Japanese Rural Revitalization: The Reality and Potential of Cultural Commodities as Local Brands

Against a background of the recent Heisei dai-gappei municipal mergers, this paper considers the reality of local revitalization in rural Japan through local branding; that is, the process through which local products are tied to the region from which they originate. While the importance of branding was formally recognized by the Japanese national government in 2006, this paper takes the position that the current mechanisms driving place-branding ultimately miss the potential of locally appropriate products. As part of the current rush to ‘brand’ anything local, the Tsugaru district of Aomori Prefecture has identified eight products for branding. However, considering the historical trajectory of Tsugaru nuri lacquerware and Tsugaru shamisen music, the two cultural commodities most associated with Tsugaru, it is clear that the potential of branding is complicated, if not countered—specifically in the case of cultural commodities—by the process of branding itself. The research concludes that in order to ensure that a brand image is appropriate and effective in revitalizing the place it is to be associated with, it is necessary to take a proper analytical approach: The historical trajectory of potentially brandable cultural commodities should be assessed, while recognizing that it is through such an approach that a commodity appropriate to local branding can be identified.