Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
### Section 2. Various initiatives by local governments, communities and businesses

### 1. Initiatives by local governments and communities

## (1) Case studies on initiatives capitalizing on townscapes featuring historical buildings

[Kawagoe city, Saitama Prefecture: Efforts to rejuvenate the city with its historical assets]

Kawagoe, a traditional commercial city, began to see its traditional downtown decline in the mid 1960s, as the commercial center was moving to more convenient areas around the train stations. The traditional downtown, which features Kurazukuri or traditional merchant houses, attracted the expert attention for its cultural values. Yet there were no initiatives to preserve the historical townscape as a whole.

In 1983, however, local junior shop owners, historians, and architects who were interested in the future of the city's historical townscape gathered to launch "Kawagoe Kuranokai", a group committed to preserving the townscape.

Prompted by the group, the association of shop owners in the Ichibangai shopping street established "rules on street development," a voluntary agreement aimed at town-making that makes good use of Kurazukuri. The agreement required shop owners to gain the approval of the "townscape committee"—made up of shop owners, residents, experts and city officials—before refurbishing their shop buildings. The similar arrangement was adopted by another shop owner association in the neighboring Kawagoe Ginza shopping street, which set up a review board called "Taisho Roman Committee" in 1994.

The Kawagoe municipal government moved to support these initiatives. It launched a comprehensive plan that transcended the barriers between the sections in charge of cultural assets, commerce and industry, and city planning.

Ichibangai shopping street

Under the plan, the municipal government designated Kurazukuri as cultural assets. It put in place a commerce and industry support program designed to subsidize the refurbishment of historical buildings. The municipality also established a townscape ordinance (effective from 1989) and relevant subsidies. As part of city planning, it laid power lines underground and made other improvements to the road in the city.

The initiative of the local community was unabated. In 1993, residents’ associations and others launched a town-making organization, prompting the 1999 designation of a Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings under the municipality’s city planning.

Kashi-va Yokocho or Confectionary Row

Kawagoe Kuranokai, for its part, began to offer consultation service for residents and organize awareness-raising events.

These efforts have been successful. The annual total of tourists who visited Kawagoe jumped from about 2.6 million around 1980 to some four million today.

Similar initiative by another municipality (title only):

Kurashiki city, Okayama Prefecture: Townscape preservation for the Bikan Historical Quarter in Kurashiki city
## [Aizuwakamatsu city, Fukushima Prefecture: Town-making in the Nanukamachi street]

The Nanukamachi shopping street, located in the city center, began to decline in the mid 1950s. With fewer visitors, more and more shops were forced to close. The shop owners’ association had no choice but to leave the city’s federation of such associations and then disbanded itself altogether.

Some junior shop owners took action to address the plight. They noted that historical buildings constructed in the Meiji (1868-1912), Taisho (1912-1926), or early Showa (1926-1989) eras are scattered along the street. These shop owners thought they could turn these buildings to their advantage and create an attractive shopping street based

on the concept of a street reminiscent of the Taisho era. They talked to other shop owners and rallied their support, resulting in the establishment in 1994 of the “Nanukamachi Streetscape Council.”

Thanks in part to the council’s effort to attract visitors to the Nanukamachi street, the first council member who refurbished his shop—removing modern building materials and exploiting the original charm of the traditional building—succeeded as a shop owner. Other members follow suit. To encourage such refurbishment, the council now solicits tenants and offers counseling service to its members.

Aizuwakamatsu city, for its part, grants subsidies to the refurbishment of historical buildings and vacant shops. It offers other kinds of support, including paving alleys with bricks and creating the community square where various events take place.

Other local efforts include: organizing events such as “Kimono Shanari Walk,” a walking event where people wearing kimono walk down the street, antique fairs, and jazz festivals; running retro-style buses around the city center—a circular route bus service called “Haikara-san”; and remodeling the building of JR Nanukamachi Station—a gateway to the Nanukamachi street center—as a western building reminiscent of the Taisho era. Thanks to these efforts, more and more tourists are seen strolling down the street and fewer and fewer vacant shops are seen along the street. Now neighboring communities are following the example of the Nanukamachi initiative.

In 2003, the Tohoku District Transport Bureau of MLIT, local municipalities, transport operators, and tourism service providers jointly launched a project to revitalize intercity public transport in western Fukushima Prefecture. The project resulted in a number of new services, including an excursion ticket called "Aizu Gurutto Card," which offers the holder free

Nanukamachi street

Nanukamachi Station

access to railway and bus services in the region and discount access to local tourist facilities, as well as through service between the JR East line and a private line (Aizu railway).

