Abstract
The policy of “Overcoming Population Decline and Regional Revitalization” is similar to the One Village, One Product Movement which was carried out in Oita Prefecture in the 1980's. The movement was established for the purpose of reversing depopulation in the Prefecture's municipalities. However, it failed to reach expectations. Subsequently, most of the municipalities were targeted for municipal merger during the Heisei-era, whether they had achieved success in revitalizing their regions through the movement or not.
The Overcoming Population Decline and Regional Revitalization Policy was produced to solve the entire depopulation of Japan. However, this policy has also not been effective. Moreover, financial restraints and the problem of small-scale municipalities have been becoming more serious. As a result, further municipal mergers must be carried out during the 2020's.
The main purpose of the large municipal merger plans in the Heisei-era, which was carried out in the first years of the 21st century, was to promote administrative reforms, but it has not yielded any results yet. Furthermore, what is worse, the Regional Government (doshu-sei) System which has been prepared as the subsequent scenario of the mergers was never discussed sufficiently. In the end, financial problems and decentralization have been shelved. Therefore, further municipal mergers and the restructuring of the administrative sphere system will be needed in the near future.
In the social sciences, including economic geography, therefore, an overhaul of regional units, such as suitable “geographic scale” or “state recalling” for each region, needs further consideration. In this case, we can say that high schools are quite an important key.
