The Wellbeing of Children Living on a Remote Japanese Island

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  • Michinobu Ryoko
    Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Center for Medical Education

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  • 島の子どものウェルビーイング
  • シマ ノ コドモ ノ ウェルビーイング

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Abstract

<p>This paper examined how the daily activities of children and culturally specific child-rearing practices of an island community contribute to children's health and wellbeing. The ideas presented here were based on ethnographic research undertaken over a 6-year period in a remote island of Japan. The conceptual framework of “life landscape” was used to portray how their wellbeing was promoted through immersion in the surrounding environment, and through their participation in periodical social events. According to this framework, children's exploration into the natural environment is a common everyday phenomenon that creates a landscape for daily life. It is the sheer experience of bodily senses, as mediated by cultural meaning. Social events include a shishimai (“Lion Dance”), and a kagura (sacred Shinto) musical event in which children dance and walk from one end of the community to the other. In this way, the children's wellbeing is deeply embedded in the island's culture and way of life.</p>

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