Taking the Goki-Shichido (Five Home Provinces and Seven Circuits of Ancient Japan) as a theoretical framework, this book examines shrinking Japan from a regional variation perspective by municipality along the ancient Tokaido, which comprises 15 provinces, and seven prefectures today. The study identifies the principal explanatory factors based on the small area data of e-Stat through GPS statistical software tools such as G-census and EvaCva, within a historical perspective. This historical knowledge helps in understanding the significance of the regional cultural heritage that remains in each municipality today. The book pays special attention to municipal variations within the same prefecture, presenting a completely unique approach from what other researchers have pursued.

This volume studies two present-day prefectures along the ancient Tokaido for detailed analyses of the impacts of regional variations of population decline in Japan. They are Shizuoka Prefecture, made up of the former Tootoumi, Suruga, and Izu provinces, and Mie Prefecture, formed by the ancient provinces of Iga, Ise, Shima, and the eastern part of Kii as examples to show the impacts of municipal power on regional variations of shrinking Japan. The reasons for selecting these two prefectures of the ancient Tokaido are twofold. First, they are made up of a multiple number of the ancient provinces. Second, other prefectures that fall under the Tokaido have been studied in the previous works of the present author by adopting the same methods of analyses. Thus, by presenting unique analyses of regional variations on small municipal levels, with demographic variables, social indicators, and historical identities of municipalities in Shizuoka and Mie prefectures along the Tokaido, this book offers suggestions for effective regional policy to revitalize shrinking Japan to a sustainable one.

Fumie Kumagai (Ph.D.) is a professor emeritus of Kyorin University in Tokyo. She holds an American doctorate in sociology with extensive experience in the West as a student, college professor and researcher. Her overseas experience affords her a unique cross-cultural perspective in the field of families and demography, social issues, and intercultural communication. Her major interest is in regional variations on Japanese population, families, and socio-cultural characteristics based on municipality, but not by prefecture, or Japan by any means. She has published 28 volumes of books and monographs in Japanese and/or English. Of them, her sole-authored books in English include Unmasking Japan Today: The Impact of Traditional Values on Modern Japanese Society (1996, Prager), Families in Japan: Changes, Continuities, and Regional Variations (2008, University Press of America), Family Issues on Marriage, Divorce, and Older Adults in Japan: With Special Attention to Regional Variations (2015, Springer), Municipal Power and Population Decline in Japan: Goki-Shichido and Regional Variations (2020, Springer), Shrinking Japan and Regional Variations: Along the Hokurikudo and the Tosando, I and II (2021, Springer), and numerous numbers of refereed articles in such journals as Journal of Family History, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, and Victimology.