Ph.D., University of Vienna, Jun. 2001

demographic change

ethnography

regional revitalisation

alternative lifestyles

mobility

Anthropology

Humanities & Social Sciences, Sociology of science, history of science and technology, Anthropology

Master's degree program, Graduate School of International Media, Communication, and Tourism Studies

Doctoral (PhD) degree program, Graduate School of International Media, Communication, and Tourism Studies

Dec. 2020, American Library Association, CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title (for book Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society)
Susanne Klien, 11761920

Post-pandemic developments in lifestyle migration in Japan: From back-to-the-land to urbanrural?
Susanne Klien
Journal of Rural Studies, 114, 103505, 103505, Elsevier BV, Feb. 2025, [Peer-reviewed]
English, Scientific journal

Navigating belonging: mobilities of Japanese artists in (post) COVID-19 Berlin
Susanne Klien; Cornelia Reiher
Mobilities, 1, 15, Informa UK Limited, 19 Jan. 2025, [Peer-reviewed], [Lead author]
English, Scientific journal

Depopulation
Susanne Klien
Sustainability, Diversity, and Equality: Key Challenges for Japan, 155, 169, Springer International Publishing, 29 Jul. 2023, [Invited]
In book

"LIving the LIfe of My Choice": Lifestyle Migrants in Rural Japan Balancing between Local Commitment and Transnational Cosmopolitanism
Susanne Klien
Asian Ethnology, 81, 1-2, 107, 124, Jul. 2022, [Peer-reviewed], [Lead author]

“The young, the stupid, and the outsiders”: urban migrants as heterotopic selves in post-growth Japan
Susanne Klien
Asian Anthropology, 21, 1, 10, 23, Informa UK Limited, 02 Jan. 2022, [Peer-reviewed], [Lead author]
Scientific journal

Special issue: Exploring rural Japan as heterotopia
Paul Hansen; Susanne Klien
Asian Anthropology, 21, 1, 1, 9, Informa UK Limited, 02 Jan. 2022, [Peer-reviewed]
Scientific journal

Japan’s Younger Generations Look for a New Way of Living
Susanne Klien
Current History, 120, 827, 240, 245, University of California Press, 01 Sep. 2021
Scientific journal, As post-growth Japan hesitates between stagnation and change, its young people are opting out of traditional career paths and seeking lifestyles with greater personal freedom. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Japanese society to change in some respects, but institutional and corporate leaders remain reluctant to embrace reforms to work and gender norms and in many other areas. Yet social changes are occurring at the grassroots level, as younger Japanese pursuing new opportunities are moving from cities to the countryside, others head overseas in pursuit of more diverse careers and living arrangements, and some among the growing ranks of social introverts turn themselves into successful game developers and writers.

“Demographic change in Contemporary Rural Japan and Its Impact on Ritual Practices”
Susanne Klien
Journal of Religion in Japan, Vol. 9, 248, 276, Sep. 2020, [Peer-reviewed], [Invited]
Scientific journal

Accommodation and resistance in Hokkaido hip hop practitioners: An ethnographic analysis of Generation Resignation in post-growth Japan
Susanne Klien
Ethnography, 146613812090733, 146613812090733, SAGE Publications, 20 Feb. 2020, [Peer-reviewed]
Scientific journal, Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between October 2013 and October 2017 in Hokkaido, northern Japan, this paper explores the trajectories of individuals engaging in hip hop music. Participant observation and narratives indicate that the majority of individuals work as regular members of society (shakaijin) and only pursue hip hop in their free time. The paper highlights the intricate entanglement of individuals in subordination to mainstream values despite their references to elements of resistance. I contend that in contrast to previous generations of hip hoppers who chose to lead lives of open resistance to mainstream values, contemporary youth who largely belong to the “Generation Resignation” (satori sedai) prefer to engage in practices of resistance that may not be evident rather than overt contestation of societal conventions.

