The Issues

The C-J Project is an example of the new kind of research collaboration cutting across old institutional boundaries. The four-year agreement between the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) and the Institute for Rural Revitalization in the 21st Century (IRR21) in Japan convenes researchers from diverse institutions, eliminating the need for heavy co-ordination structures. The agreement is designed to enhance each country's capability for understanding and meeting the challenges to rural residents from commodity markets, resource technology, demographics and global economic restructuring.

The Japanese and Canadian rural economies face similar issues for revitalization. Both are experiencing depopulation, aging and economic restructuring. The traditional commodity focus of their natural resource sectors is giving way to other economic functions under market and technological pressure. Incomes and the highly valued social cohesion of rural communities are under pressure as the rural economy and its governance reorganizes. Social capital is becoming even more critical to successful entrepreneurship and reinvestment, both social and individual.

No one expected these findings to be so similar. Not only is one country an agricultural exporter and the other an importer, but also their histories and cultures are very different.

Where differences do arise, they are in the local initiatives and national policies to address their common problems. Up to and including the present, both countries have placed considerable reliance on very different agricultural and trade policies to meet rural needs. Now, with farming less influential for rural outcomes in both countries, attention is shifting to ways to revitalize the whole rural economy without the former natural resource dependency and reliance on income transfers.

Nevertheless, agriculture, forestry and fishing remain the defining characteristic of the meaning of `rural'. Favourable rural outcomes are more highly valued in Japan than in Canada because of the Islands' historical reliance on local food self-sufficiency for national security and the deep cultural roots in self-reliant cohesive rural communities in Japan. In Canada, competitiveness policies for resource sectors have sustained Canada's position globally, yet are increasingly viewed as damaging to other rural functions, such as securing the environment, rural habitat amenities, social cohesion and lifestyle.

C-J activities in 2000

The Japanese side (J-side) selected two research sites in Canada from among the CRRF's 32 sites in their NRE Research Program. The J-side considers Tweed in Ontario as a suitable counter Canadian site (C-site) to Iitate-mura, Fukushima Prefecture. St. Damase in Quebec is the matching C-site for Awano-machi, Tochigi Prefecture.

The J-side sent 5 researchers including a postgraduate student to the national Conference of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation held at the Collège d'Alfred, affiliated with the University of Guelph, in Alfred, Ontario in October 10-14, 2000. The conference theme was "New Rural Economy: Options and Choices." In January 2001, the J-side sent 1 researcher and 1 student to the Canadian research site of Tweed, Ontario.

One member of the C-side spent the first three months of 2000 at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and carried out research in both of the J-sites.

Japanese researchers and their Canadian colleagues presented three papers at the CRRF national conference at Alfred, Ontario. These presentations were the results of the first year of collaborative and comparative research. The three groups of researchers conducted exploratory studies and learned about their different methodological practices. The topics for the presentations were: Sensitivity of small and medium sized enterprises to globalization; volunteer associations; and rural governance.

C-J activities in 2001

Workshops

The third annual C-J Tokyo Workshop was held the 26-7 January 2001. It was agreed that a book be published in 2003 to market the results of the C-J Agreement. The table of contents has been outlined. An Editorial Committee is to be established to oversee the content and strategic aspects for the book. The dual purposes of the book are to contribute to rural revitalization globally through the comparative experience of the C-J research, and to showcase Canadian and Japanese researchers. The target audience is policy-makers and students of rural development.

The J-side hosted a fourth and fifth workshop in January of each of 2002 and 2003. Three Japanese researchers participated in the NRE Workshop at Sackville, New Brunswick, in May 2001 and at Altona Manitoba in May 2002.

CRRF Rural University 2001

The J-side sent four researchers to the CRRF Rural University at Muenster, Saskatchewan, October 10-14, 2001. Both J-side and C-side researchers contributed results of the 2001 C-J research program in keeping with the theme of the Rural University.

CRRF Rural University 2002

Six rural leaders and three researchers from Japan participated in the CRRF Rural University at Miramichi, New Brunswick. The leaders joined in a workshop with Canadian rural leaders from NRE sites and subsequently completed a study tour in Prince Edward Island.

Rural Leader Exchange

Rural leaders undertook study tours in the last two years of the CJ Project. The objective was to share research results and particularly to expose Japanese and Canadian rural leaders to each others' revitalization problems and successes. The first study tour with six J-side leaders took place in October 2002. The second tour of Canadian leaders took place in November 2003. The first tour covered municipal governance, education and the role of volunteer associations, plus visits to farms and explanation of various rural services and infrastructure programs. A report on the second tour can be obtained by clicking here.

Research activities

The goal for the J-side is to accelerate its research, guided by the contents for the book, interests of members and the experience from the three exploratory projects in 2000. The C-side goal seeks to deepen the research already started in 2000. The NRE household survey was extended to the two J-sites of Awano-machi and Iitate-mura during the summer for 2002.

The projects are:

1. governance
2. voluntary organizations
3. sensitivity to globalization
4. property rights
5. comparative rural and agricultural policies
6. comparative histories of rural development
7. current economic policy challenges
8. informal economy
9. modernization, community and households

Research teams

The Japanese side (J-side) consists of 10 researchers from five universities and two research institutes. The Canadian side (C-side) consists of 5 researchers who, with another 20 researchers are working in the New Rural Economy (NRE) Research Program of the CRRF. The C-team is drawn from four universities and a private company.

Japanese members

1. Nobuhiro TSUBOI, Professor, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba(J-Team leader).
2. Mitsuhiro NAKAGAWA, Professor, Ibaraki University, Ibaraki.
3. Tokumi ODAGIRI, Associate Professor, University of Tokyo, Tokyo.
4. Masashi TACHIKAWA, Chief of laboratory, National Research Institute of Agricultural Economics, Tokyo.
5. Junko GOTO, Chief of laboratory, National Agriculture Research Centre, Tsukuba.
6. Mitsuyosi ANDO, Associate Professor, Ibaraki University, Ibaraki.
7. Mamoru SAWADA, Researcher, National Agriculture Research Centre, Tsukuba.
8. Hisato SHUTO, Lecturer, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba.
9. Koji KATO, Assistant Professor, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya.
10. Kenichi YABE, Postgraduate Student of Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo.

Canadian Members

1. L. Peter APEDAILE, President of Peer Diagnostics Limited, Edmonton, Alberta and Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta (C-Team leader).
2. Bruno JEAN, Professor, University of Quebec, Rimouski, Quebec (President of the Canada Rural Revitalization Foundation).
3. Bill REIMER, Professor, Concordia University, Research Director for the NRE Research Program (Past-President of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation).
4. Ellen WALL, Research Scientist, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario.
5. Greg HALSETH, Associate Professor, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia.

Building rural economies for the third millenium