Research concerning revitalizing local communities and forming broad regional government
--Restructuring of local self-governance system that takes advantage of local features--
The objective of the research described herein is to attempt to determine the proper regional system for building a decentralized society that aims to be the ideal national structure for Japan in the future and to search for ways to regenerate local communities which serve as the underlying strength for diverse growth of local society to serve as the base for it. When considering diverse forms suitable for the various areas, however, there are differences in community regeneration measures and proper regional system for densely populated areas primarily metropolitan areas, and underpopulated areas that include lots of farming and mountain villages. Research was therefore conducted in cooperation with the Kansai Institute for Social and Economic Research (KISER) and the Tohoku Regional Development Research Center to determine a way to realistically implement measure that take into account local characteristics in the Kansai and Tohoku areas.
The research assumes seven blocks of broad regional government based on historical background involving formation of each area, socioeconomic nodal structure, studies of the various areas and advice of economic circles. Concerning fundamental local governments, by cluster analysis seasoned with merger and range of living zone, the municipalities of Kansai and Tohoku were restructured to where the number of municipalities were about a quarter of the existing number.
Thus, in order to clarify problems involving a new financial and administrative framework, assuming a three-tier structure comprised of national and regional governments plus the new local governments, role allotment of the three entities was reconsidered and analysis by simulation was conducted using conditions such as effort to reduce expenses and transfer of tax revenue resources. Simulation showed that broad regional government and fundamental local governments of underpopulated area such as Tohoku and some fundamental local governments in Kansai would have a hard to keep up current expenditure with independent revenue sources. These local governments must take maximum advantage of the merits of forming a broad regional government and must devote themselves to streamlining administration operation and bringing out the hidden potential of the area. With maximum efficiency as a prerequisite, the projects the administration must handle have to be sharply distinguished and the entire private sector (businesses, local community, NPOs, etc.) must take a cooperative posture. This requires revitalization of the local community, but in actuality decline of local communities has become a huge social problem in recent years. Based on the awareness that regeneration of local communities that must support regional government and serve as the platform for a decentralized state is a pressing need, a research system that focuses on on-site surveys was prepared and ways to quickly regenerate local communities were studied. Although we say "regeneration of local communities", this differs according to local characteristics. Underpopulated areas include many places where maintaining a village or means of making a living due to underpopulation and aging of the population, and in many cases, there is no alternative to restructuring or merging with another community in order to regenerate the local community. In densely populated areas such as in Kansai, communication among residents and social capital are being lost, and consequently the local power as a community is on the decline. This paper proposes conducting on-site surveys of efforts of local governments, residents' self-governance organizations, NPOs and other to deal with various problems according to local characteristics plus effective measures according to each case by analyzing the factors behind success and failure of these efforts.
The research described herein is based on the "subsidiary principle" of "Residents do what they can.; what they can't do is taken care of by regional government and what the regional government can't handle is taken care of by the national government." Residents that stand at the base of the national structure must once again be prepared to play a leading role as the base for a decentralized state.
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