Going Small Matters: The Role of Small Creative Actors in Tokyo’s Creative Ecosystem

This chapter evaluates the role of small actors in Tokyo’s creative ecosystem. It starts by describing the challenges they face in Tokyo’s economic environment. Then, it continues with a critical reflection on creative precarity, the characteristics of the creative ecosystem, and specific aspects of behavioral economics in the form of cost-benefit analysis. Theory is linked to practice, laying the ground for the analysis and interpretation of the on-terrain data on the contextual conditions that are part of the everyday routine for small creative actors in Tokyo.