Entrepreneurial selves, governmentally and lifestyle migrants in rural Japan
Susanne Klien
Asian Anthropology, 18, 2, 75, 90, Feb. 2019, [Peer-reviewed]
English, Scientific journal

「ローカル食を通じたグローバルなまちづくりに関する研究」
スザンネ クリーン
開発こうほう, 649, 16, 19, 北海道開発協会, Aug. 2017, [Invited]
Japanese, Research society

The Power of Food: Students and Local Women Cooking Together in Rural Japan
Susanne Klien; co-author with; Stephanie Assmann
Education about Asia (Association of Asian Studies), Vol. 22, No. 1, 60, 62, 2017, [Peer-reviewed]

Finnische Piroggen, vietnamesische Reisbälle und finger food aus Singapur: Feldforschung und kulinarische Begegnung in Hokkaido
Susanne Klien; co-author with; Stephanie Assmann
Minikomi (Akademischer Arbeitskreis Japan), Universität Wien, 86, 11, 18, 2017

Ritual, resistance, rebellion? Disaster volunteer experiences in northeastern Japan
Susanne Klien
Journal of Ritual Studies, 31, 1, 1, 10, Jan. 2017, [Peer-reviewed]

Shinto Ritual Practice in Miyagi Prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake The Case of the Ogatsu Hoin Kagura
Susanne Klien
ASIAN ETHNOLOGY, 75, 2, 359, 376, 2016, [Peer-reviewed]
English, Scientific journal

Katastrophenvolunteers in Tohoku: Lebensinhalt, Strategie, Selbstzufriedenheit?
Susanne Klien
Yearbook of the German Association for Social Science Research on Japan, 255, 274, 2013, [Peer-reviewed]
German, Symposium

Von heiligen Bäumen, weiblichen Gottheiten, ritueller Trunkenheit und kollektiver Efferveszenz: Das Waldfest von Fuse, Okinoshima
Susanne Klien
Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung, 35, 179, 192, 2011, [Peer-reviewed]
Scientific journal

Bullfighting in Oki: Post-Retirement Leisure, Social Network or Purpose in Life?
Susanne Klien
Asian Anthropology, 10, 101, 120, 2011, [Peer-reviewed]
English, Scientific journal

Contemporary art and regional revitalisation: Selected artworks in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000-6
Susanne Klien
Japan Forum, 22, 3-4, 513, 543, Sep. 2010, [Peer-reviewed]
English, Scientific journal

Collaboration or confrontation? Local and non-local actors in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial
Susanne Klien
Japan Jahrbuch 2009: Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 217, 241, 2009, [Peer-reviewed]
German, Symposium

Rethinking locality in Japan
Ganseforth, Sonja; Jentzsch, Hanno, “Localized, yet deterritorialized lives in rural Japan: Fragmented localities, mobility and neoliberalism”
Routledge, Jul. 2021, 9780367469481, xvii, 288 p., English

Urban Migrants in Rural Japan (paperback)
Susanne Klien
SUNY Press, Jan. 2021

Urban migrants in rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society
Susanne Klien, Sole author
SUNY Press, Feb. 2020, 225, English, Scholarly book, Offers an in-depth ethnography of paradigm shifts in the lifestyles and values of youth in post-growth Japan.

Urban Migrants in Rural Japan provides a fresh perspective on theoretical notions of rurality and emerging modes of working and living in post-growth Japan. By exploring narratives and trajectories of individuals who relocate from urban to rural areas and seek new modes of working and living, this multisited ethnography reveals the changing role of rurality, from postwar notions of a stagnant backwater to contemporary sites of experimentation. The individual cases presented in the book vividly illustrate changing lifestyles and perceptions of work. What emerges from Urban Migrants in Rural Japan is the emotionally fraught quest of many individuals for a personally fulfilling lifestyle and the conflicting neoliberal constraints many settlers face. In fact, flexibility often coincides with precarity and self-exploitation. Susanne Klien shows how mobility serves as a strategic mechanism for neophytes in rural Japan who hedge their bets; gain time; and seek assurance, inspiration, and courage to do (or further postpone doing) what they ultimately feel makes sense to them.

