Los antecedentes y la actualidad de la migración interna japonesa: alcances y límites del fenómeno “retorno rural"

Currently, there is a migration of young Japanese to the countryside known as “rural return” or “return to rural life”, a phenomenon that has been investigated in Japanese academia and has become important for municipal and local policy decisions, with the aim of repopulating areas that have historically been losing population. Based on an extensive bibliographical analysis of this migration phenomenon, which has not been much discussed abroad, the article highlights some characteristics of rural return in Japan. As a result of this research, it is exposed that, although the social commitment of these young people to rural communities is pointed out and the question of social classes is not manifested as in other countries which experience migration to rurality, the growing interest of young people could introduce new actors who have not been before in the framework of the analysis of the theory of rural return.