? Data collection concerning question #1 will take place during the second stage of research (see Appendix A) and will involve two cross-sectional groups: one made up of adult community members, and the other comprised of local junior high school students. The first group will be drawn from community members identified as potential participants during initial project meetings. If, however, the number of participants is below 30, or certain segments of the community are underrepresented (i.e. women), additional participants will be sought through mailings to households randomly selected from town records. Data collection will consist of semi-structured interviews and focus groups involving photo sorting and collaborative mapping. After initial interviews, participants will be asked to produce hand drawn maps that include details such as: land types, ownership, land use categories, stories, memories, sacred places, and meaningful boundaries. Next, through a series of focus groups, I will collaborate with community members to develop themes that emerge from interviews into a conceptual model of adaptation (commonly identified needs and desires). In addition, participants will be asked to collaborate, using their individually produced maps, to add information they deem pertinent to a larger topographic map. The second group will be comprised of local junior high school students1 from all grade levels2. After discussing the project with the students, they will be asked to produce maps of their community. These maps will be drawn by the students, who will be encouraged to add elements they feel are important or meaningful, much like the maps produced in the adult group. During a separate meeting students will be asked to share their maps and discuss their thoughts on the project. A final meeting will be used to allow students time to collaborate in conveying elements of their individual maps onto a single topographic map. The main goal of the second stage of research is to identify several key themes related to question #1 in order to develop a model of adaptation to apply in addressing question #2. Questions used in semi-structured interviews will be open ended with a focus on community life, its strengths and weaknesses, and future prospects (see Appendix B).
1

High school aged participants are also desirable, but most small villages do not have high schools; students either commute to school or live in dorms. If high school aged participants are available, they will be included in this part of the project. 2 Japanese junior high schools consist of three grades 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, with students ages ranging from twelve years old to fifteen years old.

Figure 2

Additional aims of focus groups and participatory mapping are to invite participants to begin thinking collectively about their community, environment, and visions for the future, and also to develop an indigenous vocabulary for talking about different landscape features. The second stage of fieldwork will conclude with the development of an indigenous adaptive model, as well as a demographic questionnaire, for use in the later stages of research. For the questionnaire, in addition to basic demographic data, such as age, sex, and occupation, questions will be designed to access data related to specific themes developed in stage 2 concerning obstacles or points of conflict at the local level and beyond. In addition to the questionnaire, data referencing external obstacles (factors impinging on adaptive goals or weakening resiliency) will also be gathered where available. External obstacles will be hypothesized based on extant data collected during the first stage of the fieldwork. However, it is possible, at this point, to hypothesize general driving factors that likely impact local communities as obstacles, these include: the importation of foreign timber; out-migration to urban centers; and national level laws and policies regarding forests and forestry (Figure 2).

These obstacles result in the loss of economic resources, ecological knowledge (institutional memory), and biodiversity (ecological memory) (Berkes and Folke 2002). In the third stage of fieldwork I will utilize the maps and conceptual models identified in stage one to guide data collection concerning individual and community strategies employed towards achieving stated needs and desires. Participant observation will be the