“This book is a valuable contribution to knowledge about diversifying rural Japan and evokes reflection about the future of post-growth Japan. Klien’s study benefits from assiduous and long-term field research and insightful analysis. She excels at locating the specifics of the study in theoretical observations and concepts, thereby setting the work into a larger consideration of Japan’s paradigm shifts in lifestyle and values.” — Nancy Rosenberger, author of Gambling with Virtue: Japanese Women and the Search for Self in a Changing Nation, [Single work]

Ritual and Well-Being
Susanne Klien; Christoph Wulf
Paragrana: Zeitschrift fuer Historische Anthropologie, 2013, [Joint editor]

Special Issue Tourism and Travel in Japan
Susanne Klien; with Florian Coulmas
Contemporary Japan (DIJ Tokyo), 2012, [Joint editor]

Tradition within and beyond the framework of invention: Case studies from the Mascarenes and Japan
Susanne Klien; Patrick Neveling
Center for Interdisciplinary Area Studies, Middle East, Africa and Asia (ZIRS), MLU Halle-Wittenberg, 2010, [Joint editor]

Rethinking Japan's Identity and International Role: An Intercultural Perspective
Susanne Klien
Routledge, 2002, 144, English, Scholarly book, E-book, [Single work]

“Artists Welcome? The Role and Subjective Well-Being of Urban Creatives in Cultural Revitalization Efforts in Rural Japan”
Susanne Klien; Cornelia Reiher
European Society of Rural Sociology Annual Meeting, Riga Stradins University, Latvia, 03 Jul. 2025, English, Oral presentation

“Ibasho tourism: Rural areas as pockets of resilience or risk?”
Susanne Klien
Tourism for Recovery, Resilience and Regneration in Rural and Peripheral Areas Symposium, Wakayama University, 19 Nov. 2024, English, Invited oral presentation
[Invited]

コメント
クリーン スザンネ
地域社会学会第49回大会シンポジウム, 12 May 2024, Others
[Invited]

Belonging on the go? Lifestyle migrants in rural areas and returnees between adaptation and disconnect
Susanne Klien
American Association of Anthropology (AAA), Annual Meeting, Toronto, 18 Nov. 2023, Oral presentation

Post-Pandemic Developments in Lifestyle Migration: From Back-to-the Land to rubanrural?
Susanne Klien
Urban-Rural Migration in Japan and Europe: Transnational and Comparative Perspectives, FU Berlin, 01 Feb. 2023, Keynote oral presentation
[Invited]

Doing fieldwork in Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic: Between virtual viscerality and face-to-face anxieties
Susanne Klien
Japan Anthropology Workshop (JAWS), 08 Jul. 2022, English, Oral presentation
06 Jul. 2022 - 09 Jul. 2022, 34009923

Deconstructing the Rural-Urban Divided in Post-growth Japan: Emerging Paradigm Shifts
Susanne Klien
International Tourism Research Salon, 09 Mar. 2022, English, Keynote oral presentation
08 Mar. 2022, [Invited]

Social Entrepreneurs between Self-Determination and Structural Constraints: Examples from Tokushima and Miyagi Prefectures
Susanne Klien
Book talk, Wakayama University Center for Tourism Research, 21 Jan. 2022, English, Public discourse
21 Jan. 2022 - 21 Jan. 2022, 34009923, [Invited]

Book talk about Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society
Susanne Klien
New Books Network, podcast (host: Dr. John W Traphagan, University of Texas at Austin), 06 Oct. 2021
[Invited]

Book talk, Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie,
Susanne Klien
Nanzan University, Anthropological Institute, Asian Ethnology Series, 22 Feb. 2021
[Invited]

