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Top1. Introduction
Studies of Japanese rural farming villages of the past showed that, though the traditional ‘ie system’ (family system) was abolished following the end of World War II, many citizens of such villages stagnantly regarded ‘ie’ (family) as very important. As a result of this insistence on the traditional family system, when a family made a decision, its ‘yome’ (daughter-in-law) had a small say. Also the local tradition and custom held the residents in a strong bind (Mitsuoka, 1996; Watanabe, 2002; Nagano, 2004; Hosoya, 2005). Many Japanese today, therefore, have a prevalent image about life in a rural farming village that individuals have less freedom than in urban areas since the rural family system and territorial connections hold individuals’ duties to the family and local groups more important than their freedom.
Yet at the same time, the non-farming labour market has grown up in those rural areas of the nation and many farmers are actually part-time farmers today. There are reports, therefore, of individuals enjoying greater, expanding freedom while living in farming families (Kumagai, 1991, 1995). Also in recent years, there have been some moves to promote “household management agreements”, in which the members of a family negotiate and reach an agreement over the house chores and family business, with a view to more respect to the will and rights of each member of the family. Those “agreements” are part of agricultural policies and intended to help farming households get over the traditional reign of local custom (Gojô, 2003; Shinozaki, 2003). Another recent, gradually expanding trend is called “I-turn” families, who move into rural areas from urban neighbourhoods. These families might also be spreading more respect to individual freedom and lifestyles among farming families.
What do those trends to respect individual freedom more mean to farming families of Japan and what does this all tell about the Japanese society? This article considers and discusses this question, based on results from interviews conducted with people living in farming villages of Shimane Prefecture in 2005 and 2006. The intention is to obtain some new opinions and ideas concerning the relationship between individuals and the group called a “family”, by means of considering “individualization”, or the moves to seek for more individual freedom, from the viewpoint of the farming village family.