2016 Volume 28 Pages 29-44
The purpose of this article is to analyze the postwar history of Rikuzentakata’s coastal area from a diachronic viewpoint. After Japan’s high economic growth period, many local governments have had great difficulty in sustaining the capabilities of regional communities and their social order. The Japanese government has offered a Comprehensive National Land Development Plan and has forced local governments to try to achieve large-scale development and the attraction of industry. Moreover, the Rikuzentakata government formed a plan for regional development including reclamation of the Hirota Bay coastal area in 1970, but Hirota Bay fishermen and the residents of coastal Rikuzentakata opposed the plan. The result of the opposition movement was that the plan was put on hold and discussed for a long time. At first, the people’s motivation in carrying out the opposition movement was to stop environmental pollution, but more fundamentally, they hoped to debate and give serious consideration to their own future through their own autonomous capabilities. They started to discuss how to develop the Rikuzentakata area with their own hands. Residents tried to maximize the value of their natural advantages, local foods and products, and organized events to attract visitors. By the early 2000s, the number of visitors was increasing little by little. On March 11, 2011, the earthquake and tsunami brought enormous damage to Rikuzentakata. Five years have passed since then, and people have struggled step by step to rebuild their lives. They have resumed the traditional festival, opened makeshift stores and have tried to create a new community. On the other hand, the Japanese government has carried out the reconstruction policy through the use of a huge budget. Recently, several questions about the revitalization project have surfaced among the people because their hometown is set to change too rapidly. There may be the feeling that there is neither place nor time to discuss multiple ideas that differ from the national policy.
