Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
learned from the Minamata Disease as a starting point, but these efforts did not reach the point of revitalizing the local economy, and with the population decline and the economic slump of recent years, attrition of the local society was continuing. Therefore, in order to break through this situation and connect the environment-related strategies to the activation of the local economy, the “Minamata Environmental City Building Study Group” was started in 2010 to begin discussions regarding this matter. Based on the discussions of this study group, the strategy “2011 Minamata City Environmental City Building Promotion Project” was drawn up based on an analysis of the regional economic circulation. And, from 2012, “Environmental Capitol Minamata” was started as a business aiming to build a new form of district that will develop economically while reducing the environmental load.

By doing an analysis of the economic circulation of the local district, it became clear that for Minamata City, spending was draining out to the roadside stores in the suburbs mainly on the non-working days, with the amount of sales in the city center decreasing by approximately JPY5 billion in the last 10 years (1997 to 2007), and approximately JPY8.6 billion a year was draining out of the city for payment of energy costs. Also, on the investment side, against the amount of deposits within the city, the rate that went to loans inside the city (loan-deposit rate) was a low 20 to 30%, making it clear that funds deposited within the city were draining out of the city through investments outside the city and purchasing of government bonds (Figure 2-1-109).

Source) Material from the First Study Group "Study Group for Circulation-Coexistence Type Local District Development" by MOE

Based on the issues that became clear from this analysis, strategies are being carried out to increase consumer spending and investments inside the city.

### a. Project to Revitalize the City Center

To prevent consumer spending from draining to outside the city, and to promote the use of public transportation facilities, as well as to revitalize the shopping areas, a demonstration experiment of giving Eco-points to people who come to the shopping areas using the community bus was conducted for approximately 6 months from August 21, 2012 to January 31, 2013 by the “Creation of Environment Capital Minamata” project (subsidized by MOE).

The Eco-points were given when a passenger showed the proof ticket (bus ticket) that was passed out at the bus stop.
for riding the bus. Also, a system was put in place so that bus users with a large amount of shopping could have their shopping load delivered to their home for free. At first the project did not receive much publicity and the number of tickets distributed was rather low, but gradually, as people began to understand the merits of this system, the number of tickets being used increased and bus users started visiting stores they have never been to in the past, so this became an opportunity for the shopping areas to gain new customers. In the 17 stores in the shopping area for which store traffic was being tracked, the ratio of the number of ticket users to the number of people who came into the store was less than 1% at the beginning. However, by the sixth month, which was January, the ratio had increased to 39.0% (Figure 2-1110).

The number of passengers for the Community Bus was on a declining trend in 2009 (October 2008 – September 2009), but a major review of the route was conducted in January 2012, and every bus route was changed to be routed through the center part (shopping area, medical center) of town. Since the change in routing, the drop in the number of bus passengers has stopped.

As a result of such projects, Minamata City’s 2012 local area sales rate by product item, when compared to 2009, had increased for all items, showing that consumer spending within the city had been revitalized (Figure 2-1-111).

(Note) As August 21 was the beginning of the project, August number is 10 days worth of data. Source) "Report on the Eco-point Introduction System Demonstration Experiment" by Minamata City

Source) Developed by MLIT from “2012 Trend Survey of Consumer Spending for Kumamoto Prefecture” by Kumamoto Prefecture

### b. Promoting Tourism ~ Hisatsu Orange Railway “Orange Restaurant Express”

In the 10 years since the peak period of 1994 to 1999 which saw around 700,000 people, the number of tourist visiting Minamata City has decreased to almost half. Now, as a strategy to increase consumer spending in the city, efforts to increase the number of tourists have been implemented. One such attempt, from March 2013, the tourist train “Orange Restaurant Express” was introduced as part of the Hisatsu Orange Railway by the “Environmental Capital Minamata” creation project (subsidized by MOE).

“Orange Restaurant Express” is a 2 car, 43 seater train, made by remodeling existing train cars according to the design of world famous industrial designer Eiji Mitooka. With the concept of a “Train for enjoying food and the slow life”, this train offers cuisine made from carefully selected seasonal foods that are locally produced for local consumption, all to be savoured while taking in the scenery from the train windows, and signature specialty products of the region are available for purchase at each stop. The train travels for 4 hours between Shin-Yatsushiro (Kumamoto Prefecture) and Sendai (Kagoshima Prefecture), a distance that takes about 30 minutes on the Shinkansen (bullet train) (Figure 2-1-112, Figure 2-1-113).
Figure 2-1-112

Exterior of the Orange Restaurant Express

Source) MLIT

Figure 2-1-113

Orange Restaurant Express Car Number 1

Source) MLIT

When it began operation, “Orange Restaurant Express” became a popular topic for television programs and magazines, and since it started running in 2004, the number of passengers on the Hisatsu Orange Railway—which had been declining fairly consistently—started growing in 2013, and along with that the sales numbers also started increasing (Figure 2-1-114). The increase in tourism income that maximizes on the natural resources and regional specialties of the local district seems to be an effective method for procuring funds from outside the city.