dominate methodology employed at this stage, with the goal of documenting in detail a range of activities and behaviors associated with village social life. I will also conduct informal interviews to gain insights into beliefs and attitudes that influence and give meaning to these activities and behaviors. In addition, a global positioning system (GPS) device will be used to georeference ethnographic data from interviews and participant maps so that it can be added to a GIS database. My objectives in these stages of the project will be to encourage new forms of community collaboration; and to gain an understanding of common needs and desires in order to hypothesize why these are, or are not, met. In addition, research of extant demographic, statistical, and economic data will be used to develop an understanding of national and global level processes that affect resilient qualities of the local socio-natural environment. Finally, extant data related to upland forest ecosystem functioning and health will be used to better characterize the processes that increase and decrease resilience. Adaptation and resilience, as conceived of in this research, are defined in part through the historical processes that influence behavior as humans interact with and modify their environments, creating landscapes3 that impact future choices. Historical ecology is a research approach that focuses on the temporality and spatiality of human impacts on natural environments. An overarching historical ecology framework will inform my research through an examination of landscape change in upland forests in relation to socio-political shifts across space, scales, and time. Key questions are: 1) what was the nature of past human-environment interactions in upland communities; and 2) what has been the influence of national level processes on the socio-natural landscapes of upland communities? I hypothesize that through time the local socio-natural environments of upland regions in Japan have been transitioned into larger national and international spheres of interaction, restricting the ability of residents to access and manage natural resources. As time and materials allow, historical data will be accessed in several ways. First, historical documents with data referencing local land ownership, community life, and forest extent are often available through local village offices in Japan. Depending on the access to, temporal breadth of, and my ability to comprehend such historical documents, they are potentially valuable for reconstructing the past. A second source of historical data will consist of the extant work of other researchers, which will be beneficial for comparison through time and across space. Finally, to the extent it is available digital geographic data depicting forest change over time, such as satellite data and aerial photography, will be gathered and compiled in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database. Contrasting ethnographic data from a contemporary upland community with historical data will offer several results: 1) an understanding of the compounding effects of larger social, political, and economic processes on local adaptive strategies through time; 2) a descriptive account of modern adaptive strategies and an evaluation of their effectiveness for fulfilling needs and desires; 3) insights into village level social systems and their interaction with larger national systems; and 4) an understanding of socio-cultural
3

Defined as land modified by human activity or perception (Smith 2003).

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perspectives concerning upland areas at both the local and the national level. It is hoped that such an analysis will begin to reveal the social conflicts that have accompanied Japans modernization and marginalized rural communities. In turn, working with citizens in upland communities to better understand the historical contexts of the crises facing them today will be beneficial as they continue to seek for new ways to adapt to the changing world around them. In addressing the questions outlined above, my research will add to the larger ongoing conversation concerning humanitys relationship to the biosphere. Although anthropologists have often found their subjects among those groups that are viewed as being powerless and existing at the margins of our society, it is important that we begin developing tools and theories that are better able to understand the subtle nuances of power present at all levels across the globe. Ecological anthropology in particular has grown up around studies of small-scale societies, which has contributed to a persistence of worn dichotomies concerning humans and the natural world. In the age of advanced capitalism, studies of natural human environments within fully industrialized nations have the potential of offering new ideas and perspectives concerning the most relevant environmental issues of our day; not least of which is global climate change. Site Selection Preliminary work on site selection will take place in Hawaii from May-October 2007 via the internet and through e-mail. Several criteria will dictate site selection: 1) village population size (around 1,000 would be ideal for an adequate sample, while ensuring feasibility); 2) presence of a variety of land types (i.e. both plantation and non-plantation forests; rice paddies; vegetable gardens); 3) demographic variability by age, sex, occupation and socio-economic status; 4) availability of historical records (demographic data, statistical reports on agriculture and forestry, maps and photographs); 5) municipal status (an independent village would be preferable to one incorporated into a larger municipality); 6) willingness of local residents to participate in and amiability of local government officials to the proposed study. Based on initial searches following these criteria, the village of takimura () in Naganos Kiso Valley appears to be an ideal location for fieldwork. Of the villages 79.5km of land, 96% is forested, which includes broadleaf and coniferous forests, most of which is national (87%). The population of taki-mura is 1,034, with about a third of residents aged 65 or older, a typical pattern for upland villages in Japan today. Depending on the availability of historical data and the willingness of residents to participate, taki-mura will likely be the fieldwork site for this study. However, several alternate locations have been considered.

