Abstract
Most of Japanese rural areas have become de-populated areas through the rapid economic growth in Japan since 1960. In spite of the improvement of hardware systems in the de-populated areas since 1970, the process of de-populating and aging is proceeding even at present. This process means finally the extinction of rural community. So, the effective countermeasures which combine the hardware systems and software systems are required for revitalization of rural society. And activities of self-governing organizations in the rural communities may give an important influence on effective acomplishment for revitalization of the de-populated communities.
This paper is a basic study on the relationship between the revitalizing activities and self-governing organization in a de-populated rural community. The auther picks up a self- governing organizatin in Takayanagi-town of Niigata prefecture. It is found that voluntary activities of inhabitants are subject to the influence of the intensity and structure of self- governing organization and the decrease in population is partly restrained by the contents of inhabitant’s activities for revitalization of the rural community.
