Present conditions and patterns of mountain villages of Japan in the early 21st century

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the present conditions of the mountain villages of Japan in the early 21st century. The mountain villages of early 21st century Japan are divided into seven groups with regard to overall population decline and the proportion of young inhabitants. We find that the number of mountain villages where the population actually increased during this time period is small when compared to those villages that experienced dramatic decreases in population. The mountain villages in Japan of today have deterioration of the function for management of forest and preservation of country.