Japanese Field Research Provides New Perspectives on Social Entrepreneurship
New research from the School of Business and Economics shows how storytelling, local engagement, and international influences can help create hope for the future in Japanese communities affected by crises and population decline. In spring 2026, Senior Lecturer Tomas Nilsson conducted field studies in Japan focusing on social entrepreneurship, place development, and digital nomads.
Tomas Nilsson researches how narratives shape our understanding of organisations, places and society. In his current study, he examines how local entrepreneurs create new narratives in areas long characterised by depopulation, an ageing population and reductions in public services.
I want to understand how narratives about a place are both shaped by and, in turn, shape entrepreneurs with strong local roots. It is about how people create meaning and a sense of future, even in situations marked by uncertainty.
At the same time as rural areas in Japan face major challenges, new forms of engagement are emerging. Less attention has been paid to how these societal changes also give rise to social entrepreneurship—initiatives that often exist at the intersection of civil society, small businesses and individuals’ drive to contribute to local development.
The research is based on a combination of social media analysis and repeated field visits. By being present on site, Tomas Nilsson studies how narratives are expressed in everyday life and how they are connected to concrete activities, meeting places and initiatives.
One of the locations studied is Odaka in Fukushima Prefecture, which was severely affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in 2011. Over several years, Tomas has followed local entrepreneurs connected to Odaka Worker’s Base (OWB), an organisation that serves as a hub for co-working, business support and social activities.
“When digital nomads come to Shimoda, meetings are arranged with local stakeholders. Together, they create narratives that catalyse social entrepreneurship. By taking an active role in these meetings myself, I gain a unique opportunity to study what happens from the ‘inside’.”
In the interaction between the local and the global, new ways of thinking about place, identity and development emerge. Here, narratives are not merely descriptions of reality—they also help to shape it.
The results of the research will be presented at seminars in spring 2027. Insights from the study are already being integrated into teaching on storytelling, entrepreneurship and leadership at the School of Business and Economics.
