(3) Wide-area development of infrastructures to induce firm location

Competition, collaboration, and regional buoyancy in East Asia should benefit greatly by inviting and accumulating internationally competitive growing industries in the individual regions. Motivated by this recognition, measures have been promoted to support expanding regional employment and more buoyant economy by concentrating investment on the development of those infrastructures that are truly needed to carry out unique regional approaches, such as developing airports, ports and harbors, railroads and wide-area expressway networks.

## (i) Airport development

Aviation network connecting distant cities at home and abroad are greatly instrumental in revitalizing regional communities, boosting the tourism industry and corporate economic activities. It is expected that the aviation sector will play a key role to boost Japanese economy taking advantage of global economic growth, in particular booming economy in Asia. In an effort to enhance Japan's international competitiveness and regional competitiveness in the hinterlands of the airports, MLIT has been making efforts to enhance airport capacities and relocate or change the internal layout of airport terminal area in order to improve user-friendliness.

## (ii) Port and harbor development

In Japan, which is surrounded by the sea, the majority of international trades are conducted by marine transportation, and domestic marine transportation serves important roles in logistics and interactions between regions. Ports and harbors are the gateway for international trades and support Japanese industries as places of corporate activities. In order to enhance international competitiveness of Japanese industries by improving logistics efficiency and to maintain and create employment and income, international logistics terminals are being developed at ports and harbors that underpin regional key industries.

## Registration of Miike Port, constructed in 1908 and still in operation, as a World Heritage Site

On July 5, 2015, the “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining” were inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution consist of industrial heritages testifying that from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Japan had laid the foundation for an industrial nation and had been rapidly industrialized in heavy industries, such as iron and steel, shipbuilding, and coal mining, which later became key industries in Japan, and that the transfer from the West to the non-West had been successfully achieved. One of the component parts is Miike Port (in Omuta-shi, Fukuoka), which was constructed in 1908, and is still in operation as a port supporting the regional economy.

Miike Port on the Omuta Coast was developed to accommodate large ships for more efficient transportation of Miike charcoal, which was produced in Miike coal mines facing the Ariake Sea. In the port, port facilities were systematically placed, including a large sediment control groin with a hummingbird shape to overcome the influence of sand and mud brought by the shallow Ariake Sea, a dock with a lock to cope with the different tide levels.

Takuma Dan, a leader of the port construction, had visited coal shipping ports around the world ahead of the construction. He brought together the most advanced civil engineering and the wisdom of ports in the Meiji era in Japan and put them into the development of harsh natural environment of the Ariake Sea in order to have Miike Port developed by Japanese engineers.

As for the port construction, Takuma Dan said as follows: "Coal mines will not last forever. If they are lost, this town will go back to a field. If a port is constructed, industries will be promoted here. If there is a port, it