Japanese ministries are less focused on achieving equal infrastructural endowment across communities than they were in the past, and this has allowed localities to compete more freely with one another. However, this change in ideology has not been matched by a corresponding change in the bureaucratic routines that structure national aid to localities, nor necessarily in the expectations of local officials themselves. The resulting conflict between ideology and practice has created operational problems for many Japanese communities. Japanese used to consider inner city areas as desirable places to live. Inner city schools are closed down and their districts combined.
Fewer children play on the downtown streets.
The well known rapid increase in the price of land brought by the so called bubble economy is a major cause of the decline seen in urban residential areas. But there are other causes, too. I will explain the reasons for the decline of Japanese inner cities, focusing on the case of Hakata, in Fukuoka Prefecture. It has a long history of domestic and international trade, and is also noted for its long standing tradition of government by the merchant residents themselves. The famous Hakata Yamagasa festival, held annually for 750 years and always organized by the autonomous citizens' association called Nagare, is but one example of the long self-government tradition.