Shrinking Japan and Regional Variations: Along the Hokurikudo and the Tosando II

Fumie KUMAGAI (Ph.D.) is a professor emeritus of Kyorin University in Tokyo. She holds an American doctorate in sociology with extensive experience in the West as a student, college professor, and researcher. Her overseas experience affords her a unique cross-cultural perspective in the field of families and demography, social issues, and intercultural communication. Her major interest is in regional variations on Japanese population, families, and socio-cultural characteristics based on municipality, but not by prefecture, or Japan by any means. She has published 26 volumes of books and monographs in Japanese and/or English. Of them, her sole-authored books in English include Unmasking Japan Today: The Impact of Traditional Values on Modern Japanese Society (1996, Prager), Families in Japan: Changes, Continuities, and Regional Variations (2008, University Press of America), Family Issues on Marriage, Divorce, and Older Adults in Japan: With Special Attention to Regional Variations (2015, Springer), Municipal Power and Population Decline in Japan: Goki-Shichido and Regional Variations (2020, Springer), and numerous numbers of refereed articles in such journals as  Journal of Family History, Journal of Marriage and  Family, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, and Victimology.​​

• Preface.- Chapter 1: Fukui Prefecture in Hokurikudo of Goki-Shichido and Regional Variations: Echizen vs. Wakasa Provinces.- Chapter 2: Nagano Prefecture in Tosando of Goki-Shichido and Regional Variations: Shinano Province, Four Areas and Ten Regions.- Chapter 3: Gifu Prefecture in Tosando of Goki-Shichido and Regional Variations: Mino vs. Hida Provinces.- Chapter 4: Epilogue: The Future of Shrinking Japan: What Can Be Done to Mobilize Shrinking to Sustainable Japan.