Urban migrants in the Japanese countryside: Creative depopulation, precarity and moratorium migration in post-growth Japan
Susanne Klien
AAS-in-Asia Annual Meeting Bangkok, Thailand, 02 Jul. 2019, English, Oral presentation
[International presentation]

"The young, the stupid and the outsiders": Rural revitalization volunteers, heterotopia and survival in post-growth Japan
Susanne Klien
Annual Meeting, American Association of Anthropology (AAA), San Jose, Nov. 2018, English, Oral presentation
[International presentation]

Urban migrants in the Japanese countryside: Creative depopulation, alternative lifestyles, precarity and moratorium migration in post-growth Japan
Susanne Klien
World Social Science Forum (WSSF), Fukuoka, Sep. 2018, English, Oral presentation
[International presentation]

Transnational mobility of Japanese to Europe and the Post-Fordist Quest for Subjective Well-Being outside Japan
Susanne Klien
Melbourne University, Sep. 2018, English, Invited oral presentation
[Invited], [International presentation]

Moratorium migration? Urbanite settlers in rural Japan between hope, self-exploitation and emotional withdrawal
Susanne Klien
British Association of Japanese Studies (BAJS), University of Sheffield, Sep. 2018, English, Oral presentation
[International presentation]

Urban migrants in the Japanese countryside: Creative depopulation, alternative lifestyles and moratorium migration in post-growth Japan
Susanne Klien
Oxford Brookes University, Europe Japan Research Centre, Mar. 2018, English, Invited oral presentation
[Invited], [International presentation]

Serendipity, small-scale happiness and scarce commitment: Perpetually mobile Japanese professionals between satisfaction and precariousness
Susanne Klien
European Association of Japanese Studies Meeting, Lisbon, Sep. 2017, English, Oral presentation
[International presentation]

Young urban migrants in the Japanese countryside between hope and precarity: Post-growth forms of living and working, creative depopulation and living for the moment
Susanne Klien
Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University, May 2017, English, Invited oral presentation
[Invited], [International presentation]

Of Professional Unemployed, Global Citizens and Broken Bodies: Narratives and Experiences of Mobile Japanese Youth
Susanne Klien
Young Generations in Japan and Europe: Crisis, Mobility and Creativity Workshop, Nov. 2016, English, Invited oral presentation
[Invited], [International presentation]

Reinventing Ishinomaki, Reinventing Japan? Evolving Creative Networks, Alternative Lifestyles and the Search for Quality in Life in Post-growth Japan
Susanne Klien
AAS Annual Meeting, Apr. 2016, English, Oral presentation
[International presentation]