Figure 2-1-114

Sales Numbers of Hisatsu Orange Railroad (comparison of 2012 and 2013)

Source) Material from the First Study Group "Study Group for Circulation-Coexistence Type Local District Building" by MOE

### c. Introducing Renewable Energy

As a strategy to improve the balance of payment for energy within the city, there are plans to install woody biomass $ ^{Note 42} $ electricity generators and mega-watt solar panels.

The woody biomass electricity generator will generate electricity by burning fuel chips made by gathering forest trimmings from Minamata City and its surrounding districts, which are then are shredded and sorted. With this business, it is expected that many jobs will be created in the city from the operation of the biomass electricity generation plant, as well as other forestry and lumber related work.

In terms of the mega-watt solar panels, the plan is to install solar panels in several of the places in the city where there is idle land for large-scale solar energy generation. Part of this endeavor has already been made into a business by local small and medium businesses.

### d. Introducing the Environmental Financial System

In order to promote investment within the city and apply low carbon emission standards, the “Minamata Green Note $ ^{43} $ ”—an Environmental Financial System that has one of the highest levels of standards in the country—was initiated from
among regions, by citing case studies or the like in which the concept of “compact” and “networked” has possibly stirred the flow of people, goods and so on to lead to enhanced regional vitality and charms.

## 1 Benefits of “Compact” and “Networked”

As considered earlier (in Chapter 1), the nation’s population continues to shrink and get aged, predicting growing difficulties sustaining essential urban facilities particularly in regional cities in the future. Comparisons of the changes in the population of large cities and provincial cities foresee continuing inflow of population into large cities while provincial cities are depopulated rapidly. Since population had already peaked in 2005 for prefectural capitals and in 2000 for cities inhabited on the order of 100,000, the pace of increase in the elderly population is forecast to slow down, with drastic reductions in the productive-age population (Figure 2-2-1). This means that urban activities and economies need to be sustained with less productive-age population in the future.

Figure 2-2-1

Population Projection for Prefectural Capitals and Cities Inhabited on the Order of 100,000

(Notes) 1 Prefectural capitals: Municipalities hosting a prefectural government, excluding the 3 major metropolitan areas.

2 100-thousand-class: Municipalities populated by 50 to 150 thousand, except for the 3 major metropolitan areas and prefectural capitals

3 Fukushima Prefecture has been excluded from the scope of totalization, because estimates had only been collected on a prefectural basis.

4 Current government ordinance-designated cities have been excluded.

Juvenile population

Productive-age population

Elderly population

Source) Developed by MLIT from “National Census” by the MIC, and “Estimates of Japan’s Future Population by Regional Block (March 2013 Estimates)” by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS).

Analyses of the trends in the population of provincial cities for the last 40 years or so indicate that the urban areas have expanded rapidly into suburbs keeping pace with population increases. Prefectural capitals have increased their population about 20% from 1970 to 2010, while the DID $ ^{44} $ areas have expanded by more than two times (Figure 2-2-2).

At the present pace of depopulation, urban areas would be increasingly thinned out to make it difficult to sustain the urban facilities relevant to their citizens' daily livelihood, which could result in a progressive decay of the cities.

Figure 2-2-2

Populations of Prefectural Capitals and Trends in Their DID Area
Further, if a compact urban structure drives a shift in the mode of human transport from automobiles to public transportation, bicycles, walking and so on, environmental benefits, such as reduced $ CO_{2} $ emissions and less contamination from exhaust gases, might be expected. In fact, a negative correlation is confirmed between the population density and the amount of automotive $ CO_{2} $ emissions (Figure 2-2-10).

Source) Developed by MLIT from the "2010 National Census", MIC, and the "2010 Road Traffic Census", MLIT.

## (2) "Compact" and "Networked" and regional economic circulation

Figure 2-2-11 shows the diagram of circular economic flow (Figure 2-1-102) given in Section 1 of Chapter 2 superimposed with the effects that the concept of “compact” and “networked” may have upon the circular flow of regional economies.

