In this episode, hosts Jada Fraser and Adri Reinecke sit down with Dr. Patricia Maclachlan to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Japanese farmers and Japanese agricultural co-ops (JA) amidst demographic and economic decline. Other topics discussed include how JA organizations are adapting; why some JA organizations are able to implement strategic change while others are not; the environmental and immigration implications of a changing Japanese agricultural landscape; and what we might expect from the next generation of Japanese political leadership regarding agricultural reform.

Dr. Maclachlan is Professor of Government and the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. A student of interest group politics and political-economic reform in Japan, her publications include "Consumer Politics in Postwar Japan: The Institutional Boundaries of Citizen Activism" (Columbia University Press, 2002) and "The People’s Post Office: The History and Politics of the Japanese Postal System, 1871-2010" (Harvard University East Asia Center, 2011). She is also the author, with Kay Shimizu, of "Betting on the Farm: Institutional Change in Japanese Agriculture," which is forthcoming in March 2022 from Cornell University Press.

Recorded on Thursday, November 18, 2021. Sound-edited by Lauren Mosely. Produced by Neave Denny.

From Asia in Washington, an Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies Podcast.

To read a transcript of this episode, please visit:

https://www.reischauercenter.org/podcasts/japanese-agricultural-co-ops-looking-towards-the-future/

A recording of Dr. Maclachlan's talk that this episode was based on may be found on the Reischauer Center's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/ReischauerCenter