Similar initiatives by other municipalities (titles only):

Makabe-cho, Ibaraki Prefecture: Town-making capitalizing on historical resources

Inuyama city, Aichi Prefecture: Historical street development in the Inuyama castle town
## [Bungotakada city, Oita Prefecture: Building a town of the Showa era]

The initiative to build a town of the Showa era (1926-1989) in Bungotakada has been launched by a group of local shop owners in the shopping district in the city, who were concerned that the district was on the wane. In an effort to find a way out, they conducted a fact-finding survey. The survey found that over 70 percent of the buildings in the district had been constructed in or before the mid 1960s. Capitalizing on this fact, they decided to develop a district reminiscent of the mid Showa era. To rally support for this project, they organized lecture meetings and symposiums.

Local shop owners in the district have refurbished the exterior of their buildings to

create an atmosphere of the mid Showa era. They have also initiated a number of programs, including "Showa no Otakara Machikado Hakubutsukan (The Street Museum of Treasures from the Showa Era)," where each shop displays an item telling its history; "One shop, One product," where each shop develops and sells its original product; and "Okamisan Ichi," where the wives of shop owners jointly hold a fair.

An item telling its history

The Bungotakada municipal government, for its part, has put in place a scheme to support refurbishments aimed at improve the townscape. It has also rebuilt a farm warehouse as “Showa Roman Kura” a facility that displays items from the mid Showa era. The municipal government has invited a dagashi museum called “Dagashi-ya no Yume Hakubutsukan” in the facility (dagashi refers to cheap sweets many people associate with the mid Showa era).

“Showa Roman Kura” is managed by the city’s chamber of commerce and industry, which takes charge of overall coordination of the initiative to develop a town of the Showa era. The chamber also provides guide service by local volunteers popularly known as “A Guide to Showa Street.”

This town-making initiative has rejuvenated the shopping district, which was little known to tourists. Now over 250,000 tourists visit the district in a year.

Streetscape of the town of the Showa era
## (2) Case studies on initiatives capitalizing on waterfront resources

## [Matsue city, Shimane Prefecture: Restoring Matsue Horikawa]

Matsue Horikawa (canals), which had originally been developed as the inner and outer moats around Matsue Castle, has long been popular as the symbol of Matsue as a city of water. However, the water was increasingly polluted primarily because domestic waste water flew into the canals.

These circumstances prompted some members of the local junior chamber of commerce and industry to set up an association aimed at revitalizing the canals called “Yomigaeru Horikawa no Kai.” The association advised the Matsue municipal government to operate pleasure boats on the canals. Other civic groups began to rent boats for visitors and held awareness-raising events.

In response to these efforts, the governmental entities in FY1994 formulated an emergency action program to improve the water environment called “Seiryu Renaissance 21.” Under the program, the governmental entities took integrated action to clean the canals, including drawing water from Lake Shinji, dredging the canals, and expanding sewerage. They also conducted bank protection works, built water-amenity terraces, and helped renovate the neighboring shopping streets.

These efforts by both residents and governmental entities resulted in smooth water flows and an improved quality of water in the canals. By 1997, pleasure boats sailed on the canals. The pleasure boat operator employs middle-aged and older people as boatmen, providing them with opportunities for job and self-fulfillment.

The tourists’ look at Matsue from its canals has also prompted the landscaping of canal-side roads and canal banks by the municipality and that of canal-side homes by residents.

Pleasure boat

A canal bank viewed from a pleasure boat

Numerous tourist facilities have been built, including a hands-on workshop near a pleasure boat station, which was originally a historical building and preserved as such by request from local residents. In 2002, some 4.6 million tourists visited Matsue.

Efforts have also been made to turn Matsue into a long-stay resort. For example, new events were added in 2003 to “Dou Parade”, a traditional drum festival in “Kamiarizuki” (October according to the lunar calendar in the region). They are the Kamiarizuki walking event and Musha Gyoretsu, a samurai warriors’ parade, in commemoration of Matsue Castle.

Similar initiative by another municipality (title only): Oyama city, Tochigi Prefecture: Initiative capitalizing on the Omoi River

## Dou Parade
Case Study Column: Restoration of the basin along Lake Biwa and the Yodo River

Numerous efforts are being made in the basin along Lake Biwa and the Yodo River to conserve the habitats for diverse organisms, including precious endemic species. Such efforts include: restoration and conservation of reed swamps and detention ponds (man-made ponds along a river); the introduction of a high-tech sewage treatment system ahead of other prefectures; environmental education for primary school pupils; and river cleanup and water-quality inspection activities by municipalities and NPO in the basin. One municipality in Shiga Prefecture, Omihachiman, has recently launched an initiative to build an eco-friendly city in cooperation with the industrial, governmental, academic and private sectors.

Local municipalities have developed docks along the Yodo River, prompted by traffic disruptions in the wake of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January 1995.