First, compacting could come up with the following benefits:

· Maintaining the population density of a given district, such as a central zone, makes it possible to sustain livelihood service facilities, such as medical care, welfare and commercial facilities, which could otherwise be lost

if left unattended (A), upholding regional economies through assurance of these facilities (1);

· Boosting retail spending, etc. downtown and elsewhere with primary impetus from increase population densities in the areas around the facilities and also from improved access from homes to these facilities, coupled with restructuring of public transportation networks (1); and (1)

· Curbing the extra-regional outflow of spending for purchasing of gasoline, etc., as dependence on automobiles lessens in a compact city. (1')

Improved transport networks might in turn encourage business location and make corporate activities, such as logistics (B), more productive for enhanced output.

Thus, “compact” and “networked” may work synergistically to stir the circular flow of regional economies by boosting retail and other sales and by augmenting output, respectively, so intra-regional employees will be earning more (2) to spurt spending, which could lead further to positive intra-regional economic circulation.
## 2 Case Studies of “Compact” and “Networked”

Preceding discussions have outlined the benefits of “compact” and “networked”. In a depopulating society, a certain size of in-sphere population can be maintained by consolidating essential livelihood facilities in each region in a compact manner and then linking the individual regions with one another on a network.

Because such facilities are diverse, ranging from those required for daily living to those that are used only on specific occasions, the size of the sphere needed to sustain them is determined accordingly. So, “compact” and “networked” is necessarily implemented in a multilayered structure (Figure 2-2-12).

This means that the implementation of the concept of “compact” and “networked” not only at the level of a single city but at a village level on a smaller scale or even at an interurban level on a larger scale takes on importance. Case studies in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture and in Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture are cited below to demonstrate that the concept of “compact” and “networked”

practically will work even at any level other than that of a provincial city, as on villages in a hilly or moutainous area or on an urban area that is composed of multiple cities.

## (1) Compact City (“Compact” and “networked” at an urban level) (Toyama City)

Toyama City pioneered in tackling on a program to form a compact city ahead of other cities. The lifestyle of suburban residence has come to stay in Toyama on the support of a high ratio of road construction, a firm consumer propensity to seek detached housing and so on. Up until 2000, therefore, the DID area had expanded with population densities falling. In more recent years, however, the pace of suburbanization has stalled to some extent to move sideways (Figure 2-2-13).

Among existing public transportation networks in Toyama, all municipal railway tracks and transport routes in frequent service, such as fixed-route buses, have been designated public transportation axes. “Public Transport Line Residency Promotion Districts” have been marked off

along these axes, in addition to a central urban area (urban district) to encourage dwelling in these districts by offering incentives, such as housing subsidization (Figure 2-2-14).

A look into developments in the population growth(increase/decrease) by social factor (in-migrating population less out-migrating population) in the central urban area and the Public Transport Line Dwelling Promotion Districts resulting from these efforts suggests that the excess of out-migration in the past has gradually narrowed to turn for an excess of in-migration in recent years (Figure 2-2-15).
Figure 2-2-14

Central Urban Area and Public Transport Line Dwelling Promotion Districts

Source) Toyama City

Figure 2-2-15

Trend of Population Change by Social Factor in Public Transport Line Dwelling Promotion District

(People) Trend of Population Change by Social Factor in Public Transport Line Dwelling Promotion Districts

(Note) Population change by social factor is population increase or decrease derived from calculating in-immigrants minus out-immigrants.

Source) Toyama City

Focusing on housing locations, one should realize that major changes have taken place in the people’s housing trends. Comparisons of the rate of change in the ratios of the number of homes by distance from public transportation facilities and child-care centers for the two periods of 2003 to 2008 and 2008 to 2013, some years on after commencement of the compact city initiative, reveal that the closer to facilities, the lower the rate of change falls in Toyama but the higher it gets nationwide. From 2008 to 2013, nationwide trends remained unchanged, while Toyama exhibited trends opposite to those from 2003 to 2008, with its rate of increase in the ratio of the number of homes located within 2 km from a station exceeding the nationwide average (Figure 2-2-16).

Figure 2-2-16

Rates of Change in the Ratios of the Number of homes (by Distance from the Nearest Public Transport Facilities (rail-road stations and bus stops) and Child-Care Centers

(Note) Values indicate the rates of change in the ratio of the number of homes by distance from the nearest facilities to the total number of homes in a city from 2003 to 2008 and from 2008 to 2013.

