First published in 1994. Many Japanese sociologists tend to regard the existence of local communal relationships in Japan as pre-modern, traditional and irrational. But the present author thinks of these as the primary charge of the move to post-modern societies in Japan. With field research caried out in Shimoda city in Shizuoka prefecture, Yokoshiba town in Chiba prefecture, Okaya city, Suwa city and Shimosuwa town in Nagano prefecture.