特別講義, 2024年, 学士課程, 国際

Modern Japanese Studies, 2024年, 修士課程, 国際広報メディア・観光学院

Tourism and Regional Revitalization, 2024年, 修士課程, 国際広報メディア・観光学院

プロジェクトスタディⅠ, 2024年, 学士課程, 現代日本学プログラム課程

プロジェクトスタディⅡ, 2024年, 学士課程, 現代日本学プログラム課程

プロジェクトスタディⅢ（卒業論文）, 2024年, 学士課程, 現代日本学プログラム課程

Aspects of Japan Ⅰ, 2024年, 学士課程, 総合教育部

Aspects of Japan Ⅰ, 2024年, 学士課程, 現代日本学プログラム課程

Introduction to Japanese Studies Ⅱ(Culture), 2024年, 学士課程, 総合教育部

Introduction to Japanese Studies Ⅱ(Culture), 2024年, 学士課程, 現代日本学プログラム課程

国際交流Ⅱ, 2024年, 学士課程, 国際本部

日本学講読, 2024年, 学士課程, 全学教育

日本文化論Ⅰ, 2024年, 学士課程, 現代日本学プログラム課程

日本社会論Ⅱ, 2024年, 学士課程, 現代日本学プログラム課程

特別講義, 2024年, 学士課程, 国際本部

Anxious but productive lifestyle mobilities? Divided selves in post-growth Japan
科学研究費助成事業
Apr. 2020 - Mar. 2023
KLIEN SUSANNE
In FY 2021 I conducted 72 interviews altogether with lifestyle migrants in Japan, Netherlands, Canada, Thailand and Austria including individuals who have moved overseas as well as returnees. I have also spent one month (April-May 2021) of follow-up fieldwork in Kamiyama Town and Kaiyo Town, Tokushima Prefecture (first time fieldwork). In addition, I attended 10 Clubhouse sessions a group of Japanese lifestyle migrants in the Netherlands.
The following results have emerged: 1. Mobility and sedentary living is closely entangled. 2. Uncertainty and liminality are strong features in the lives of most of my interlocutors although some of them do not view this negatively. 3. A complex picture of the enmeshment of belonging and alienation has emerged that needs to be explored further.
JSPS, 基盤研究(C), 北海道大学, Principal investigator, 20K01184

Moratorium migration in contemporary post-growth Japan: Lifestyle volunteers between insecurity and fulfilment
Kakenhi C
Apr. 2016 - Apr. 2018
Susanne Klien
JSPS, Principal investigator, Competitive research funding

「ローカル食を通じたグローバルなまちづくりに関する研究」
Research grant
Apr. 2016 - Mar. 2017
Susanne Klien
Hokkaido Development Association, Principal investigator, Competitive research funding

Workshop "Ritual and Well-Being"
Interdisciplinary workshop funding
2011
Susanne Klien
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Principal investigator, Competitive research funding

Regional revitalization in rural Japan and PPP
Postdoctoral research grant
Nov. 2007 - Oct. 2009
Susanne Klien
JSPS, Principal investigator, Competitive research funding

Post-doctoral grant
Graduate School of Asia and Africa in Global Reference Systems
Oct. 2007 - Oct. 2009
Susanne Klien
Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Principal investigator, Competitive research funding

現代日本における伝統概念再考-PPPとしての越後妻有大地芸術祭を事例に
科学研究費助成事業
2007 - 2009
縣 公一郎; KLIEN S.; KLIEN Susanne
平成19年と20年に実施したフィールドワークと文献の分析を行った上に、21年に引き続き検討し、整理した。伝統概念の再定義に貢献するため、歴史学、政治学、文化人類学など多様な分野における参考文献を再検討し、越後妻有と直島のフィールドの参与観察と関連して分析した。最初に越後妻有地域だけにケースとして着目する予定であったが、比較するため直島もケースとして取り上げることにした。両方のケースは、歴史、経済、文化、社会の側面に極端に相違があり、補完的に分析できる様子であった。この研究の結果として、以下の結果を取り上げられる:
(1)伝統概念の再定義を試みた。ホブスボームの「伝統の創造」パラダイムに内包される過去の折衷的な参与を認めると同時に、そのパラダイムにも出現する保守的なアプローチを否定する。要するに、"within and beyond the framework"という結果になり、フィールドワークもその方向を示唆した。(2)現地の住民と芸術祭関係の方々は両方地域の伝統を作用し、柔軟的に、現代の状況に調整しながら伝統を伝承させる。変容がない主張の無形文化財でも時勢ととみに変わりがあり、保存会のメンバーも現代のニーズに応じて行っている。(3)芸術祭のフレームワークにおける現地の伝統を何らかの形で取り上げるプロジェクトにおける住民と都会の方々の協働のケースを分析し、本格的なコラボレーションが実現されるための条件(平等、コミュニケーション、相互利益の継続的存在など)を検討する。(4)文化財の商品化がその文化的価値を脅かすより、伝統の価値そのものを認知、強化する傾向がある。文化財の経済的資源化がその文化財の存在観を意識させ、伝統自体が商品化と消費によって成り立つ。経済的な成功が伝統の継続を導き、その相互関係を証明した。養蚕産業と和紙製造の芸術祭における再発見などの事例を取り上げる。
日本学術振興会, 特別研究員奨励費, 早稲田大学, 07F07773