For the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), the aims of the extension services for home living improvement included improving living conditions of farmers and spreading democracy in rural villages. It adopted a policy of cultivating home living improvement groups on the model of women’s common-interest associations as the organizational agents of the service. This study discusses how local authorities in the Tohoku region responded to the basic policies of the MAF’s extension services for home living improvement, with a focus on Aomori prefecture. The study demonstrates that, although Aomori attempted to accept the MAF’s basic policy, it was initially forced to implement the improvements through existing men’s organizations—an unavoidable response given the social realities of the farming villages. As improvement activities began in earnest, however, women gradually took over as their primary movers.
