Resolution of Regional Issues at the
Yamae Village Community
Development Research InstituteShino Namiki*

1．Introduction
As our sense of crisis regarding the declining

developing special and tourism products.

population intensifies, the nature of the local

Against this background, the current study

community and sustainability of local authority

focuses on the Yamae Village Community

are again re-examined. It remains the case that

Development Research Institute in Kumamoto

the concentration of the population in large

Prefecture and the collaborative research

cities is not easily resolved and de-population isundertaken by the Institute. The Institutea serious problem in rural areas. To survive,

mainly works in three areas, namely research,diverse attempts have been made in many

information and communication technology

corners of Japan to resolve the social problems(ICT), and human resource development. Theof local communities, such as countermeasurescurrent study examines its activities to resolve

against rapid ageing and the declining birth

the challenges of the local area.

rate, promoting industry and job creation, and2. Yamae Village and major community development projects
2.1 Overview of Yamae Village
Yamae Village is situated in a semi-

Yamada and Mae, and houses 16 settlements.

mountainous area in Kuma Region in the

Yamae Village came into being in 1889 (Meiji

southern part of Kumamoto Prefecture. It22), when Yamada Village and Mae Village

stretches 9 km from east to west and 18.6 km

were merged. Because there is no medical

from south to north. Its total area measures

doctor in the village and a limited number of

12,119 ha, of which about 90% is woodland. The

shops, villagers tend to go to the neighboringvillage is roughly divided into two areas,

Hitoyoshi City for medical treatment andProject Lecturer, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, the University of Tokyo
Key Words：Regional autonomy, local communities, local policies, contents, information and communication technology

Resolution of Regional Issues at the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute15

shopping. Public transport by appointment is inincome from sources other than farming3). To

operation, and privately owned taxis are used

deal with the shortage of farmers and establish

as vehicles, for which the village subsidizes

agriculture that supports the community, Mae-most of the fare. Furthermore, the village has

no-sato, an agricultural cooperative, was set up

two elementary schools and one junior highwith 44 farmers in Mae district in June 2017,

school.

signaling the beginning of collective farming.

The population on November 30, 2017 was as
1)

For school education, the ten-year period

follows . The total population totaled 3,537

from 2011 to 2020 has been designated as anpeople (of which 1,660 are men and 1,877

ICT research period. According to the national

women), the rate of aging is 32.57%, and thesurvey of academic abilities and the learning

number of households total 1,217. The total

situation conducted in April 2015, the two

fertility rate is 2.00, the 24th highest among theelementary schools in Yamae Village exceed

m u n i c i p a l i t i e s i n J a p a n 2). I n t e r m s o f

the national average by 12.2–29.3%.

immigration to and emigration from the village,

Furthermore, compared to other elementaryin many cases, people leave the village after

schools in Kumamoto Prefecture, they exceed

finishing high school.

the average by 11.7 to 28.7%. In 2016, theThe main industry of Yamae Village isvillage was certified by the Japan Association

agriculture and forestry. As such, there are 253

for Educational Technology as an Advanced

commercial farms, of which 66 are full-time

Area in the Use of Information in Schools.

farm households, 19 are first grade part-timeObservers from elsewhere flock to research

farm households with more income fromseminars in the village, and the schools actively

farming than other sources, and 168 are second

use School Information Supporters to develop

grade part-time farm households with moredigital teaching materials and design lessons.

2.2 Records of community development in Yamae Village
Until now, community development in Yamae

Yamae Chestnuts.

Village has been pursued by making the mostThe villager-director initiative4) refers to theof community resources. This is guided bypractice in which local residents create

input from external personnel and by activating

programs to publicize the attractiveness of theexchange between the village and the outside.

village. The initiative started in 1995, when Mr.

