The Administrative Reorganization of Social Education and Lifelong Learning in Amagasaki City and the Relocalization of “Kominkan”

Abstract

This paper discusses what a “Kominkan” is and how to design links between local community development and social education through a review of the process by which Kominkan and administrative system for community development were reorganized in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture. In moving to formally repeal its Kominkan, Amagasaki City learned from the efforts of Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, which has served as a leading example of Kominkan staff training, and has helped revitalize the Kominkan as a symbol, with the aim of restructuring and revitalizing social education.

Amagasaki City, a core city with a population of approximately 450,000, enacted an Autonomous Community Development Ordinance in 2016 and subsequently proceeded with the restructuring of its administrative system for community development in adherence to the principles of this ordinance. The six Kominkan and six District Centers, located in six different districts of the city, were integrated and reorganized into twelve Lifelong Learning Plazas following the repeal of the Kominkan Ordinance. Based on interviews with the mayor and a city official who was in charge of the reorganization in Amagasaki at the time, this paper describes the details of the reorganization process and raises questions about the nature of Kominkan.