This article explores return migration for the purpose of starting small businesses. I discuss the cases of three individuals who decided to leave their employment in urban areas to start businesses in a small town in Tōhoku. The key research question focuses on how gender influences the ability of people to start and maintain small business in rural areas and the extent to which expectations and assumptions associated with gender roles inhibits the ability of women to start and continue small businesses. My findings suggest that gender can be an important inhibitor for people running businesses in rural Japan, but that this is not necessarily associated with being a woman. Furthermore, blockage of achieving personal and business goals, which are associated more with finding existential meaning rather than economic wealth, were more directly associated with one’s role in the family than with expectations specifically linked to gender.

中文翻译：

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日本农村的企业家：性别、障碍和对存在意义的追求

本文探讨了以创办小型企业为目的的回归移民。我讨论了三个人决定离开城市地区的工作，在东北的一个小镇创业的案例。关键研究问题集中在性别如何影响人们在农村地区创办和维持小企业的能力，以及与性别角色相关的期望和假设在多大程度上抑制了女性创办和继续小企业的能力。我的研究结果表明，性别可能是日本农村人们经营企业的重要障碍，但这并不一定与女性有关。此外，阻碍实现个人和商业目标，这更多地与寻找存在意义而非经济财富相关，