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Methods The methodologies proposed for this research were selected based on the need to capture a range of qualitative and quantitative data dealing with both present and past socionatural environments in the study area. Because the primary focus of this research are present-day socio-cultural adaptive strategies and resiliency, I propose a set of methodologies for capturing qualitative data with the help of local collaborators, as well as quantitative data related to local, national, and global processes. I will also evaluate the potential of employing a geographic information system (GIS) to create a database that will allow me to integrate various types of data in order to search for correlations across temporal and spatial scales. However, the extent to which GIS is employed will depend on data available and also time constraints. Semi-structured Interviewing The second phase of research will take place from April to July 2008 and will be devoted largely to semi-structured interviews. During these sixteen weeks I plan to conduct 30 interviews, approximately 2-3 per week with time allowed for translation and transcription and for unexpected delays. Collaborators for interviews will be identified during preliminary community meetings, with additional participants contacted by mail if needed to insure an adequate sample. The goal of interviews will be to establish a set of themes pertaining to perceived needs and desires, whether these are related to livelihood, community, the natural environment, or other things. Interviewees will be asked to concretely identify several elements they perceive as necessary to achieve and maintain a good quality of life (see Appendix 1: Sample Questions). Based on themes that emerge from these interviews, I propose to develop an indigenous conceptual model for evaluating the efficacy of adaptive strategies employed at the individual and community level. Before implementing this model at later stages of my fieldwork, I will consult with interviewees to check for clarity and accuracy. Developing a conceptual model in the early stages of fieldwork will allow me to frame later modes of inquiry in terms that are valid for community members. In addition, disparities in information gained from interviews will be explored to reveal potential conflicts within the community itself. The aim of such an approach will be to promote conversation between informants and me in order to draw out information that is meaningful to the local community, while still being relevant to broader research questions. Photo sorting Knight (Knight 1994a, Knight 1997a, Knight 1997b, Knight 2000, Knight 2003) and others (Asquith and Kalland 1997, Kalland 2002, Kellert 1991, Kozo 2005) have written extensively concerning perceptions of nature in Japan and the influence these have (or dont have) on behavioral choices related to the natural environment. An attempt to understand cultural beliefs and attitudes towards local socio-natural environments is particularly valid for studies of upland communities, whose residents are in close contact with their social and natural worlds on a daily basis. For these reasons, I propose to employ a photo sorting methodology in the preliminary stage of my research. Participants doing structured interviews will be given disposable film cameras and asked to take pictures of a variety of landscapes that they feel are important for whatever reason, whether economically, spiritually, aesthetically, or otherwise. Later, during focus group

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sessions participants will have the opportunity to view each others photos, discuss them, and groups them into categories based on value categories designed collectively. Categories may include: scenic, useful, needed, unneeded, desirable, undesirable, natural, unnatural and so on. In addition to gleaning more discrete categories of description, I will elicit further commentary from informants concerning their feelings or attitudes about different land scenes. This data will contribute to the development of a conceptual model and set of vocabulary for thinking about local landscapes. Knowing what types of landscapes are considered natural or unnatural, desirable or undesirable, et cetera, will provide a set of value terms to be applied in later stages of analysis. In addition informants will be encouraged to share other personal photographs, particularly older ones, that they feel are meaningful or instructive. Participant and collaborative mapping Participant and collaborative mapping will be employed in this project with two goals in mind. First, it will allow for ethnographic data concerning perceptions, feelings, and beliefs to be combined with broader datasets related to environmental change over time. More importantly, as a collaborative effort, it will allow participants to spend time with one another, focused on topics related to their community. Aside from producing tangible products, the mapping process itself can be an effective tool for helping citizens to connect with their local environment and begin thinking about important community issues (Aberley 1993). Mapping involving participants will take place in three phases. In the first phase, project participants will be asked to produce hand-drawn maps on their own depicting their community and including any features they feel are meaningful or significant. Next, participants will come together in focus groups to share their personal maps and collaborate with other community members to transfer information they deem relevant onto a larger topographic map. Finally, this topographic map will be used during later stages of fieldwork as a focal point for discussions and excursions into the surrounding environment where specific points can be georeferenced using a GPS unit; later this data can be added to a GIS database. Though data collected through participant and collaborative maps might later be included in a GIS database, I will refrain from making GIS the focus of the mapping process. This is because, while GIS is a powerful tool, its technical nature and high costs make it a mixed blessing for many communities (Wood 2005). Several studies suggest that it is the mapping process itself, with its focus on immersion into community issues that produces benefits for local communities. In other words, technology is a small part of community building or revitalization, what is more important is the sincere involvement of interested citizens (Chapin and Threlkeld 2001). That being said, if community members are interested in exploring and investing in GIS technology, I will be able to support them in that process. Focus groups Focus groups will be conducted throughout the project with both adult and school age participants. The reasons for employing this technique are many. First, focus groups will

