Following the Second World War, a massive land reclamation project to boost Japans rice production capacity led to the transformation of the shallow lagoon of Hachirogata in Akita Prefecture into a seventeen-thousand-hectare expanse of farmland. In 1964, the village of Ogata-mura was founded on the empoldered land inside the lagoon and nearly six hundred pioneers from across the country were brought to settle there. The village was to be a model of a new breed of highly mechanized, efficient rice agriculture; however, the villages purpose was jeopardized when the demand for rice fell, and the goal of creating an egalitarian farming community was threatened as individual entrepreneurialism took root and as the settlers became divided into political factions that to this day continue to struggle for control of the village. Based on seventeen years of research, this book explores the process of Ogatamuras development from the planning stages to the present. An intensive ethnographic study of the relationship between land reclamation, agriculture, and politics in regional Japan, it traces the internal social effects of the villages economic transformations while addressing the implications of national policy at the municipal and regional levels.

Donald C. Woodis an Associate Professor at Akita University, where he has worked since earning a PhD in cultural anthropology at the University of Tokyo in 2004. He is currently editor of theResearch in Economic Anthropologybook series.

Preface Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Village and the Issues Putting Ogata-mura under the Lens Problems Community Planning, Transition Economy, and Conflict

Chapter 1. Agricultural Policy and Regional Politics in Japan Agricultural and Regional Policy Carrots from Heaven Agricultural Policy and Regional Politics Reflections

Chapter 2. Reclamation and the Old Social Order Hachirgata Before the Reclamation The Reclamation Settlement Loneliness, Depression and Tensions The Cooperative Groups Social Organization Beyond the Group Level The End of the Settlement Phase Utopia Lost?

Chapter 3. The Storm and the Aftermath Dark Clouds on the Horizon The Deluge Why did the Clouds Burst? The Beautification Campaign Accelerates Big Plans and High Hopes The Sociopolitical Costs of Cosmetic Surgery

Chapter 4. Rice: Alliances, Institutions, Frictions Rice Marketing in the Village Business and Politics in an Ogata-mura Neighborhood Rice Farming and Business Intertwined

Chapter 5. Politics and the New Social Order The Interplay of Opposing Parties The Election of 2000 Developments Following the Election of 2000 The Election of 2004 A Fracture Forms in the Opposition Party The Election of 2008 The Changing Political Landscape

Chapter 6. What Can We Learn from Ogata-mura? Plans, Policies, and Politics The Big Picture Plans, Policies, and Politics The Small Picture A Model Farming Village?

Bibliography Index