The rural and urban communities have a distinct structure, function and dynamism, which provide us with livelihood and define our lives through our various daily activities. Circumstances surrounding the rural and urban communities are increasingly changing, such as with the rapid development...

In Japan, most of the studies of 'Social Capital' (SC) are from a viewpoint of macro scale such as national, and also mainly by a top-down way. Therefore, the accumulation of studies in micro scale?(bottom-up way), such as a village or a community, is an urgent and vital task for researchers....

Acknowledgements -- Introduction / Stephanie Assmann -- Challenges in rural areas -- Social sustainability in post-3.11 coastal Japan : the significance of social capital / ALYNE E. DELANEY -- Local schools in remote areas : challenges for youth, parents and community / JOHANNES WILHELM -- The...