This study focuses on 216 small-scale local governments that have achieved population growth in the period 2005-2015 , and quantitatively analyzes the characteristics and effectiveness of the development strategies of these small-scale local governments. In conducting the analysis, first, we quantitatively analyze a growing small-scale local government from the three perspectives of “population, employment, and finance,” and identify the characteristics common to the growing local government. Next, based on the results, small local governments were classified into eight types, and the characteristics of growing small local governments were analyzed using statistical methods for each classification. As a result, the following two points became clear. First, small-scale local governments can be classified into eight types. Second, among the eight types, the “Bettown type”, “Manufacturing industry type (large enterprise type)” and “Logistics base type” have a high realization rate and are also highly effective in improving local government finances. However, the two types of “agriculture type” and “tourism type” have a low realization rate and are not so effective in terms of improving local government finances.

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Fukuyama City in Hiroshima Prefecture publicly recruited people who would work for the city on the side while remaining in their jobs in the private sector. The city attracted many applicants and gained nationwide attention. These people undertook various unique initiatives that only private-sector workers could conceive and inspired other local governments to implement similar measures. This article explains how local governments acquire knowledge from the private sector and integrate it with the knowledge of the public sector. Specifically, the article discusses how a department within a local government serves as a knowledge broker (an intermediary that integrates knowledge) by connecting people who work for the local government on the side with the local government’s other departments or with key individuals in the community to help promote knowledge integration.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the elements necessary for cooperation activities with non-profit organizations, as an example of cooperation between Execution Committee and Volunteers of Osu Street Performers Festival. In this case, two organizations with different purposes were collaborating with the “Street Performers Festival” as a common point, and the autonomy of both parties was maintained. In addition, Volunteers had gained autonomy in conjunction with expanding its scale, but the opportunities for communication with the executive committee have decreased. Autonomy and communication, however, should not be a trade-off, but both should be satisfied. Also, structures of non-profit organizations tend to be fluid, changes in autonomy and communication should be focused in long term.

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It was revealed that there is a difference in perceptions of macaque damages to agricultural products in the local area around the natural zoo in F-city between visitors from the inside of F-city and visitors from the outside of F-city. In addition, although, the number of repeat visitors had increased, the number of visitors who did not recognize macaque damage outnumbered those who did. It is suggested that the ingenuity will be needed in the method of providing local information in order to promote the awareness of the visitors for local circumstances regarding macaque damages to agricultural products through the inside and outside of the local area. This may link to an opportunity for visitors from the outside the city to get involved in activities to reduce the damage caused by macaques or result in activities to discuss the social value of the macaques, which could lead to the economic development of the region.

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It is important to enhance the local economic effect When implementing a town development project, . In this study, the regional economic effects to the case of “Machiyado hanare” were analyzed by using the regional value-added analysis that has been studied in Germany. As a result, the effect of payments made by guests to local stores accounts for about 30% of the regional value-added by the “Machiyado” business. It was found that the management form that welcomes tourists in the town is boosting the regional value added. In addition, the regional added value of hanare was five times higher than that of conventional chain hotels whose capital is outside the region. In this study, it was demonstrated that the regional economic effect may change significantly depending on the operation form of the town development project.

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These days, local migrants are regarded high as a social innovator. On the other hands, there is a problem about settlement rate of them. The objective of this study is to clarify the effects from local Awa-dance group to forming relationships between local migrants and local residents. As a result, there are variation of member and invitation norm in this group. These elements facilitate participation, interact forming memberships like a family and get common sense in Kamiyama city for local migrants. These make relationships between local migrants and local residents who are not belong to Awa-dance group.

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The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are common global goals that are to be achieved by 2030. The purpose of this study is to examine how special textbooks of local study and community learning in Social Studies of elementary schools can be used for local development with awareness of SDGs. These textbooks are often published by boards of education at municipalities. Teacher training workshop and university class were conducted using the special alternative textbooks in Koryo Town, Nara Prefecture and Kami Town, Hyogo Prefecture, and the results were arranged and reviewed. The results of these practices are summarized in three points. Firstly, the fact that the past situation of the local areas has similar aspects to the current situation in developing countries has revealed the possibility of “glocal” learning, which directly links local and global learning, is one of the reasons for active engagement in local learning. Secondly, this learning activity can motivate pupils and teachers learning about local and primary industries. Thirdly, it provides an opportunity to reconstruct local learning in school education from the perspective of how to make the future of the local areas. Through this learning activity, we can bring future-oriented and global perspectives to local development.

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In the present paper, we investigate importance and contributions of various internal and external information sources for high-tech SME’s in Japanese supporting industries in order to achieve product and process innovations. Questionary survey data based on Oslo manual shows that these SME’s are quite active innovators. We found that (i) they put emphasis on utilizing multiple external information sources such as “customers”, “universities” and “suppliers” simultaneously to achieve product or process innovations, (ii) in addition to multiple external information sources, they regard their internal resources are also highly important, and (iii) in trying to achieve product innovations with high novelty, only internal resources contribute significantly. We also verified that firm location in metropolitan areas such as Tokyo or Kanto district does not always enhance any kind of innovations despite of existence of abundant information sources based on local firm aggregation.