Below we review three major examples,

Akira Kishimoto (currently a TV producer at

namely the villager-director initiative; revival of

Toho TV in Fukuoka Prefecture) arranged that

Marron Gou, the cab-behind-engine bus; andvillagers from Yamae introduce the village in a

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program on cable TV in Kumamoto City.

resources. In 1992, residents repaired the cab-

Following this, neighboring municipalities

behind-engine bus, which had been preserved

including Yamae Village and Hitoyoshi Kuma

and was on display, and reinstated it. After this,Wide Area Administrative Union joined forces

it started to run on the public road. The bus

to establish an integrated administration

was named“Marron Gou,”referring to thecooperative to deliver classes to develop

chestnuts for which Yamae Village was known.

villager-directors. Teaching delivered in the

In 2005, it was certified as a Recommended

course has impacted community development

Industrial Heritage by the Japan Industrial

and human resource development in many

Archaeology Society. The National Cab-behind-municipalities. The creation of TV programs isengine Bus Convention in 2008, which took

appreciated, because local residents canplace in Yamae Village, attracted more thancommunicate in their own voices though the

20,000 visitors (according to the organizer).

processes of collecting material, filming, andNow, Marron Gou complements public

editing, and because the collection of materialtransport in the chestnut festival and village

by the villager-directors and their planning istours, and is widely used in events to promote

linked to community vitalization. At that time,

agricultural produce from Yamae Village for its

the information infrastructure in Yamae Village

popularity.

was hardly developed; however, in 2003,

The project to brand chestnuts, a special

villager-directors began broadcasting on the

produce of Yamae Village, is accelerating.

Internet. In 2008, Yamae Village Cable TV was

Villagers and non-villagers call all types of

established and with it, the initiative waschestnuts produced in Yamae Village“Yamae

dissolved and absorbed into the new project.

Chestnuts.”The production of chestnuts began

The knowledge and experience accumulated

in full-scale after the Second World War, whenthrough the initiative are now used by Yamae

they were shipped to Osaka and Nagoya. Obuse

Village Cable TV staff, and programs are

and Ena, well known for chestnuts andcreated and broadcast through the community

chestnut-based products, were also interested

channel and the Internet.

in buying Yamae Chestnuts. They were

The second example is the revival of the cab-presented to the Showa Emperor in 1977;

behind-engine bus. The bus was reinstatedhowever, when the agricultural cooperatives

when a TV program on community

merged, the brand name Yamae Chestnuts

development, which was broadcast in thedisappeared temporally. Even during that

Kumamoto area, featured Yamae Village. This

period, the National Chestnuts Summits andled to a review of the village’s community

Village Chestnuts Festivals were held, and the

Resolution of Regional Issues at the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute17

re-branding of Yamae Chestnuts started slowly

train Nanatsuboshi, and in the first class ofthrough constructing a processing factory andinternational flights on Japan Airlines. Yamae

expanding the product range. Currently,

Chestnuts were presented at C’
est bon le Japon

distribution routes other than agriculturalin Paris in July 2017, where approximately 1,300

cooperatives have been secured, and thepieces of the product were sold. The popular

chestnuts are featured in events in department

Chestnut Festival held in autumn attracts more

stores in major urban areas such as Tokyo andvisitors than the total population of the village.

Osaka, served as dessert on JR Kyushu’s cruise

Figure 1: Yamae Chestnut Festival, September 24, 2017

Source: The author

3. Collaborative research
3.1 Overview of collaborative research
The collaborative research project between

the progress and management thereof.

Yamae Village and Sudoh Laboratory,

Regarding one priority area in the Strategy,

Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies,

namely agriculture, we are drafting a plan to

the University of Tokyo began in summer 2015.

promote the use of local produce at school

The aim is for Yamae Village to seek a newdinners and in the community5) and on branding

direction for and to stimulate discussions on

the chestnuts 6) . As mentioned, while thecommunity development by obtaining feedback

branding of Yamae Chestnuts has been on-

from the outside and learning from researchgoing, there was no literature for consumers

findings through the consortium.

introducing their history, types, cultivation, andThus far, collaborative research has been

how they are eaten locally. Therefore, we

conducted on drafting the Strategy toplanned and published an official guidebook on

Revitalize Yamae Village by Information andYamae Chestnuts7).

