2013. This initiative will provide the full amount of loan insurance and the entire amount of interest for three years on environment related financing/loans for local small and medium businesses.

This is the system whereby when small and medium businesses within the city receive financing from financial institutions within the city. Utilizing the “Kumamoto Green Guarantee System” implemented by the Kumamoto Prefecture Credit Guarantee

Association, the city will subsidize the full amount of “credit guarantee cost” and the “amount equivalent to the contract interest” paid for the three years from the date the loan was made (Figure 2-1-115).

During FY2013, “Minamata Green” had an investment promotion effect of approximately JPY160 million from 10 cases of financing for solar power generator installation, low-emission gas company car, recycle facilities, high efficiency air conditioning and LED installation. This kind of effort towards environmental financing system not only promotes investment within the city, it also has the effect of containing the drain of funds to outside the city by decreasing the consumption of fossil fuels from becoming more energy efficient.

In this way, by quantifying and getting a grasp of the flow of funds for the local district, it becomes possible to use the information for proposing measures to revitalize the community, as well as for evaluating the results of such efforts. It is expected that the use of this process will continue to grow in the future, and it is hoped that this use will become widespread not only by the government but also among all entities such as by businesses and by residents of the local district.

In addition to the strategies mentioned above, the aforementioned “Investments that Use the District’s Real Estate” is also considered effective. For example, the empty housing rate of Minamata City in 2013 was 17.1%, surpassing the national average of 13.5% and the Kumamoto Prefecture average of 14.3%. Based on this situation, by remodeling the empty houses within the city to increase their value then renting them to people who wish to migrate or change residence to the city, not only will rent income be generated, consumer spending within the local district will increase, and there would be the possibility of vitalizing the fund circulation.

In thinking about the fund circulation of the local district, when seeking to gain an understanding of the flow aspect it is also necessary to consider what sort of stock exists that can help create a new flow.

Money is not gone once it is spent; that money continues to circulate into someone else’s pocket. The awareness that the money you spend goes to “someone in the local district”, and continually acting on that awareness in the district as a whole will lead to protecting and prospering the local district in which you live.

## Section 2 Structured Community Development Tailord to the Needs of the Times

Section 2 examines the directions in which Japan’s national land and transport administration should head to achieve the goals of national land community development tailored to the needs of the times in a sheer depopulating society, by highlighting the benefits of “compact” and “networked”, which is the basic concept of “Grand Design of National Spatial Development towards 2050”, citing examples of typical efforts and so on.

Subsection 1, “Compact” and “Networked”, reviews the present status and background of the issues and introduces the concept of “compact” and “networked”, then proceeds to share quantitative insights into the benefits of its implementation in the fields of livelihood convenience and lifestyles, economy, administration and environment. Further, it organizes discussions of the favorable effects of the concept upon regional economic circulation.

Subsection 2, “Case Studies of “Compact” and “Networked”,” and reviews ongoing approaches to building compact hubs and forging allied core metropolitan areas to illustrate how the concept of “compact” and “networked” can be implemented by regional characteristics.

Subsection 3, “Creation of a Country Generating Diverse Synergies among Regions,” asserts the importance of the concept of “compact” and “networked” in a regional structure for the creation of a country generating diverse synergies.