The Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP accident resulted in widespread radiological contamination, destroying regions that included urbanized districts, communities, agricultural fields, fishery villages, and huge forests. Devastated municipalities had to evacuate inhabitants from contaminated areas as soon as possible, but they couldn't evacuate fast enough due to lack of disaster-related governance by the central government. This paper tries to clarify some of the complicated conditions generated by economical, political and social factors that have been affecting disaster recovery scenarios and to suggest a model based on NERIS, a decision-making platform concerning protective actions for nuclear and radiological emergencies and recovery in Europe.

Requiring the national government to accept various measures, including a special protect system for watching all over the village and implementation of decontamination measures, as national projects, Iitate Village emphasized the formation of a new community in temporary housing areas, the maintenance of community activities in each administrative district, and the development of childrearing environments. It is noteworthy that the village came up with the development of child-rearing bases not only inside but also outside the village. While the municipality made efforts to protect peoples' lives as much as possible, there is a gap and friction between local residents and the village administration due to three main factors: wide-area evacuation broadened the distance between them, the operational budget for reconstruction does not allow careful implementation, and viewpoints on the impact of radiation risks and the possibility of returning to the village differ between the two sides. The author points out the necessity of an interactive planning process involving young generations, using their methods and spirit developed through past participatory activities, as well as the establishment of special support systems for damaged municipalities facing the potential crisis of corruption.

No one knew specific approaches for decontamination measures. We, therefore, conducted surveys, analyzed the results, and gained knowledge for establishing the best conduct guidelines. Even if administrative authorities appealed that observation data showed safe levels, it was quite difficult for citizens to feel reassured. After local residents discussed specific decontamination procedures in their own areas, administrative authorities reflected the residents' opinions in decontamination plans and announced them. Such participatory approaches gained the understanding of the public and helped relieve their concerns. We believe that not only the development of infrastructure, but also the collaborative work between administrative bodies and the public enable and promote reconstruction progress.

While the Japanese government defines 20 mSv/year as a criterion for designating special evacuation points, NGOs have demanded that the government should establish a broader, “optional evacuation area” to allow people to decide whether or not to evacuate for themselves. Since the Japanese government is unwilling to change its evacuation policy, however, people in Fukushima, especially residents of Watari District (Fukushima City), have suffered enormously.

We have launched the “POKA-POKA Project for Fukushima Children” in response to the dire situation in Watari District. While going forward with the project, we will continue to lobby the government to change its evacuation policy. The government criterion for evacuation, 20 mSv/year, is nearly four times as high as the safe limit in radiation-controlled areas. The evacuation criterion itself needs to be reconsidered.

In recent years, with the promotion of decentralization, civil society organizations such as NPOs are expected to voluntarily solve local collective action problems. There are limits, however, in the activity of an NPO or a volunteer organization organization, such as the difficulty in forming an agreement in connection with business solutions and spheres of activity. Therefore, a comprehensive and farreaching organization is needed for solving local collective action problems. It is said that nowadays Neighborhood Associations (jichikai) are no longer in operation. However, considering that there are 300,000 Neighborhood Associations in Japan, and over 40% of Japanese citizens are members of such an association, Neighborhood Associations are still functioning. Is it possible that Neighborhood Associations bear the key role of local governance?

This study aims at providing empirical evidence illustrating the potential of Neighborhood Associations based on the multi-level efficacy scale proposed by Israel, Zimmerman et al. (1994). This article endeavors to develop a scale to assess how Neighborhood Associations work in the key role of local governance and to assess the potential of Neighborhood Associations. To examine our proposition, we conducted a questionnaire survey and employed Structural Equation Modeling.

The study examines how local activities contribute to the preservation of traditional performing arts as an intangible cultural heritage by analyzing components of heritages and setting up preservation frameworks. As a case study, the Japanese traditional puppet show, “Ningyo-Joruri,” of the Shimoina region in Nagano prefecture is examined. Ningyo-Joruri is a composite performing art consisting of musical performance of traditional instruments (shamisen), narration by narrators (tayu) and performance of puppets (ningyo) in traditional sets. The study clarified that necessary elements for preservation include finding and maintaining successors (performers), gathering galleries of public performances, teaching traditional skill and technique, arranging or managing essential tools and sets, maintaining or reconstructing stages for performances and practices. In this case study, these elements have been appropriately preserved while the preservation method has radically changed since the early-modern age.

In the area stricken by the Great East Japan Earthquake, emigration has occurred due to housing damage, industrial damage, and damage caused by rumors. In Ibaraki Prefecture, the extent of damage differs across 44 municipalities. The gap between the decrease in population and the increase in aging seems to have expanded. In this research, the degrees of acceleration in population decrease and aging have been measured by performing and comparing future population estimates before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake through the cohort component method.