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In addition, as part of the collaborative

Festival, we communicated our researchresearch, we conducted fieldwork, planned

findings to visitors by presenting our researchvarious surveys, created and counted

findings in the form of posters and by planningquestionnaires, and reported the survey

and holding seminars to increase knowledge on

findings and insights to the village office andYamae Chestnuts. We were also involved invillagers. Furthermore, as detailed later, we

designing the cardboard boxes used to ship

were involved in planning the Yamae Village

Yamae Chestnuts and the coordination of chefs

Community Development Research Institute,to process the village’s agricultural produce.

which we jointly run. At the Yamae Chestnut

Figure 2: Fieldwork in the abandoned agricultural land

Source: The author

3.2 Strategy to Revitalize Yamae Village by Information
The Strategy to Revitalize Yamae Village by

wide-ranging, and some aim to improve existing

Information details how to implement theactivities by making the most of ICT andComprehensive Strategy to Revitalize Yamae

gathering them in information contents. These

Village drafted by the village.

62 policies are reviewed in terms of four

Yamae Village’s Comprehensive Strategy for

perspectives: (1) Affinity with ICT, (2)Overcoming Population Decline and Revitalizing

effectiveness, (3) cost performance, and (4)Local Economies has four objectives: (1) Job

urgency. As a result, four priority areas tocreation to revitalize the village; (2) Promotion

promote the use of ICT have been identified,of immigration and settlement; (3) Fulfilling thenamely agriculture, the environment/disasterwish to marry, give birth, and raise children toprevention, welfare, and human resource

create a happy village; and (4) Realizing a safe

development.

life in the village. To achieve these objectives,

1. Regarding the affinity of ICT, it is possible

62 policies were proposed. The policies areto use this know-how, because it can

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complement geographic conditions and public

limited human and community resources (fortransport for those with mobility difficulties,

example, monitoring support for the elderly/

and provide a track record of thepeople wandering about and shopping sites). In

environmental improvement of cable TV as

addition, from the perspective of industry

well as the accumulation and production of

support, the strategy can be linked to highcontents by the villager-director. 2. Regarding

value-added agriculture and business

effectiveness, the strategy aims to build aopportunities. 4. The degree of urgency seems

system in which no-one will be left behind in

essential for disaster prevention, education, andterms of access to residents’information bycountermeasures to deal with harmful animals,

publishing the results of the academic

as well as for the proper management andachievement test taken by primary schools inplanning of the natural environment.

Yamae village and placing ICT promotion

Regarding these priority areas, qualitative

supporters in each community. 3. Cost

objectives were added as an ICT strategy toperformance is an attempt to reduce the costs

the KPI objectives indicated in therelated to transportation and time by building

Comprehensive Strategy, and a five-year

information services. Furthermore, it isschedule from 2016 to 2020 is being formulated.

intended to enable the effective distribution ofEach area is outlined in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Priority Areas in Yamae Village Development by Information Strategy
1. Agriculture①“Locally
produced, locally consumed”and agriculture (use of local produce at schools, expansion of“locally
produced, locally consumed,”increasing the added value of agricultural produce)② Yamae Chestnuts (traceability to improve quality, marketing, contents production)③ Employment (a work-share system in agriculture, support for entrepreneurs)
2. The environment/disaster prevention①D isaster prevention measures/countermeasures to deal with harmful animals (collection, editing, andpublication of details of damage, use of social media)② Management of forestry resources (forest registration survey, drafting of forest development plans)
3. Welfare①A regime to watch over the elderly (help for shopping, watching over those with dementia and wandering
elderly people)② Provision of stay-at-home care (integration of information among institutions)③P regnancy, giving birth, and child rearing (integration of information sites and enhancement of theconsultation regime)

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4. Education and human resource development
 ducation (courses on programming, original contents on eating education, enhancement of Wi-Fi in the①E
learning environment) uman resource development for the community (creation of information on the community, enhancement of②H
information channels)(Source: Namiki(2016a))
Some activities need to start afresh in each

important to review the ways in whicharea; however, many activities sort and re-edit

information is provided and the communication

existing projects and publish them on the

between residents and the village office, and to

Internet. These cannot be achieved only byincrease information for the whole community

introducing information technology. To makequantitatively and qualitatively.

the most of limited human resources, it is

4. Activities of the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute
4.1 BackgroundAs collaborative research continues, thecommunity, villagers had very little access tonecessity of a department that links the village

official materials, because places in which tooffice and villagers and concentrates on policy

make information public were lacking. In

formation and surveys has been clarified. In

addition, while it was assumed that many

particular, while linkage with other policies issurveys were conducted in the past, thesenecessary in drafting various plans for thereports and related materials were not properly

community, the current vertically divided

preserved and stored, and there was insufficientadministration may overlook some of these.