The municipalities in the basin continue to work together to pursue symbiosis with nature while banking on the historical and cultural resources in the basin.

“Uminoko,” a ship of Shiga Prefecture designed for environmental education

Local pupils inspect water creatures in the Ina River as part of the integrated monitoring initiative by local residents.
guidebook in hand, more and more tourists now stroll around the town and interact with local flower enthusiasts. Such exchanges are giving rise to increasing hospitality of the whole town toward the visitors. In fact, a group of residents has been organized to make wooden benches and install them in the town.

“Open Garden”

Similar initiatives by other municipalities (titles only):

Ashikaga city, Tochigi Prefecture: Town-making based on Ashikaga School

Kaga city, Ishikawa Prefecture: Town-making through Kutani ware

Enzan city, Yamanashi Prefecture: Town-making capitalizing on Kanzoyashiki

Izushi-cho, Hyogo Prefecture: Town-making by residents capitalizing on the history as a castle town

Yamaga city, Kumamoto Prefecture: Town-making capitalizing on a historical streetscape

Sakaiminato city, Tottori Prefecture: Town-making centering on cartoon character “Kitaro”

Matsuyama city, Ehime Prefecture: Town-making capitalizing on Ryotaro Shiba’s historical novel “Saka no ue no kumo” (Cloud above the hill)
## (4) Case studies on initiatives capitalizing on the local life and environment

[Yasuzuka-machi, Niigata Prefecture: Putting snow to good use and promoting country life experience]

Yasuzuka is located in one of the heaviest snow belts in Japan. With a declining population, this town has been making all kinds of efforts to conquer, utilize and enjoy snow.

In 1986, the town of Yasuzuka put snow itself on the market—for the first time in Japan—under the band name “Yuki no Takuhaibin (Snow Delivery Service).”, Yasuzuka made a headline when it brought 450 truckloads of snow to the “Good-by Korakuen Snow Festival” held in Tokyo in 1987. As a result, Yasuzuka remarkably developed name-recognition as a snowy town, and changed the public recognition of snow as a bottleneck—burden, nuisance, and the root cause of the exodus to the cities. Snow is now widely recognized as a useful resource.

Yasuzuka has been also committed to using snow energy. Since 1987, the municipality has put in place a program to store snow during winter and use it during summer as a cooling agent to preserve agricultural produce and provide cool air to schools and welfare facilities in the town.

In 1989, the municipality set out a plan to build a “cultured snowy town”—an initiative to serve as a role model for town-making in the snowy region. To put the plan into practice, the municipality in 1990 established a research organization called “Yukidaruma (snowman) Foundation.”

Heavy snow

“Yuki no Takuhaibin”

Yasuzuka and the other five municipalities that constitute Higashi Kubiki District launched the “Higashi Kubiki town-making committee” in FY1992 to address the common agenda. Since then, the committee conducted various activities.

One example is the “Echigo Inaka Taiken” (“experience country life in Niigata”) program launched in 1998 by the six municipalities to revitalize the district through tourism that offers hands-on experience in farming. The program is primarily designed to “ensure that participants can fully enjoy genuine country life, the natural environment and farming.” It offers more than 70 courses, ranging from nature-based experience to environmental education and farming experience.

Experience in farming

The six municipalities are committed to promoting the program. To meet diversifying needs, they offer numerous courses that would not have been possible without efforts that transcend the municipal borders. Based on expert advice, they work together with communities and businesses concerned to solicit participation of primary and middle schools mainly in the metropolitan area, which now enjoys easier access to the Higashi Kubiki District after the Hokuetsu Express Hokuhoku Line started operation in 1997. Yukidaruma Foundation serves as a clearing house for this program.

The number of participants in this program has been on the rise as schools, prompted by the introduction of “hours for integrated learning,” now put more emphasis on hands-on experience. The success of the program has a favorable impact on the district. Farmers enjoy direct economic benefits in the form of lodging charges and training fees. Local
senior citizens are energized by contact with children from the cities. Tourists, who tended to concentrate in winter, now visit the district all year around.

Thanks to these efforts, over 500,000 tourists visit Yasuzuka every year.

The six municipalities have been designated as the Higashi Kubuki Special Zone for Structural Reform for agriculture by the central government. This designation allows for lease of farmland to allotment garden operators and brewing of crude sake by farmers. Banking on these advantages, the municipalities plan to expand the program, including the number of courses for families from the cities.

Similar initiatives by other municipalities (titles only):

Kami-machi, Miyagi Prefecture: “Food Museum”

Himi city, Toyama Prefecture: Plan to construct the "Himi farming and fishing village museum"

Kaseda city, Kagoshima Prefecture: Town-making capitalizing on bicycles

# [Oasa-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture: Building a recycling-oriented town with oilseed rape]

Concerned with an accelerating exodus from Oasa to the city, a group of locals thought something has to be done and gathered day after day to discuss the matter. They decided to participate in the "oilseed rape eco project" that had originated from Shiga Prefecture. In autumn 2000, the group suggested to the Oasa municipal government that Oasa should build a recycling-oriented town on oilseed rape. A score of residents supported this suggestion and established an organization called "INE OASA."

