Zieht aufs Land! Strategien japanischer Präfekturen zur Anwerbung von Stadt-Land-Migrant*innen vor und während der Corona-Pandemie.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, urbanites' outmigration to Japan's rural areas received considerable media attention. However, outmigration from urban areas is small and not evenly distributed across prefectures in Japan, with prefectures in peripheral locations receiving fewer migrants than those closer to urban centers. This paper analyzes the representation of rural spaces in recruitment strategies, promotional activities, and information events conceptualized and organized by two such peripheral prefectures, Saga and Ōita in Kyushu, to understand the role of these representations in the inter-prefectural competition for new residents. Based on the analysis of promotional videos published online by both prefectures, it was found that despite recent changes in rural Japan the promotional videos published by Saga and Ōita prefectures portray the two prefectures as a »rural idyll,« rather than as innovative, open, and diverse. In this way, the promotional materials echo older discourses about rural areas from the fields of tourism, consumerism, and the media, which portray rural Japan as an idealized but homogeneous space. Since the representations of the two prefectures differed only slightly and could hardly be distinguished from each other, it is questionable whether these materials can help potential new residents make an informed decision before moving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]