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allow for greater consensus building as I work with participants to create maps and models of their surroundings which reflect common thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Second, focus groups will allow participants to freely share ideas with neighbors and friends, which will provide greater opportunities to explore community dynamics. Finally, focus groups will provide opportunities for residents to strengthen community bonds as they engage issues that have significance in their lives. It is hoped that the use of focus groups as a methodology will lessen my presence as a researcher so that participants can build response strategies that fit their own needs and agendas. Focus groups will be used mainly in the beginning stages of fieldwork while developing models and producing maps to guide later inquiry. However, focus groups will also be used at later stages to allow participants the opportunity to add their ideas and opinions concerning the project. Throughout the research, adult focus groups will be comprised of 7-8 individuals grouped according to shared age, sex, or interests in order to create a comfortable setting and cohort mentality (Bernard 2002). Although it has been argued that focus groups comprised of unacquainted participants is desirable (Bernard 2002), because an aim of this project is to promote community cohesiveness around ecological issues this will not be a criterion for focus groups; furthermore, due to small village populations unacquainted groups is likely unachievable. Questionnaire A questionnaire will be used to gather a broad dataset concerning an array of topics in a short amount of time. In addition to basic demographic data, such as age, occupation, income, et cetera, the questionnaire will be designed to access data related to themes that emerge from interviews and group discussion conducted during the second stage of research. Questionnaires will be structured; possible question topics include the outmigration of family members, land ownership (particularly forest), and sources of income. Participants for the questionnaire will be randomly selected among households using town records. Questionnaires will be conducted at the household level, but will also allow information on individuals to be gathered by numerically coding household members. Because questionnaires will be structured, administration shouldnt take much time, which will allow me to access a larger population (approximately 100 households). Research of written materials Research of written materials will take place during and after the fieldwork session in order to access data related to: 1) the structure and functioning of forest ecosystems in Japan; and 2) national and international level processes that influence local socio-natural environments. Materials pertaining to the former will be found through library research of extant academic articles in both English and Japanese. These materials will add to my understanding of forest ecosystems in relation to concepts of resilience. Data pertaining to the later topic will be accessed through government documents relating to trade, economics, demographics, and policies. These documents are readily available through Japanese government websites, often in both English and Japanese. Research of these materials will assist in contextualizing local ethnographic data within the larger political economy of Japan.