This project is aimed at putting in place a local system to recycle oilseed rape. Under the project, rape is grown in idle farmland in the town as the first step. The second step is to extract oil from harvested rape and sell the oil. The third step is to use the oil for

cooking at home and school. The fourth step is to collect waste rape oil and refine it to produce biodiesel fuel (BDF) for municipal buses and farming equipment. In addition, the rape residue produced by extraction is used as compost.

Non-profit organizations (NPO) played a central role in this project. Funds to procure equipment to refine waste oil came from contributions by residents and subsidies by the municipal government and the community chest. The municipal government, for its part, uses BDF for buses it operates and subsidizes farmers who grow rape.

Residents play a role in collecting waste rape oil. The NPO conducts awareness raising activities, including organizing lecture and presentation meetings and issuing PR newsletters.

This project led to tourism promotion and environmental education using oilseed rape. In 2003, Oasa hosted the third national “summit” meeting on oilseed rape.

Similar initiatives by other municipalities (titles only)

Numata-cho, Hokkaido: Building a town that cohabitates with snow

Seto-cho, Ehime Prefecture: Wind power generation

Kunigami-son, Okinawa Prefecture: Promoting eco tourism

Municipal bus powered by BDF

Oilseed rape field
highly skilled human resources in the town.

As examples of other spin-off effects, private businesses in the town opened shops and restaurants. Local residents developed products for sale at the roadside stations.

Flower picking experience

Similar initiatives by other municipalities (titles only):

Ryujin-mura, Wakayama Prefecture: Integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries

Kozan-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture: Promoting exchanges between city dwellers and locals through integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries

Mugi-cho, Tokushima Prefecture: Scuba diving program to promote local fisheries

Aya-cho, Miyazaki Prefecture: Eco-friendly farming

## [Kitakyushu city, Fukuoka Prefecture: Kitakyushu Eco-Town Project]

Kitakyushu city has put in place the Kitakyushu Eco-Town Project, aimed at building a town committed to resources recycling. The idea is to capitalize local human resources and technologies developed as a key industrial base and draw on the past experience of civil society and the private and public sectors working together in overcoming industrial pollution. The ultimate goal of the project is to "achieve zero emission (producing no waste) in the long run by diverting all kinds of waste emitted from one industry to be used as materials for other industries in the area."

The project is being implemented based on the advice from the “Kitakyushu eco industries promotion council,” made up of representatives from industrial, governmental and academic circles. Kitakyushu city has already taken a number of steps. For example, the city lured recycling and other environmental-related businesses to the Hibikinada district of Wakamatsu ward, which has many advantages, including vast reclaimed land and easy access to port facilities and a final disposal site. The city is taking a strategic approach to promote eco industries. To this end, the city is promoting: (i) environmental education and basic research; (ii) empirical studies to develop recycling and other environmental-related technologies by collaborative efforts among businesses, government agencies and universities; (iii) efforts to make recycling

Kitakyushu Science and Research Park

and other environmental-related industries commercially viable.

The Kitakyushu municipal government has taken steps for better service for its citizens as well. For example, it promotes risk communication (sharing risk-related information through dialogue) with citizens through information disclosure. And it has already developed a “one window” procedure for prompter processing of things.
# Comprehensive Environmental Industrial Complex

The city is now trying to lure new eco businesses that emphasise reuse or rebuilding rather than recycling. In luring businesses, the city maintains close coordination with the initiative that capitalizes on the special status it gained under the central government's structural reform program—designation as a Special Zone for Structural Reform for international physical distribution.

Similar initiative by another municipality (title only):

Naoshima-cho, Kagawa Prefecture: Town-making involving nature, culture and the environment in harmony

Case Study Column: The opening of an expressway and its effects on Umaji-mura, Kochi Prefecture

In January 1992, the section between Kawanoe and Otoyo of the Kochi Expressway was opened, providing the first expressway link between Kochi and a neighboring prefecture. This event has many effects on the areas surrounding this section.

One such area is Umaji, Kochi Prefecture. The visitors to Umaji and Yanase hot spring resorts from other prefectures tripled to 10,101 between 1991 and 1997, five years after the section was open to traffic.

Changes in the number of visitors to Umaji and Yanase hot spring resorts from other prefectures

Source: Umaji municipal government

During the same period, sales of products made from aromatic citrons, a local specialty, jumped threefold to some 1.84 billion yen.