Formation of a Community by Hometown Organizations that Promote Interactions among Residents in Urban and Rural Areas—Activities by Furusato Chikara, a NPO Created by Residents in the Kinki Region and the Case of the Miyoshi Region in Tokushima Prefecture

Abstract

This chapter treats some type of rural–urban relations. A newly developed rural residential settlement Yururi locates in a rural depopulated area in Tokushima Prefecture. Residents there are from urban areas. The settlement was planned and constructed by a NPO which has a character of hometown organization whose core members are from Tokushima Prefecture but now live in Osaka Metropolitan Area. The residents, of new comers, in Yururi have established their new community within the settlement, and in addition, they gradually have established a newer relation with local native people. We can see there in this case both types of social capital, bonding and bridging.