Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: Study of Political and Economic Change in a Tohoku Village

Tanohata in the 1950s was an isolated fishing village in the Tohoku region of Japan. Life there was so miserable that those who could leave did, and those who could not stayed on in a state of demoralization. By the 1980s, however, Tanohata had not only joined the mainstream of Japanese culture and economic life, but had done so with an adroitness that attracted national notice. The story of that dramatic transformation, written from the perspective of one who has both observed and participated in the changes for the last 20 years, brings into dramatic focus what is happening throughout Japan in the 20th century. This study fills a gap in the research on rural Japanese culture and economy by focusing on a fishing rather than a rice-cultivating village. It challenges the assumption that Japanese political life is dominated by what is called
vertical insularity , and documents the role of charismatic leadership in a rural community where the traditional structure of the Japanese household provides not ony stability but also a basis for innovation and the acceptance of new ideas.