Tackling the Challenge that Great Eastern Japan Earthquake Has Left

Abstract

From 2012 to 2014, Japan Association of Regional and Community Studies(JARCS) has discussed its common issue, “Region and Community of post-Great East Japan Earthquake”. The purpose of this paper is to raise a new common issue based on the discussions in JARCS. The most important feature of “post- Great East Japan Earthquake” is shown in Japanese government’s adoption of a policy on “selection and concentration” basis. This indicated that the government declared the creation of peripheral regions and abandoned people within the national land. Here we can see the end of developmentalism in post-colonial East Asia, and how it appeared specifically in Japan. On this historical phase, the Japanese government and capitals introduced a regional remodeling plan, namely “Grand Design 2050”, or the Comprehensive National Development Plan. Various forms of self-directive practices, however, have been emerging in “regions and communities as living-spheres”, where the residents independently develop their own lives, opposing to the government’s plan. This paper, therefore, proposes a new common issue for JARCS : “Grand Design 2050 and Living-Spheres of Local Residents”.