抄録
According to the “modernization theory” of American sociology in the 1960’s, industrialization in the non-western world is characterized as “late development”, and furthermore, because this process entailed learning from Western civilization, it was labeled “exogenous”. However, due to distinct historical and cultural conditions, significant differences in the course of development of these “late developing” countries were apparent. The endogenous development theory, which was shaped during the mid 1970’s, maintains that it is possible to achieve “endogenous development” even in the late developing countries. Pertaining to this question, the author suggests that a perspective where endogenous and exogenous development complement each other may depict the realities of regional development in these countries more accurately.
The author has conducted a rural survey in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture over the course of one year. The Suwa region has the distinguishing feature of having experienced “endogenous development”. From the end of Edo period to the Meiji era, Suwa had grown in to the main raw silk producing region of the world, as well as one of the birthplaces of modern Japanese Industry. In the postwar period, Suwa converted to the precision machinery industry and, in 1964, was the only inland area to be designated as a “new industrial city”. In rural areas of Suwa, peasants who had built reeling mills during the prewar period transformed the area into a well-known flower and vegetable growing region in the postwar period.
In this paper, the endogenous and exogenous factors in the process of industrialization in the Suwa area are examined. Finally the formative conditions for Suwa’s unusually strong endogenous development are analyzed.