literature to help community development,

Furthermore, a consultancy was commissioned

which was not catalogued. Moreover, theto draft a plan, because of a shortage in budget

visualization of the current situation of theand personnel in some cases. However, the planvillage and research projects to enable it were

has remained unimplemented. Some of the

not considered important. As a result, thesurveys and workshops organized in thisvillage office had been acting without enoughmanner were carried out to deplete the budget.

information from villagers, and decisions about

Consequently, villager volunteers are exhausted

projects are made without sufficient informationand losing interest in community development.

provided by the village office to the villagers

In terms of access to information on theand various committees. There is no university

Resolution of Regional Issues at the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute21

or research institute near Yamae Village, andinformation from both the village office andskills to formulate policies and conduct surveys

villagers and serve as a basis to carefully

cannot be mastered overnight. This means

consider how to deal with problems in thethere is no quick fix. To deal with thiscommunity. The organizational chart ischallenge, the Institute has been set up to edit

illustrated below. (Figure4)

Figure 4: Organizational chart of the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute(Source: Website of the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute)

4.2 Activities of the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute
The Yamae Village Community Development

three major fields: (1) Research, (2) ICT, and (3)Research Institute opened in January 20168). It

human resource development. Regarding point

aims to edit information held by Yamae village

1, namely research, the Institute collects/

office and villagers as data or contents andanalyzes various data on Yamae Village anddevelop projects and policy recommendations

visualizes them in an easily comprehensive

to solve problems in the community.

manner. It also provides information for policy

Furthermore, it aims to use information

making in Yamae Village. Thus far, thetechnology in the life of the village to achieve

Institute has proposed policy recommendations

safety and security as well as to enhance

regarding the drafting of a strategy to use

welfare, increase income by promoting industry,

information and manage its progress, publishedand create employment.

materials about the community such as the

The Institute’s activity is categorized into

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published information regarding chestnuts, andexploring the possibility of realizing a safe andset the agenda for the Yamae Chestnut

secure life for villagers and securing

9)

Consortium . In addition to interviews with

employment using drones, inputting data about

various experts and an investigation of

the agricultural produce of the village in thepreceding cases in other communities, to

GIS system, and producing and editing

expand opportunities to gain feedback from

community contents. In terms of point 3, humanvillagers, it conducted online questionnaire

resource development, the Institute lets

surveys with village office monitors, establishedvillagers use its facilities and various tools to

ICT promotion supporters in each community,

assist community development by the villagers,

and collected information from these. Insights

operates the facilities, and helps input. The

and data obtained from the surveys or researchInstitute further plans and holds Instituteare provided to Yamae village office as

Seminars to contribute to community

appropriate to improve its operations.

development and to provide learning

Regarding point 2, ICT, the Institute isopportunities such as on marketing.

Figure 5: Villagers using the electronic blackboard in a meeting(Source: Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute)
Figure 6: The Institute’s facilities and some of the tools(Source: Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute)

Resolution of Regional Issues at the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute23

5.Conclusion
As discussed, the Institute has just begun its

both qualitatively and quantitatively, publish

activities, and two different organizations, acommunity materials and data and ensure easy

village office and university, are engaged inaccess to them, and enhance communication

collaborative research making the most of

between the village office and villagers by

everyone’s strengths and know-how under the

making the most of the knowledge andobjective of sustainable community

experience of communicating the attractivenessdevelopment while deepening mutualof the community, which has been cultivatedunderstanding. Important is that the Instituteby the villager-director initiative. There areis not solely engaged with commissioned

many examples of how a local authority

research, but also involved in drafting various

establishes a research organization. Amongplans and managing their progress includingthese, the Yamae Village Community

the information strategy. It learns from

Development Research Institute serves as thevillagers and preceding cases from otherbasis to connect the village office and villagers

communities, and has created a constantby introducing external personnel and their

feedback loop to bring about improvement.

w is dom and by dis cover ing com m unit y

Furthermore, it is important in community

resources.

development to enrich community contents

Acknowledgement
The article draws from collaborative research between Yamae Village Office and Sudoh Laboratory, Interfaculty Initiative inInformation Studies, the University of Tokyo. (2015–17: Principal Investigator Dr. Osamu Sudoh). I would like to note my gratitude
to them here.