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This study focuses on the future utilization of monuments and their roles comparing with the use of monuments of the Great East Japan Earthquake in Iwate Prefecture, as well as monuments in Miyagi Prefecture, which were investigated earlier, and those in the twenty-three special wards of Tokyo and Tama area whose governments have been working on urban disasters. Above all, in the utilization in cooperation with the newly maintenance earthquake remains, efforts are being made to support the reconstruction of the earthquake and to leave the memories of the earthquake in the future, which will be utilized for disaster prevention learning to raise residents' awareness of disaster prevention. At the same time, those remains are used as a place of interchange to regain its prosperity through reconstruction support events. In addition, based on tourism’s perspective, it suggests inheriting and utilizing those remains as valuable cultural resources contributes to regional revitalization, strengthens the bonds of local residents and leads to self-help and mutual assistance of the residents.

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This paper discusses that the character’s components (“Chara”) are tied to various places, creating a space for anime fans to gather. “Chara” is a concept presented by Go Ito (2005) and can be called the “presence” of a character. Incorporating this concept of Ito, this paper points out that this “Chara” (components with a strong presence) is a factor in creating an important place for anime fans. This “Chara” is made up of an interpretation of the work by anime fans, and “ Chara-based relationship ” by people who share that sensibility are formed in some anime spot.

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The purpose of this research is to clarify the mechanism of securing and developing human resources for town-tourism development. Therefore, we focused on the efforts of BOOT, a general incorporated association, engaged in advanced human resource development (HRD) in a small town, Nishiaizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture, with a population of 6,000. Through an interview survey, we aim to secure human resources by utilizing our recruitment method to start a business without forcing them to settle down and work on the core abilities of attitude, self-concept, and values, which are said to be difficult to develop later. Thus, HRD methods that are cultivated on a daily basis have been clarified. This study suggests a capacity development model for HRD in town-tourism development.

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This research takes up the case of “Shizuoka Omiya Project,” which manages to support local companies to produce souvenirs utilizing local food resources by B-nest. In this study, it is analyzed participants' evaluation of the education program and support activities. And It is also analyzed the achievement that participants gained from the project and changes.

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The deserted cultivated land in the citrus orchard of Odawara city has been increasing year by year because of the aging of farmers. It is necessary to regenerate and reuse the deserted cultivated land. However the cost to regenerate and plan the seedlings on the deserted cultivated land will be a major burden. This study assumes that citrus such as oranges and lemons are produced on regenerated agricultural land from the deserted cultivated land. It evaluates the impact of risks such as the tax rates paid by farmers, unseasonable weather and birds and animal damage. Furthermore, it estimates the payback period of the recovery costs of the deserted cultivated land and seeding costs using Net Present Value (NPV) . The result shows that the reduction of the tax rate paid by farmers and the reduction of risks such as damage to birds and animal contribute to shortening the payback period and lead to an increase in NPV.

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We discuss the structure of regional economic circulation in the “Urban Employment Area” and “ Cooperation central metropolitan area“ . We consider that the desirable coordinated urban area is one where the rate of regional economic circulation exceeds 100% and is not dependent on income inflow from outside the region. There is a strong correlation between the economic cycle rate and the employment income of residents within the area, and both of these correlate strongly with the labor productivity of the secondary industry, making it desirable to establish a region with a secondary industry as one of the cores of the region’s economy.

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In this study, we targeted online marathon competitions in online sports tourism, and clarified what the participants’ motives for participation and attachment to the venue were. The purpose of this study was to discuss measures for holding online sports tourism in the future due to its characteristics. As a result, the “connection” and “attractiveness of the venue” that affect the attachment of the venue were confirmed online as well as the motivation of participants to participate in the conventional marathon event. The venue also indicated that it is necessary to take measures to further engage with participants online.

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Promotion of migration to local areas is one of the biggest challenges for regional revitalization. Many local governments are developing measures to promote migration, but many are struggling because they cannot gain recognition and interest. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire to migrants in one local city and collected data on the reasons and circumstances, information sources leading them to the migration. As a result, it was revealed that more than 80% of the migrants are U-turn similar type migrants (return to hometown or familiar town) supported by such as parents, relatives, and friends and acquaintances. It was also found that they hardly utilized public information sources. Therefore, in order to promote local migration, we propose a new approach targeting U-turners (+ similar) and using local relatives as intermediaries.

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The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamics of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. We construct two theoretical models of process and pattern for the formation of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems, and explore case studies of four regions in Japan. These models have important implications for Japan in the near future.