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Participant Observation, Informal Interviewing and Cultural Mapping The third phase of my research will take place from August 2008 to March 2009. Research in this phase will be focused on gathering detailed descriptions of behaviors, social practices, and speech acts related to the model of adaptation developed in the first stage of research. The methodology for this stage of research will be comprised of three related components: 1) participant observation; 2) informal interviewing; and 3) cultural mapping. Participant observation will consist of attendance and participation in a variety of activities ranging from forestry and agricultural work to enkai (drinking parties) and village festivals. In this study, human actors are conceived of as the locus of interaction between socio-cultural systems and natural environments. Therefore, behavioral observations will be vital for assessing the ways in which government policies, economic trends, cultural ideas, social relationships, beliefs, values, and obligations are transferred to the natural environment through human bodies. Informal interviewing is proposed as a method with three goals in mind. The first is to further evaluate and add clarity to the conceptual model developed in the second stage of research. This means asking questions about the socio-natural environments encountered while spending time with informants. The second goal of informal interviewing is to add social and cultural context to behavioral observations and to help clarify their correlations to the structure of the natural environment. This study proposes that humans and their natural environments can be viewed as a total phenomenon (Bale 1998, 2006), which requires the linking environmental observations with human behavior and the situating of these within socio-cultural systems of meaning and value. A final goal is to identify inconsistencies and disconnections between speech events and both exhibited behaviors and the conceptual model developed in the first stage of research. Recognizing that human social systems are full of conflicts and contradictions, my purpose is not to expose parallax, but rather to explore the reasons for it in order to generate more clarity concerning processes of rural degradation. The third technical component of this methodology entails the use of a global positioning satellite (GPS) unit to track movement across physical space while spending time with informants. Data captured using a GPS will be referenced in field notes to record links between speech events and particular geographic features; boundaries identified by informants; and geographic locations associated with pertinent oral data. The goal of tracking geographic positions alongside field notes is to add a spatial reference to sociocultural data being collected. This data will be added to a project GIS database to allow for comparative analyses changes in land-use and cultural perceptions of landscapes. In other words, my aim is to create cultural maps, which link ethnographic and geographical information, to supplement maps based strictly on official statistical, demographic or geographic data. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Mapping With time and data allowing, mapping using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software will be employed to examine associations between socio-political factors and forest structure through time. Historical data on forest extent and composition will be

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obtained from historical maps, national and municipal records, satellite data, aerial photography, and digital geographic data. This data will be collected from local offices, and also from national libraries, such as the library of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Tokyo. It is likely that pre-WWII map and statistical data will be difficult to correlate with geographic data, though techniques for doing this have begun to be explored (Sprague 2001, Sprague and Iwasaki 2004). ArcGIS software will be used for analyzing historical data, which will allow me to add contemporary ethnographic data for comparison. Dr. Noboru Ogata, a GIS specialist at Kyoto University, will be available for consultation during this stage of research. Analysis Data analysis will occur at several points throughout the research process; however, the majority will take place in the spring of 2009. Analysis of data compiled from semistructured interviews will take place during the second stage of research. Interview questions will be designed to elicit responses regarding beliefs and values concerning the needs and desires of both individuals and the community. Responses to these initial interviews will be coded using Nvivo software, which will allow me to search for and identify common themes discussed by informants. Next, in collaboration with informants, I will develop a conceptual model of adaptation based on the themes identified through this analysis. This grounded model will guide data gathering in later stages of fieldwork, which will be focused on documenting attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in terms of their fit with identified adaptive strategies. This model of adaptation will also be used to identify and explore the nature of what can be labeled maladaptive forces, whether local or external, and their influence on the resiliency of local socio-natural environments. Additional data gathered from photo sorting sessions will be analyzed to extract a working vocabulary of typologies associated with land-use, which can then be used throughout the later stages of data collection and analysis. Primary analysis will take place in the spring of 2009. Data concerning behavior, attitudes, and beliefs gathered through participant observation, informal interviewing, and collaborative mapping will be compiled for comparison against data concerning historical patterns of landscape transformation and broader political, economic, and social trends as they relate to the resilience of local socio-natural systems. Qualitative analysis will continue by developing search strings identifying adaptive behavior based on the model of adaptation developed in the second stage of research. I will also create search strings referencing data at the local, national, and global levels identified as hindering local adaptive strategies. This analysis will leave me with a body of cross-referenced data describing factors that inhibit effective adaptation in the host community. Next, these datasets of adaptive behavior will be contrasted with models of resilience based on data concerning forest ecosystems, as well as data pertaining to Japans political economy in relation to the host community, to explore the tensions that are inherent to socio-natural systems. Finally, when possible GIS data will be queried to identify historical episodes of landscape change, allowing me to begin identifying and tracing the effects such changes have through time and how they influence the adaptive abilities and resiliency of the host community.

