WiNS-Women in Sports and Science: Creative approaches at the grassroots level to address regional revitalization in rural Japan: The role of JUDO imagined

Abstract

The world is getting smaller but distances are growing, especially in the world’s developed countries, in the rural areas, creating a new setoff changes that cannot be overlooked. This commentary uses both the government (of Japan) documents (literature) in the Regional Revitalization 2.0 and the Comprehensive Strategy for Regional Revitalization and the authors interpretations based on an original idea to propose (research) practical, on-the-ground solutions to challenges facing the local (rural) communities in Japan. A case of the Ishikawa prefecture is proposed as a research project with JUDO (‘Machi-dojo’) being the tool for regional revitalization. The authors’ hope to encourage a discussion on topics of local communities, aging society, depopulation, labor shortages, economy.