A workingman’s island
Despite the complaints world citizens have levied about whether capitalism has been a good or bad thing for humanity, it hasn’t changed the predominant school of thought in America. The system fluctuates – it runs in cycles – and humanity has yet to come up with something better. A system where short-term equalization tools like personal loans and installment loans can exist is indeed geared toward capital success.
Or is it excess?
“Wait, wait” say the fans of socialism and the like. A perfected vision of Marxism would indeed create a functional, prosperous society. It just hasn’t happened yet.
However, as Martin Fackler reports for the New York Times, the “hasn’t happened” part may not be entirely true. “It might have looked something like this tiny southern Japanese island,” he writes. It might be Himeshima, or Hima Island.
May only work in small doses
Hime (HEE-may) seems like any other small Japanese island village at first glance. It lies just off Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu. The 2,519 inhabitants (mostly middle-aged or older) depend upon fishing and shrimp farming for their livelihood. Their culture centers around Shinto religious festivals. For the most part, the competitive capitalist leanings of the mainland do not touch the quiet community.
But look around and reality begins to set in. A “cult-of-personality“-style local government (complete with a statue of a famous mayor) greets you. This is unexpected in a culture that shuns the promotion of individuals over the masses, but one must look deeper, as Fackler does. Himeshima has gained national attention because it has invented its own version of work-sharing. In fact, this was firmly in place nearly forty years before the current world economic crisis.
How does it work?
Check your salary-driven ego at the door. Hime workers earn one-third less than their counterparts elsewhere in Japan, even though they work the same number of hours. This has led to more job creation, much of it government-subsidized. There are few fully private-sector jobs on the island.
Some joke about what they have. “Hime Island is North Korea, just a livable version,” said Naokazu Koiwa, a fishing boat repairman. But current mayor Akio Fujimoto rejects the comparison. He seems Hime as a throwback to traditional Japanese values (economic egalitarianism and social harmony, to name two big ones).
“Our thinking is, ‘let’s all share the economic pie and get along, instead of giving all of it to the rich,’” said Mr. Fujimoto. “Avoiding competition is the traditional Japanese way.”
Imitation of utopia
In world that is crying out for economic answers, Hime appears to be a utopian model. The irony of this is not lost on the islanders, whose traditional values appear progressive in light of market crashes. Equality is catchy, even if human nature might lead some to believe they should be “more equal” than others.
Their work-sharing plan resists competition and class struggles. Even their social rituals achieve this, as women are forbidden from wearing kimonos during festival time, as doing so could reveal their household’s economic status. Clearly all are not equal there… we’re talking levels and degrees of utopia. Plus, Mayor Fujimoto’s daughter could not replace him in office.
“Hime Island can’t be run by a woman,” he sighed. “This place is too medieval for that.”
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History teaches is idealist economic models such as socialism only work on the small scale, like Himeshima, at the national level they lend themselves to tyranny. The same with complete laissez faire capitalism – it works at the village/community level. Himeshima is living proof of it, but I wonder at what cost.