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My analysis will result in data that is useful in understanding the interaction of various socio-natural processes that contribute to the decision making of individuals as they work to meet needs and desires. Using Bennetts concept of adaptation as an orienting framework, my analysis will focus on the ability of a modern upland community to employ effective adaptive strategies in the pursuit of indigenously defined needs and desires, and the relation this has to the resiliency of the socio-natural system at large, and the viability of community in particular, both in the long and the short term. Behaviors identified as maladaptivedefined as those that prevent individuals or communities from achieving wants and desires or lower systemic resiliencywill be further explored in an attempt to understand the causal factors driving them. Bennett explains that adaptive strategies are manifold, meaning that what is adaptive at one level of society may be maladaptive at another. Thus, various individuals, communities, and/or institutions operating at a variety of scales, will exhibit adaptive strategies that are often in conflict at different levels. In addition, by combining historical data concerning landscape change with contemporary ethnographic data this research will contribute to an understanding of the temporal development of adaptive strategies at the local level in response to transformations of the socio-natural environment, which are often externally driven, and the effect this has had on mountain forest communities. Broader Impacts The decline of rural areas is a trend that threatens the livelihoods of mountain villages all over Japan. My research aims to explore the causes of rural decline based on fieldwork in a host community and I feel therefore that I have a responsibility to design my research in a way that is useful and meaningful to that community. In line with this, I propose several projects that could be beneficial as part of this research. 1) Educational programs: Young people are the best resource that upland villages have for ensuring their future. Urban migration has been devastating to rural villages and education is a key to limiting this colossal trend. I propose educational programs in elementary, junior high, and high schools around the study area. Having been an English instructor in Japan for three years, I know that students and teachers are very enthusiastic about new opportunities for learning. Im confident that both collaborators and I can find plenty of opportunities for teaching students about forests, forestry, and agriculture, both inside and outside of the classroom. My hope is that the host community will agree that giving young people the opportunity to engage with their villages, while teaching them new skills, might plant the seeds for future leadership by skilled individuals with commitments to their home villages. 2) Consultation and planning: Villages in Japan are often left to their own devices when it comes to spending money on various projects. Governmental funds have often been put to use on infrastructural projects that contribute little to the future viability of village communities. My research could be useful in helping to inform local leaders and residents about the potential benefits and impacts of proposed projects. I will actively search out opportunities for collaborators and me to engage in consultation and planning activities that can help give a voice to community members concerning the future of their villages. Obviously, local leaders and community members are more than capable of

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making decisions regarding the future of their village. My hope is to be able to offer alternative insights and a novel skill set that might assist my hosts in future projects. 3) Community education: Public perceptions of rural areas in Japan have been extremely detrimental to the well-being of village communities. Notions of traditional villages in the popular culture have led many communities to squander enormous monetary resources on projects meant to capitalize on popular images in order to attract tourists. Overall, such projects have been disastrous, leaving villages with large debts and useless infrastructural improvements. Educating the wider Japanese public about the realities of the state of crisis in mountain villages is an important step in working to revitalize these areas. As part of my research I plan to seek out opportunities to help create awareness of, and advocate for, my host community. More importantly, I intend to seek out opportunities to create links between my host community and the larger society. This might include helping to establish a weekend farming project for urban dwellers; translating materials to English for wider distribution; or researching potential new markets for village products. 4) Community resource use and global environments: Lastly, the ability of industrialized nations such as Japan to develop sustainable methods for managing domestic resources is of vital importance to the future of global environments. Resolving the problem of environmental degradation due to unsound resource extraction can be aided greatly through research pertaining to those nations consuming the most resources. Returning resource extraction to local regions will encourage sustainable usage by increasing awareness of degradation through environmental feedback. Central to the success of this approach is local participation and education in order to foster community involvement in resource management. Significance Japan faces unique challenges in seeking to protect natural environments while supporting a large population with a relative scarcity of natural resources. With its particular history of landscape management and active rural communities, Japan is well suited for research in environmental anthropology, which holds broad implications for our understanding of the rapid changes in human relations with the environment that are now ubiquitous across the globe. The history of human involvement in natural environments provides a rich arena for research into successful strategies for promoting healthy environments and human communities that are resilient in the long-term. By looking to the past we can attempt to understand the cultural behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs that have allowed communities to thrive in particular environments, while at the same time identifying natural and social processes that undermine cultural adaptive strategies and negatively impact healthy ecologies. This type of inquiry allows for the recognition of adaptive and maladaptive qualities of cultural processes at a variety of levels, suggesting possibilities for rethinking the future of human communities across the globe. The modern eco-crisis forces us to begin questioning the feasibility, as well as the quality, of our lives and our relationships with the biosphere. Examining the role that humans have played at different levels

