Abstract
A lot of Japanese companies have invested in and withdrawn from Southeast Asia since the middle of the 1980s. Many of such companies have located their head office or headquarters in Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas. The economic integration of Japan and Southeast Asian countries is progressing gradually but steadily. The economic integration between the countries has been developing with the actual contents that the relationship between the metropolitan areas, including capital region, is being strengthened.
On the other hand, Southeast Asian countries have been promoting their economic integration strongly in order to meet the economic growth of both China and India, and hence they are going to create the Economic Community in 2015. At this time, the metropolitan area of each country serves as the crucial base which realizes each country's economic growth. The eight major metropolises, Jakarta, Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh, including Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas in Japan, were observed that are changing not only economically but also politically in this presentation. And the present condition of eight metropolises and the future role were examined in relation to the growth strategy of each country and the regional policy. Three groups, 1) Jakarta and Manila, 2) Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and 3) Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City were examined respectively with special reference to the industrial developments and urban area formation in Southeast Asian cities. On the Tokyo region, the Capital Reform Project and the capital region's role were evaluated, and two features namely, the industrial changes of Osaka water front area and the failures in Science City developments were pointed out as for Osaka region.
In future, even if a political mechanism like East Asian Community is formed, the power of the central government in each country will be never reduced at all in Asian society. I think that metropolitan areas would be continued to grow as national economic centers, even if any kind of transnational regional integration is realized in future East Asia. And it is inevitably that the issue on the regional gap between metropolis and the country side will be one of the important policy targets in accordance with the strength of power of the central government. For this reason, the central government's regional policy will serve as one of a crucial policy measures. The obvious example is today's Thailand.
Various policies and concepts are discussed both on the national level and transnational regions. In this situation, the metropolises in Japan need to have the long-term view which contributes to the stable growth of the metropolis in Southeast Asia.
