The Tsugaru Line, a regional railway operated by JR East Japan, spans the Tsugaru Peninsula within Aomori Prefecture. In August 2022, an intense rainfall event resulted in significant damage to the northern section of the Tsugaru Line, leading to its temporary suspension. Along this rail-way line, Sotogahama Town and Imabetsu Town are contending with declining populations and an aging demographic, with limited prospects for substantial future demand. Coincidentally, in July 2022, JR East Japan initiated an experiment aimed at developing a new transportation system by integrating the Tsugaru Line with on-demand shared taxi services. JR East Japan collaborated with Sotogahama Town, Imabetsu Town, and Aomori Prefecture to establish a research consortium and introduced a novel proposal. This proposal entailed discontinuing the railway segment affected by the suspension, with the intention of creating a transportation system that combines buses and taxis. Nonetheless, local stakeholders express a preference for the continued operation of the railway, and as of September 2023, a definitive resolution has not been reached. The crux of the issue lies not solely in the preservation of the railway but in the assurance of"regional sustaina-bility." Furthermore, there is potential for refinement in the methods employed for agenda setting and communication among the involved parties.

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The alien species Raccoon was first discovered in the Tsugaru region in 2004, and since then its individuals has become increased and its distribution has expanded. A survey of 14 municipalities in the Tsugaru region revealed that raccoons were found in 112 locations in 11 municipalities, indicating that they are distributed throughout the Tsugaru region. Particularly large numbers were found at the foot of Mt. Iwaki. Among crops, watermelon, corn, and grapes were most fre-quently damaged. Each municipality has a control plan to capture raccoons, and 150 to 180 rac-coons are captured annually. Hirosaki City had the largest number, accounting for nearly half of the total number of raccoons captured. Although most captures were conducted during the crop harvesting season, it was considered necessary to capture all raccoons simultaneously over a wide area in spring, during the calving season, in order to eradicate raccoons.

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From 2024, the British government will start a new package of legal instruments that will re-quire reimbursement for the victim of “Authorized push payment scams” (APP scams) to the fi-nancial institutions. APP scam is financial fraud and happen when a fraudster tricks someone into sending a payment to an account outside of their control. Under the requirements, the costs of reimbursement will be split 50:50 between the financial institutions that manage the customer’s account (sending the funds) and the criminal’s account (receiving the funds). Since 2019, this system has been introduced as a self-regulatory rule for the industry, mainly by major financial service providers. Payment Systems Regulator（PSR）, the UK’s independent economic regulator of payments systems, will oversight financial service providers in this package. In May 2023, the British government issued a policy paper, "Fraud Strategy: stopping scams and protecting the public (accessible)". It says that financial fraud damages in United Kingdom are conspicuously committed from overseas, so that the cooperation of telecommunications and information service companies with police and financial service companies is essential for cyber security and other technical countermeasures. New regulation for the APP Scams is one of the pillars of the policy paper.

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