註
1)	Based on Yamae Village’s“The number of households and population (on November 30, 2017),”http://www.vill.yamae.lg.jp/
userimage/13/jinkou291031.pdf (Accessed on December 22, 2017)2)

	Based on“Specified report of vital statistics by public health center and municipalities from 2008 to2012’’by the Ministryof Health,Labour and Welfare http://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/jinkou/other/hoken14/dl/2-3P.pdf (Accessed on
November 5, 2017)3)	Based on data provided in the Census of Agriculture and Forestry http://www.machimura.maff.go.jp/machi/contents/43/512/
details.html (Accessed on December 22, 2017)4)	Because of these activities, Yamae Village has been highly praised, as evidenced by the village receiving Minister of Internal
Affairs and Communications Award for the Information and Communication Month (organizations) in 2008 and the 9th RegionalPrize (organizations) by the Association for Media in Digital. The villager-director initiative has spread to Toho Village and24

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Suginami city in addition to the Hitoyoshi Kuma areas.
5)	We drafted“Yamae Village’s Vision for the Future: From Using Local Produce at Schools to Sustainable Agriculture”(2016c).
In drafting the policy, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 384 pupils from elementary and junior high schools and 55
organic farmers in Yamae Village.

6)	“The Current Situation of Yamae Chestnuts”(2016b) reports on the questionnaire survey of visitors to the 2015 Chestnut
Festival, survey of media reporting and literature on Yamae Chestnuts, survey on recipes, survey on products and menus,
and a lecture by a chef holding a cooking demonstration.

7)	“The Official Guidebook to Yamae Chestnuts : A Year with Yamae Chestnuts”(2017). The abridged version is published as“The
Official Guidebook to Yamae Chestnuts: Yamae Village Is Full of Chestnuts”(2016).

8)

	Various media including Hitoyoshi Shimbun and Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun have reported on the opening of the Yamae
Village Community Development Research Institute and collaborative research.

9)	The Yamae Chestnut Consortium has been established to promote sixth industrialization using Yamae Chestnuts to vitalize
the community economy through job creation; achieve an autonomous, sustainable community; and enhance the Yamae
Chestnut brand in and outside Japan by improving the projection and processing of Yamae Chestnuts. The Consortium
comprises chestnut farmers and processors, staff from Kumamoto Prefecture and Yamae Village, and those related to theuniversity.

List of references
・Uchiyama, Keiji and Matsumoto, Yoshihisa,“The formation of local community through information transmission by residents:
Records of the villager-director initiative in Yamae Village, Kumamoto Prefecture,”Community Policies, Vol.4, 2006, pp 143–
155.
・Namiki, Shino Progress Report on the Strategy to Revitalize Yamae Village by Information, a report on collaborative research by
Yamae Village in Kumamoto Prefecture and Sudoh Laboratory, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, the University ofTokyo, March 2017, pp 1–35.
・Namiki, Shino Strategy to Revitalize Yamae Village by Information, a report on collaborative research by Yamae Village inKumamoto Prefecture and Sudoh Laboratory, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, the University of Tokyo, March
2016a, pp 1–36.
・Namiki, Shino Project funded by FY2015 grant to support the revitalization of villages in the mountains: The current situationof Yamae Chestnuts, a report on collaborative research by Yamae Village in Kumamoto Prefecture and Sudoh Laboratory,
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, the University of Tokyo, March 2016b, pp 1–124.
・Namiki, Shino Project funded by FY2015 grant to support the revitalization of rural villages: Yamae Village’s vision for the
future: From Using Local Produce at Schools to Sustainable Agriculture, a report on collaborative research by Yamae Village
Revitalization Council, Yamae Village in Kumamoto Prefecture and Sudoh Laboratory, Interfaculty Initiative in Information
Studies, the University of Tokyo, March 2016c pp 1–56.
・Namiki, Shino The Official Guidebook to Yamae Chestnuts: A Year of Yamae Chestnuts, a report on collaborative research by
Yamae Village in Kumamoto Prefecture and Sudoh Laboratory, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies ,the University ofTokyo , March 2017, pp 1–32.
・Namiki, Shino The Official Guidebook to Yamae Chestnuts: The Abridged Version: Yamae Village is Full of Chestnuts, a reporton collaborative research by Yamae Village in Kumamoto Prefecture and Sudoh Laboratory, Interfaculty Initiative inInformation Studies, the University of Tokyo, September, 2016, pp 1–8.
・Yamae Village, The Handbook of Yamae Village Governance, Materials, 2016 Version, 2017.
・Yamae Village, Comprehensive Strategy for Overcoming Population Decline and Revitalizing Local Economies, 2015.
・Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute, https://yamae-lab.jimdo.com/
・Yamae Village Revitalization Council“The construction of a collection, receiving orders, and ordering regime: A project torevitalize a rural settlement”http://www.maff.go.jp/j/nousin/kouryu/attach/pdf/nousan_gyoson_forum-17.pdf (Accessed on

