(Various Ways of Working Due to the Spread of ICT)

a. Promotion/Spread of Telework

Telework which is a flexible way of working without being limited by a work location with the use of ICT (Information Communication Technology), and is expected to have many positive effects such as securing a workforce by making it possible to balance work and home life, promoting employment of people responsible for child-rearing and caring for elderly/handicapped people, increasing employment opportunities in local districts to revitalize Rural Areas, increasing fulfillment in personal life due to the increase in leisure time, and reducing commuter congestion.

MLIT is working on the following plans for the spread/promotion of telework with the aim to “Resolve the Adverse Effects of Centralizing Population/Function in the Metropolitan Areas” and “Revitalize the Local Districts”.

## ■ Status Survey of Telework Population

A survey for the purpose of getting a grasp on the quantitative status of the rate of teleworking and the teleworking population, and publicizing the results for use in edification and dissemination.

## ☑ Setting Up Telework Centers

As a facility for promoting telework, consideration is being given to setting up “Telework Centers” (shared use-type offices) that would provide an alternative space for people working from home or a base for mobile work. Until recently, the locations being considered for setting up these centers were mainly in large metropolitan cities. However, amidst the decreases in population and birth rates and the aging of the population, there is a need to create workplaces in rural cities and for stimulating activity in such cities by effectively using empty stores in the center of town. Therefore there are plans to continue expanding the efforts for spreading/promoting telework—with consideration

Figure 2-1-99 Overview of Telework Center Social Experiment

FY2007	FY2008	FY2011
Location of Experiment	2 Locations (KohokuNT, Tsurugashima City)	1 Locations (Yokohama Azamino)	6 Locations in City Center (Shinagawa, Yaesu, Kasumigaseki), City Suburbs (Kannai, Tama, Makuhari)
Period of Experiment	Approximately 3 months	Approximately 3 months	Approximately 2 months
Total Number of Users	330 people	660 people	897 people

being given to conducting a model demonstration experiment related to building up cities—for the purpose of revitalizing rural cities.

### b. Satellite Office

When migrating to a Rural Area, it is normal to think you need to find work in the place to which you are migrating. However, now that use of ICT has spread, even if the main office is located in a place like a metropolitan city center, by calling the workplace in a district that is distant from the main office a satellite office, it has become possible to live without being limited by the location of the workplace.

In Kamiyamacho, a town with a population of about 6,000 people located in the hilly and mountainous areas approximately one hour's drive from the center of Tokushima City in Tokushima Prefecture, the government and Green Valley—a local specified non-profit organization—are leading efforts to revitalize the district. In 2004 a fiber-optic network was laid for the entire town and, in spite of the town being in a hilly and mountainous area, a broadband