Source) MLIT

# Promoting Comprehensive Development of Hokkaido

## 1 Promoting the Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan

## (1) Formulation of the New Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan

Japan has pursued an active policy of developing Hokkaido to help resolve the problems facing the nation and to achieve powerful regional growth by taking advantage of the excellent resources and characteristics of Hokkaido. In response to various changes in circumstances surrounding Hokkaido development, a new plan was developed with deliberations held at the National Land Development Council’s Hokkaido Development Subcommittee (including the planning taskforce) from January 2015, and the new plan was adopted by a Cabinet decision in March 2016.

The new plan, which covers a period from FY 2016 to roughly FY 2025, promotes various measures with the goals of forming the world’s Hokkaido that has local communities where people sparkle, industries that look to the world, and strong and sustainable national land.

## Figure II-4-5-1 Overview of New Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan

## Chapter 1 Significance of Plan Developed

Section 1 Background of Hokkaido Development

- Hokkaido development was promoted under special development policy to contribute to the safety and development of Japan as a whole.

- Growth industries were budding with exports including foods doubling and the number of foreign tourists topping 1 million. On the other hand, the economy and population are shrinking. Concerns exist in relation to areas where networks have yet to be developed and maintenance of regional communities.

Section 2 Trends of the Time Surrounding Japan

(1) Coming of the ear of drastic population declines

(2) Further globalization and changes in international environments

Section 3 Significance of New Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan

- Fundamental significance of Hokkaido development: contributing to the resolution of Japan's tasks to be addressed by leveraging resources and characteristics of Hokkaido.

- There is the risk that it becomes difficult for Hokkaido to maintain its production space, which contributes to Japan by providing strength of Hokkaido, such as foods and national environments, due to a rapidly declining and aging population.

- The next ten-year period is critical with the survival of production space and region at stake.

- Also, the period could provide opportunities for the region to leap forward with the opening of Hokkaido Shinkansen, the extension of expressway network to eastern Hokkaido, and 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

- By utilizing these opportunities, create a leading example of local communities where people can have good life without losing vitality regardless of drastic population declines.

## Chapter 2 Plan Goals

☐ Vision: Creating the world standard value creation space with 2050 in sight.

<<3 Goals>>

(1) Local communities where people sparkle (2) Industries that look to the world (3) Strong and sustainable national land

## Chapter 3 Basic Policy on Plan Implementation

Section 1 Plan Period: 10 years from FY 2016 to FY 2025

Section 2 Basic Strategic Approaches

- Maintaining and forming regional structures specific to Hokkaido

- Forming basic zones where people's daily living takes place in three layered structure: production space, urban district and core city.

- Sapporo Area: lead Hokkaido as a whole, leveraging its concentration.

- Enhancing Hokkaido's value creation capabilities.

- People are the resources in the era of declining population.

- Improve regional value creation capabilities by developing and utilizing human resources and attracting various people.

Section 3 Plan Implementation Strategies

(1) Forming multi-layered platforms through industry-academia-government-finance collaboration

- Develop regional or Hokkaido-wide industry-academia-government-finance collaboration platforms according to themes, such as human resources development and regional development, and manage the efforts in a sustainable manner.

(2) Pioneering and proactive adaptation of innovations—promotion of Hokkaido Initiatives

- Cover population declines with technologies and resolve regional issues innovatively without being caught up with adverse effects.

(3) Strategic social infrastructure development

- Demonstrate the stock effects of social infrastructure to the maximum extent.

- Ensure strategic maintenance of infrastructure and enhance efforts to use it smartly, leveraging technological development.

(4) Plan management

- Management cycle of “planning → implementation → evaluation → improvement”, conducting comprehensive inspections in roughly five years' time.

## Chapter 4 Key Measures of the Plan

## Section 1 Formation of local communities where people sparkle

(1) Maintaining and enhancing settlement and human interaction environment toward the keeping and formation of Hokkaido-type regional structures.

(i) Formation of basic zones (ii) Production space in rural areas (iii) Urban districts in rural areas

(iv) Core city in a basic zone (v) Sapporo Area (vi) Promotion of areas around the borders

(2) Promoting securing and convection of various human resources toward enhanced value creation capabilities of Hokkaido - Create society of mutual assistance, secure active population.

- Human convection with North Japan and overseas.

- Find and develop human resource for regional development.

(3) Steady promotion of Northern Territory neighboring region

(4) Promoting the Ainu Culture, etc.

## Section 2 Promotion of Industries that Look to the World

(1) Promotion of the agriculture, forestry and fishery industries, and the food-related industries

(i) Promotion of the agriculture, forestry and fishery industries through innovation

(ii) Higher added value of foods and comprehensive base development

(iii) Overseas development of foods (iv) Vitalization of rural areas utilizing regional resources

(2) Formation of tourism sites of the world standard

- Create appealing world-class tourism areas, further boost tourism consumption of foreign visitors

- Conditioning the Environment to Host Foreign Tourists

- Strategic efforts toward the era of inbound tourists

- Promote venues for MICE, and attract foreign business guests

(3) Developing industries that take advantage of regional strength

- Further development of industry accumulation

- Vitalize regional economies including local consumption industries

- Promote investments within the region

- Develop human/logistics networks that support industries

## Section 3 Formation of strong and sustainable national land

(1) Formation of sustainable local communities that co-exist with rich and abundant nature

(i) Securing sustainability of the environment and economy/society

- Formation of society that co-exist with nature

- Formation of recycle-oriented society

- Formation of low-carbon society

(ii) Realization of an energy supply/demand structure that has low environmental impact

- Efforts toward further adoption of renewable energy

- Efforts based on Hokkaido's regional characteristics such as heating source and automobile fuels

(2) Contributing to development of strong national land and formation of safe and secure social infrastructure

(i) Responding to severer and more diversified disasters

- Develop systems for protecting human lives

- Respond to disasters during winter

- Respond to large-scale natural disasters such as earthquake/tsunami disasters and volcanic eruptions.

- Respond to flood and landslide disaster risks due to such causes as climate changes.

(ii) Contributing to stronger national land for Japan as a whole

- Secure backup site functions at times of national-scale disaster

- Secure stable supply of foods at times of disaster

(iii) Safe and secure utilization of social infrastructure

- Promote countermeasures against aging infrastructure

- Promote traffic safety measures

- Develop human resources that support the creation of strong national land

## (2) Promoting Measures that Support Plan Realization

The new plan was formulated to flesh out specifics of the Grand Design of National Spatial Development towards 2050 in order to respond to various issues surrounding Japan including the coming of drastic population declines in a medium-to-long-term perspective. The measures to be promoted include the following.