REGIONAL STRENGTH

Aizu region

Top: Prime Minister Kishida taking a look at
Aizuwakamatsu’s smart city initiative. Withthe large screens at Smart City AiCT, users
can hold meetings online as if in the sameroom with each other.
Bottom: Opened in 2019, Smart City AiCT
has helped to create jobs in the region. New
innovations are expected to emerge from its
open interaction environment.

TACKLING
LOCAL
CHALLENGES

Bandai Town is working on digital tranformation such asissuing a digital currency using blockchain technology. It
also holds smartphone classes for seniors so that everyone
can enjoy the digital life. HIRO/A.COLLECTIONRF/AMANAIMAGESTHROUGH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Efforts are underway across Japan to tackle local challenges through the power of digital transformation, leading toregional revitalization. One such example is the digital transformation being implemented in a rural area ofFukushima Prefecture.
The Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture is locatedabout 200 km north of central Tokyo. Blessed with
an abundance of nature, including Mt. Bandai andLake Inawashiro, Aizu is emerging as a region wheredigital transformation is being incorporated into thevery fabric of local government. The need for digitaltransformation stems from the same challenge being
faced by regions throughout Japan: an aging andshrinking population.
With a population of just 3,300, Bandai Town
was the first local government in the country toappoint, in November 2019, a Chief Digital Officer,or CDO. “We’ve been working to move our systems
online, to the cloud, so that anyone, anywhere, cantake part in local government administration,” states
SUGAWARA Naotoshi, the town’s CDO. “Anoutflow of human resources has been an issue in thecountryside, but with the obstacle of transportation
removed, those living outside the town have been able
to get involved in matters of management. Where
there are people, more ideas are generated, and that
attracts even more people. The shortage of humanresources can be overcome with digital technology.”
In July 2021, Bandai Town issued its own digitalcurrency using the blockchain platform known as
Hyperledger Iroha. Hyperledger Iroha is an industrystandard technology from Japan developed incollaboration with Soramitsu Co., Ltd., a company
with a proven track record in blockchain technologyaround the world, and the University of Aizu,
dedicated to computer science and engineering
education. The year before, the National Bank of
Cambodia chose Hyperledger Iroha when it launched
the world’s first central bank digital currency, and thetechnology is also being considered by the central
banks of Laos and Fiji for similar purposes. “Digitalcurrency enables the visualization of local economies
through the analysis of recorded data. The challenge
is how to circulate this currency within the region,”says Sugawara.
Ever since it pledged a decade ago to become a“smart city,” Aizuwakamatsu, one of the primarycities of the Aizu region, has been promoting theuse of ICT. The city has been making innovations
specifically aimed at its citizens, having developeda system of telemedicine using tablet devices, forexample, as well as a real-time display to show
where its snowplows are working, given the area’s
particularly heavy snowfall.

SUGAWARA Naotoshi,
appointed as Bandai Town’s CDO
two years ago, says, “I want todevelop the potential of the region
through the power of digitaltechnology.”

In 2019 the city opened an ICT office known as
Smart City AiCT to attract talent from the greater
Tokyo area and create jobs for young people. Thirtyseven companies from Japan and overseas, including
NEC, Microsoft, and Accenture, have offices atthe open innovation base. With a population of
120,000 and as a hub for industries in the ICT sector,Aizuwakamatsu City is fast becoming a place where
forward-looking proof-of-concept trials are being
conducted in a wide range of fields full of potential,from new forms of mobility and self-driving robots
to the establishment of energy management systems
with electric vehicles as storage batteries.
To realize the sustainable society outlined by theJapanese government’s Vision for a Digital Garden
City Nation initiative, each region is working on
carrying out a digital transformation in its own
way, consistent with its needs and scale. Asked
about what Bandai Town will be like 10 years fromnow, Sugawara replies, “I doubt the town will havechanged much. Because digital technology is a meansof infrastructure, I imagine the town’s residents will
be able to continue living the same happy lives incommunities that are aided by the power that digitaltechnology provides. That is Bandai Town’s digitaltransformation.”