10 - Conclusions and Beginnings

Summary

This concluding chapter offers a reassessment of informal life politics in the modern Japanese context. The activities explored in book can, from one perspective, be seen as having had very little effect on mainstream political life in Japan: indeed, they have often deliberately eschewed engagement with mainstream political institutions. But it can be argued that, as well as improving the quality of life for communities directly concerned, these activities have helped to offer an alternative understanding of ‘the political’ itself: an understanding that speaks to the crisis of democracy which confronts the world today. As this chapter acknowledges, the book has only been able to address limited facets of the rich history of informal life politics in Japan, but it is hoped that it has helped to open up a perspective that can be further developed in the future, as researchers and activists continue to seek a path forward out of the twenty-first century crisis of democracy.