Source) Developed by MLIT from the "Housing and Land Survey", MIC.
In addition to increased inhabitation around the means of public transportation, the number of passengers getting aboard Toyama Light Rail, an LRT $ ^{45} $ system leveraging former JR railway facilities (Toyama-ko Line) has surged by about 2.1 times on weekdays and by about 3.5 times on holidays from its pre-LRT levels as a result of narrowing service intervals, opening new stations, installing barrier-free low-floor vehicles, improving the quality of train services and so on. By time zone, the number of passengers has expanded drastically during the daytime period of 9am to 5pm on weekdays, particularly among people aged 60 years or older. The number of younger passengers has also been rising (Figures 2-2-17, 2-2-18).

In addition to LRT, Toyama features a fixed-route bus network converging from various parts of the city into the central urban area. The city issues season tickets, called “Odekake Teikiken (Outing Season Tickets),” to the elderly people aged 65 years or older who use public transportation facilities, such as fixed-route buses and LRT. These tickets offer these elderly passengers a uniform fare of 100 yen for getting on and off in the central urban area (Figure 2-2-19). Given an Odekake Teikiken, seniors are more motivated to go out than before, as a survey conducted by the city revealed that elderly people who went out carrying the season ticket took more steps on the average than elderly people living in the prefecture and those nationwide and also that they took about 1,300 steps more on the average with an Odekake Teikiken in hand than without (Figure 2-2-20).

With the aforementioned saving in the medical bills resulting from more step taken by the elderly taken into account, a saving of 80 yen per capita per day is estimated, adding up to about a 75.60 million yen saving in the medical bills paid by all users a year.

Newly constructed networks or networks upgraded for convenience's sake can spur concentration around them. In Toyama City, Toyama tramway routes operated by Toyama Chihou Tetsudou Inc. used to stretch from Toyama Station to colleges and to southern Toyama to carry commuters to and from work and schools along the way. But no routes were available that looped within the central urban area. Therefore, city authorities extended part of a municipal tramway route and built it as "City Tram Loop Line." The result was enhanced ease of migration between Toyama Station and the central urban area, and animated private

Figure 2-2-17

Source) Toyama City

Figure 2-2-18

Changes in the Number of Toyama Light Rail Passengers by Age Group (weekdays, per day)

Source) Toyama City

Figure 2-2-19

Odekake Teikiken Service

Source) Toyama City
investment along the new section of the City Tram Loop Line (opened on December 23, 2009), fueling redevelopment projects, such as constructing condominiums, office buildings and commercial facilities, such as cinema complexes.

Residential land prices continued to fall downtown but followed a firm tone in the new line sections of the loop lines, such that their pace of decline seemed to slow down in the central urban area other than the new line sections (Figure 2-2-21).

Land prices progressing stabilized in this way should make for greater stability of the municipal financial climate. Fixed property and city planning taxes account for 45.1% of the municipal tax revenues, 22.0% of which are collected from the central urban area (Figures 2-2-22, 2-2-23).

Intensive investment in the central urban area helps preserve property values while ensuring a stable supply of tax resources, tax revenues derived from which would finance the administrative spending required across the city, including other urban areas. A compact city implementation can thus lead to a more sustainable financial climate.

Figure 2-2-20	Average Number of Steps Walked by Elderly People (Outing Season Ticket users, Toyama Prefectural inhabitants, national average)

Source) Toyama City

Figure 2-2-21

Changes in Land Prices in the Central Urban area of Toyama City

Changes in the r land prices in the central urban area of Toyama City (relative to 1.0 in 2006) (Toyama Prefecture Official Land Price and Land Price Survey: Price Directory 2013 Edition)

*Official land price (national survey, reference date: January 1), land price survey (prefectural survey, reference date: July 1)

Toyama City residential land: Decided price listed in the land tax register book for fixed property tax assessment divided by the target area (calculated on the basis of Toyama City statistics).

Central urban area

Source) Toyama City

Figure 2-2-22

Breakdowns of Municipal Taxes in Toyama City (FY2014 initial budget)

Source) Toyama City

Figure 2-2-23

Breakdowns of Fixed Property and City Planning Taxes by Region (FY2014)

Area ratio	Fixed property tax + city planning tax breakdowns
Urbanization-designated area	5.8%	74.0%
Central urban area in the area above	0.4%	22.0%
Else	94.2%	26.0%

Source) Toyama City