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In depopulated areas, even if try to realize new ideas for regional revitalization and town revitalization, it is often difficult to sustain instantaneous power, explosive power, and planning power simply by relying on the power of the local people. Therefore, the participation of “foreigners, young people, stupid people” is important. Setsunan University has continued to revitalize the community by students in the village of Susami Town, Wakayama Prefecture, with the catchphrase “foreigners, young people, university students” for more than 10 years. However, due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection, online classes continued from the previous term. After that, although the state of emergency was lifted, it did not return to “life as usual”, and how to continue community revitalization activities. A case report of whether it is being made.

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This study examines success and failure of a project in which the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, one of a professional baseball team in Japan, dispatched former players’ team staff members to municipalities as an example of community cooperation in professional sports with municipalities. In this project, the team dispatched former players to two municipalities in Hokkaido and the municipalities hired them on a fixed-term basis. The term of the program was renewed for one year, up to five years, but after the dispatch period, if the staff wished, he could choose to remain as a full-time employee of the municipality. This is a rare initiative in the professional baseball in Japan, and it was thought to be beneficial for both the baseball team which wants to deepen its relationship with the local government in the province, and the local government which wants to use the program to revitalize a depopulated area. As a result of the survey, it was found that the project has had a certain effect on the revitalization of the community by strengthening the high school baseball team and increasing the number of players through coaching and by bringing a common topic of conversation and energy to the community. From now on, the local government needs to take action with an eye to the post-deployment period plan.

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Focusing on “town awareness” which is the term to collectively indicate the curiosity and interest（of younger generations） for local resources, preference for connecting, networking and exchanging（in the town） and the desire for（moving actively in the town）, this paper designs the “workshop” aiming for the incubation and development of the town awareness based on the preceding study of same authors, and reports the results of the trial operation of the workshop at Toda city, Saitama Prefecture and the suggestions acquired from the process.

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This paper studies the efforts of “creative city of gastronomy promotion” of Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture as a case study of the efforts of regional development making use of “gastronomy” of local governments. Tsuruoka City has been trying various efforts of “creative city of gastronomy promotion”. There have been fragmentary some provisions of information and reports about the efforts of “creative city of gastronomy promotion” of Tsuruoka City, but there is no report which marshals all over the efforts of “creative city of gastronomy promotion” of Tsuruoka City comprehensively. This paper reports all over the efforts of “creative city of gastronomy promotion” of Tsuruoka City comprehensively. This paper researches, marshals, and analyses the efforts of “creative city of gastronomy promotion” of Tsuruoka City. Moreover, this paper studies future subjects and further research subjects of the efforts of “creative city of gastronomy promotion” of Tsuruoka City, and sums up all over this paper.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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Focusing on the Uku Island, this study clarifies the characteristics of the renewable energy project in Uku Island as well as empirically measures residents’ perception of the mega-solar project using questionnaire surveys. The project of Uku Island is Japan's largest solar photovoltaic project (400MW) to date, led by large corporations. Along with an expectation for economic revival using natural energy, concern has surfaced and is mounting regarding the negative impacts (environment, living quarters, and waste generation) from this large-scale project, insufficiencies in its administration, as well as uncertain and unfair aspects of economic effects. Under the support of administration, information sharing, establishment of a systematic system for energy business considering the characteristics of the region, development of an institutional platform enabling residents to participate are necessary.

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This paper aims at elucidating the development process of the Ogal project at Shiwa-cho, Iwate Prefecture which has been drawing attention as a success case of “sports exchange town planning”, from a variety of documents and through the interview research to Mr. Masanobu Okazaki who is the key person of this project. As the result of the analysis, it becomes clear that the Ogal project can be divided into three periods, namely “the start-up period” “the formative period” and “the development period”. In “the start-up period, the “promotion organization” was established to support the project. In “the formative period”, “sports facilities” and “service facilities” were established. In “the development period”, based on what were established in the previous two periods, the appropriate management methods to constantly attract “visitors” into the future were explored. And through these steps, the coordinated linkage between “sports facilities” and “service facilities” was strengthened, the interpenetration of sports “watchers” and town “supporters” were promoted while giving top priority to pursuing what is important for sports “players”, and the sustainable development of the project was achieved.

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[in Japanese]

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Tokuyama University is collaborating with Shunan City Tourism and Convention Association to develop new tourism products. In Shunan City, there are four hot springs: Yuno Onsen, Ishibune Onsen, Mitsuo Onsen, and Yobitsuru Onsen, and we are currently investigating them. In particular, Yobitsuru Onsen has not been fully developed as a tourist resource. In this case study, the value of Yobitsuru Onsen as a regional asset is clarified through interviews with local residents. As a result, local residents have the impression that it is more of a “communal bathhouse” or “spa therapy facility” than a tourist attraction. In addition, interviews with the management indicate that 80% of the users are local residents. Therefore, in this case study, it is suggested that the promotion of settlement in addition to the development of tourism resources can lead to regional revitalization.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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