Creating a sustainable society is the common goal of each society in the world. Planning administration should contribute to the goal through an effective environmental planning and policy making. We need learn from our past failure in planning administration in development of the Tokyo area for lack of the concept of growth management and sustainability. In the coming population decreasing society, we should focus on such positive facet as affluence of environmental asset per capita. The first priority of the policy should be put on sustainability. Impact assessment is a way to reach wise judgment of policies, plans or projects, through functioning as a process of discussions in public space or public sphere. Especially, Strategic Environmental Assessment（SEA）is a promising approach for effective planning for sustainability. The requirements of good practice of SEA are scientific analysis and a democratic process which composed of meaningful participation and advanced information disclosure.

The Settsu case involved an attempt by a municipality to induce the central government to disburse the shortfall of the grant required for the construction of four preschools. This paper presents the manner in which the Settsu suit affected the determination of the standard financial requirements of the local allocation tax system. There have been few arguments with regard to the Settsu suit in the domain of local public finance because its documents in the Ministry of Home Affairs did not adequately support the issue. Moreover, although the Settsu suit might have been a crucial event, little is known about its influence on the local public finance system. This paper focuses on the influence of the suit on the local allocation tax system that controls municipalities.

An aged society with few children has a great impact on the local economy and industry as it implies a small work force, deficiency of expert skills, and a shortage of successors. The increasing number of senior citizens wishing to work after their retirement is becoming an indispensable facet of the local economy. Thus, making use of the experience and special abilities of the aged becomes a crucial task for the regional industrial policy. Recently, aged retirees have developed organized business support groups in the form of private organizations, nonprofit organizations, stock companies, and business cooperatives. The activities of these organizations have attracted considerable attention as a new form of contribution by the aged. However, despite the importance of these groups, there are few research papers and reports on them. On the basis of literature surveys and interviews of some typical business support groups established by retirees, this paper classifies such groups into five characteristic types by comparing their purpose, structure, customers, services, and problems.

In addition, there are several local governments that try to support and cooperate with such groups. This paper examines two advanced regional government policies and researches into the possibility of as well as the problems involved in supporting such groups.

Through such an examination, it is shown that the business support groups of retirees will play a vital role in the activation of local industries and will become the principal partners of the regional government.

In this paper, I first examined the documentation related to the crime victims compensation system in the State of New York, which is the most advanced in the world. Restitution theory, the worker's compensation theory, and the public assistance theory（social security theory）are generally regarded as the foundation of this system. The aim of my analysis was to find out whether a particular theory dominates the functioning of the crime victims compensation system of the State of New York. Next, I compiled statistics of the crime victims compensation system. Moreover, I tried to examine the actual administrative operations of the state system and whether it is consistent with the documentation.

The results of my study indicated that the worker's compensation theory has become the backbone of the crime victims compensation system.

This result is similar to a study that I conducted ten years ago.

It is essential to introduce public participation and a consensus-building process in public utilities planning. In order to bring about effective participation, it is important to reply in a meaningful manner by addressing participants' opinions and clarifying their doubts. This paper aimed to analyze the decisions made by the committee for planning the waste treatment plant for the Chushin region in Nagano Prefecture. The following points were clarified through this case study:

(1) The proponent was not able to reply to some of the questions that were raised. However, these questions were later answered in a follow-up session. Through this session, the committee members could make a decision. In this case, meaningful replies were provided.

(2) It is necessary to conduct several meetings as part of a follow-up session. A flexible argument schedule is also required for such sessions.

Urban capital improvement projects in local governments have recently faced problems with regard to the adjustment of cost sharing as well as the strict requirement of accountability in the utilization of public money. Inter-governmental aid, which had supported local capital improvement projects, has been cut severely. Moreover, historically, the most striking feature of the exaction policy in Japan is its reliance on regulatory power to generate revenue for public purposes. Under such a severe financial situation, these projects need a more efficient and rational approach toward decision-making for the distribution of benefits among related parties. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it reviews the historical background and current situation of the financial system of the urban capital improvement projects. Second, we will explain a desirable financial system that is free from friction with local residents. In order to do so, we will start with an analysis of the historical and legal aspects of the impact fee system. Next, focusing on the sewer impact fee, we will reveal an implicit mechanism that functions as a “special assessment.”.

The Comprehensive National Development Plan was referred to as “a general plan of the government,” and it was a special plan at the time of its implementation. Since then, basic plans have been formulated for many policies. Thus, there is uncertainty whether the National Land Sustainability Plan（NLSP）will still be considered a special plan.

This paper aims to clarify the characteristics of the NLSP by comparing it with the basic plans and to provide suggestions for the future. The comparison was conducted from the viewpoint of planning techniques, basic characteristics, and political interests.

The analysis revealed that the NLSP has almost lost its status as a special plan and is regarded as one of the basic plans.