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through time in shaping modern environments requires us to address the historical formation of socio-cultural institutions and practices so that we can begin to make correlations that allow us to understand current environmental degradation in part as a function of past socio-cultural developments. Studies of upland communities, which often sit at the margins of modern nation-states, can aid in identifying the value of adaptive strategies that have persisted into the presentday. At the same time, care must be taken to understand the forces that have served to undermine, reshape, and produce new strategies, recognizing that these have tended to emerge with the global patterns of resource use that have become the hallmark of modern society. In other words, the forms of the past cannot be a solution quid pro quo for the present or the future. However, through the cross-cultural study of human-environmental interactions we might find ways of re-imagining our relationships with the natural world and with our fellow humans. It is important, however, to realize that answers to the global eco-crisis will only come through self-reflection and the moral will to adjust levels of consumption. As the worlds largest consumers, industrialized nations such as Japan require much more attention from environmental anthropologists, to begin exploring pathways towards ecosanity. By continuing to limit, for the most part, studies of human-environment relationships to small-scale societies that have aptly been labeled victims of progress (Bodley 1982), anthropologists miss the opportunity to make their work effective in confronting the heart of the eco-crisis. The decline of mountain forest communities in Japan, the worlds number one importer of foreign timber (Seo and Taylor 2003), begs the larger issues of consumption and patterns of resource use. This study looks at localized human-environment relationships in Japan in order to open a dialogue to these broader issues, recognizing that, mans use of Nature is inextricably intertwined with mans use of Man, [therefore] remedies for destructive use of the environment must be found within the social system itself (Bennett 1976).

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Appendix A: Schedule: May 2007 - April 2009

1st Stage

Hawaii Japan

1. Background research 2. Preliminary site selection 1. Final site selection 2. 1st community meeting 3. Participant observation 4. Site-specific historical research 5. 2nd community meeting 1. 3rd community meeting 2. Semi-structured interviews 3. Participant mapping 4. Focus groups (adult) -Photo-sorting -Collaborative mapping -Develop adaptive model -Develop questionnaire 5. Focus groups (student) -Collaborative mapping 1. Focus groups (adult) -Check model th 2. 4 community meeting 3. Questionnaire interviews 4. Gather extant demographic, statistical, and economic data 4. Participant Observation 5. Informal Interviewing 6. Cultural Mapping (GPS) 1. GIS analysis Analysis Dissertation writing

May-October October-March

2007 2007-2008

2nd Stage

Progress report (March) April-July

2008

3 Stage

rd

Progress report (July) August-March

2008-2009

4th Stage Analysis Stage

Hawaii

Progress report (November) April-

2009

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Appendix B: Sample Questions

1. What is your age? 2. What is your occupation? 3. How long have you lived in the village? 4. What members of your family live in the village? a. Where do others live? 5. What is life like in the village? a. What do you like about it? b. What do you dislike? 6. What was your childhood like in the village? (if applicable) 7. Do you think life has changed in the village? a. If so, how? 8. What will the future be like for the village? 9. What does nature mean to you? 10. Are forests important for the village? a. Why? 11. What would make the village better? 12. Are villages important for Japan? a. Why? 13. Are forests important for Japan? a. Why? 14. What concerns do you have about the village? 15. What makes life good?

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