This is a case study about promoting active citizenship and participation among foreign migrants in a small municipality in Japan. This research originated from my interest in the absence of literature on the situation of foreigners in a small rural community in Japan. The focus is on so-called 'newcomer foreigners' who have migrated to Japan for employment opportunities since the 1980s. The aim of this research is to study participatory approaches to engaging newcomer migrant foreigners, local

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... government and local communities in Japan, whilst taking account of the limitations arising from wider global structural forces and processes. It reflects on the mutual reactivity between the local and the global and the ways in which positive local experiences, community cohesion and community development can occur in response to global migration movements. It also argues that such positive developments are in turn limited by the ripple effects of the very global process they are trying to address. This is qualitative research involving a case study. At the same time, this research draws upon the findings of multiple data collection techniques, including those that are closely associated with quantitative research as well as qualitative research. It involves reviewing official documents published by multiple sources, snowball sampling and data collection through interviews and questionnaire-based surveys. The structure of the thesis includes an introduction, a literature review chapter that discusses the changing dynamics of citizenship in the context of globalization, three context chapters that examine the complexity of different factors that characterize foreign populations and their host communities in Japan and two chapters that discuss the original research findings of my case study. Finally, a concluding chapter discusses the findings and their potential implications and reflects on my learning from the research process.