| Abstract |

This paper draws on qualitative fieldwork in three municipalities to ask how and by whom urban-rural migration is governed at the sub-municipal level. The focus is on an emerging form of sub-municipal self-governance organizations, so called regional management organizations, which tend to have a close relationship with local governments. Some of these organizations take on a role as intermediate actors that aim to moderate expectations between newcomers and receiving communities, unlock crucial information, and thus “widen the road” into remote rural areas. At the same time, however, they also act as “gate keepers”, which seek to gain control over who comes to the respective community. In doing so, they reproduce instrumental notions of “useful” migrants who are willing to contribute to community life according to established local rules and expectations. The findings connect the topic of state-induced urban-rural migration in Japan to changes in the landscape of local governance in the aftermath of the mid-2000s wave of municipal mergers.

| Access |

The article can be found open-access in the latest volume of Contemporary Japan on the Taylor & Francis Website.