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This chapter examines the meaning and expected role of subsistence production in contemporary Japan through an overview of national trends and a case study from the Ashigara region. With the expansion of the market economy, subsistence production has become marginalized in Japan. Women operated under the double burden of economic and subsistence activities, but with the increased importance of economic activities the social status of subsistence activities decreased. Nowadays, subsistence production is mainly carried out by elderly women. Owing to its decreased economic importance, food processing became “gendered” as a “women's hobby” rather than a household necessity. Resources and information are shared with neighbors, relatives, and friends, and function as an important medium for communication. Subsistence production supplies use value, and through it, one can learn the limitation and abundance of nature, as well as the extent of our wants, which capitalism has excessively enlarged. Since individual profit is not sought, resources and information can be shared, strengthening social networks and social security. Through inclusive participation of citizens regardless of occupation, sex, or age, one will rediscover the meaning of work and living together.

This edited book contains a selection of papers that were originally presented at the XII World Congress of Rural Sociology held in Goyang, South Korea, in July 2008. Contrary to the case of conference proceedings, this volume includes papers that underwent a peer review process and, therefore, possess the quality of finished research manuscripts. The idea of publishing a selection of the most significant papers read at the 2008 World Congress stems from the desire to share the wealth of research presented at the conference with interested individuals who could not attend the event. Additionally, this will be the first of a series of volumes containing the most salient works presented at world congresses and reflecting the research characterizing contemporary rural sociology. As this sociological sub-discipline evolves along with society and the rural world, it appears of paramount importance to make salient research available to the international scientific community.

Huge US and Western European trade deficits with Japan indicate that Western firms are doing a worse marketing job in Japan than Japanese firms are doing in Western markets. One critical difference: Japanese executives have figured out how Westerners basically think; by and large, Western executives have learned much less about the Japanese. This paper contends that neglecting Japanese cultural factors limits marketing success, and can even lead to failure. Key Japanese anthropological concepts are explained, for the purpose of revealing how they create opportunities or problems for Western firms. Implications are discussed with emphasis on how sensitivity to Japanese values can be integrated with marketing planning.