Resolution of Regional Issues at the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute25

December 22, 2017)
・NHK NEWS WEB “Chestnuts Festival in Yamae Village, Kumamoto” http://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/
kumamoto/20170924/5000000333.html (Accessed on September 25, 2017)

並木志乃（なみき・しの）［最終学歴］東京大学大学院学際情報学府（博士・学際情報学）［専攻領域］地域コミュニティ , 社会情報学［主たる著書・タイトル］
・Shino NAMIKI,A New Set of Staged Criteria to Evaluate the Improvement of Communication within a
Regional Community, Journal of Socio-Informatics, Vol.2, No.1,Sep.2009, pp69-79,
・並木志乃「ローカル・アジェンダ 21 の背景とその発展経緯」『総合調査報告書 持続可能な社会の構築』国立国会図書館調査及び立法考査局 2010, pp89-97
・並木志乃「地域における情報発信活動の評価指標の開発－人吉球磨における住民ディレクター活動の学習への着目―」『情報学研究』,68 号 ,2005,pp167-187 The Development of Evaluation Indicator of Media Production in
Local Communities :Focused on Learning for Civic-Director in Hitoyoshi-Kuma Area
［所属］東京大学大学院情報学環特任講師［所属学会］社会情報学会 (SSI)

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Resolution of Regional Issues at the
Yamae Village Community
Development Research InstituteShino Namiki*

The current article reports on community development and activities to solve problems in Yamae
Village, Kumamoto Prefecture. Collaborative research with Yamae Village started in summer 2015.
It aims to revitalize community development through the organization of a consortium-type group by
Yamae Village and by introducing external perspectives and research findings. Thus far, collaborative
research has contributed to the drafting of the Strategy to Revitalize Yamae Village by Informationto achieve the four objectives and 62 policies set in the Comprehensive Strategy for Overcoming
Population Decline and Revitalizing Local Economies. The Strategy to Revitalize Yamae Village byInformation has reviewed 62 policies in terms of 4 perspectives: (1) Affinity with ICT, (2) effectiveness,(3) cost performance, and (4) urgency, and has defined 4 priority areas in information strategy, namely
agriculture, the environment and disaster prevention, welfare, and human resource development.
A five-year plan for the period 2016 to 2020 has been drafted for the priority areas by adding
qualitative objectives to the quantitative objectives in the Comprehensive Strategy for Overcoming
Population Decline and Revitalizing Local Economies. In the field of agriculture, one priority areain the information strategy, namely collaborative research, has contributed to drafting the plan topromote school dinners and reach the ideal of“locally produced, locally consumed”in the community
and research on the branding of the chestnuts. Currently, we are engaged in managing the progressof these projects.
Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute was established in January 2016. The
institute engages in research and policy recommendations to solve problems in the community. In
addition, collaborative research is involved in the running and planning thereof. The major activitiesof the Institute comprise three areas: research, ICT, and human resource development. Specifically, it
is involved in identifying problems in the community through research and investigation, planning theuse of ICT to benefit residents of Yamae Village, and providing learning opportunities for community
development and entrepreneurship support, as well as in assisting community development by the
Project Lecturer, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, the University of Tokyo
Key Words：Regional autonomy, local communities, local policies, contents, information and communication technology

Resolution of Regional Issues at the Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute27

villagers. Yamae Village Community Development Research Institute connects the village office andvillagers and serves as the support base for community development lead by the villagers.

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