2020 Volume 2020 Issue 1 Pages 1-11
This study focuses on the vacant house owner (VHO) as a member of society, “Related Population,” to clarify the present understanding of (i) a vacant house, (ii) VHOs’ activities, and (iii) VHOs’ relationships with rural society. Data were collected through interview surveys in the remotest areas (the remote settlements), and a questionnaire survey in all the other settlements of the municipality (all the settlements) was conducted in Nanmoku Village in Gunma Prefecture. In the paper, VHO who come back to their home settlements on a regular basis, are called “commuting vacant house owner” (CVHO). The findings suggest the following: (i) Most VHOs return to their home settlements on a regular basis—more than once a year—with some visiting on a monthly or more frequent basis. Further, most VHOs return to undergo some association, with some visiting to undergo association actively, or private recreation actively at their leisure. (ii) The VHO’s relationship with rural society stipulates that VHOs have social impacts on the population, spatial management, and social participation. Therefore, it has been predicted that they activate rural society and contribute to rural sustainability indirectly through these impacts. (iii) The private and the social intentions of VHOs that are categorized from the viewpoints of recreation and social participation are considered as independent variables. According to these results, some subsidy programs have been proposed for the inclusion of VHOs in rural society, to promote and sustain social or private intentions and also inspire social intention.
