This paper points out and examines some tasks used to introduce a social impact bond to solve social difficulties, and explains a social impact bond project which is now under consideration for implementation in the Kansai area. In Japan's society characterized by a declining population, a social impact bond is an attractive financial scheme to give incentive for cutting costs of various utilities, but multiple underlying problems present themselves when such a scheme is put into practice. If this social bond project is actually realized in Kansai, it will be a pioneer case for Japan. Its success or failure will be closely watched.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are recognized as embodying the potential to shape social capital and provide innovative services. This article shows an excessive dependency of CSOs on government-funded NPOs, resulting in vulnerability under recent budget constraints. On the other hand, social enterprises are currently on the rise, which could help strengthen NPOs, making better use of the business minds and skills that run NPOs. However, it is also difficult for these entities to stand alone in a pure market mechanism because of their nature to seek social benefits. Private donations, led by the tax-exemption system, are expected as part of the income stream, but we should recognize that such donations are a trade-off for government budget expenditures. Under these conditions, social investment represented by the Social Impact Bond is an attractive scheme; a system that lures funds from private investments to CSOs. This system is based on Social Return on Investment (SROI), a method that makes project impact more visible. This type of investment effort has been spreading throughout the world, especially in the field of prevention programs such as job training. This has the potential not only to provide other sources of funding for CSOs, but to change the government system as well.

After the 2000's, impact investment which generates social or environmental impact alongside a financial return begins to attract attention among both investors and actors, generating multiple influences on traditional philanthropy.

Structure of the finance supporting community business is necessary for the business to take root. Although the environment surrounding Japanese community finance is unique, making comparisons difficult, I will attempt to compare community finance in Japan with that of Europe and America. Hands-on investors and NPO banks can be expected as new players in a broad strategic plan, bringing promise to community finance and introducing innovative finance schemes.

In recent years, much attention has been place on the theory of “Creative City” within Japan. Some of Japan's Creative Cities are aiming at urban regeneration and promotion through the creativity of the city. Policies and practices have been developed based on the theory of Creative City, in which the municipal museum functions as the creative core of the city. The municipal museum develops a cooperative relationship with artists, citizens, local administration, and NPOs. Currently, municipal museums play an important role as one of the bases used to increase the creativity of a city. However, little academic research has been conducted concerning the function and role of such museums as compared to general museums. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to clarify the function and role of the municipal museum in a Creative City.

The Great East Japan Earthquake 2011 caused not only tsunami damage and a nuclear plant accident, but the world's largest scale liquefaction damage as well. According to the MILT, about 27,000 houses were damaged, the majority of which are located in Chiba Prefecture, the target of this research. This paper analyzes the results of a questionnaire survey of households that suffered damage in two cities affected by major liquefaction. The actual conditions corresponding to damage were recorded, and the impacts of subsidies were analyzed. Even in cases where households suffered the same level of liquefaction damage, administration subsidies differed according to city. The following three types of impact generated by administration subsidies for liquefaction countermeasures were confirmed statistically. (1) Direct impact: The existence of a subsidy affected the implementation of restoration construction. (2) Indirect impact: The existence of a subsidy led to a reduction of construction expense. (3) Indirect impact: The existence of a subsidy carried a consciousness of residential continuation and influenced a willingness to pay for re-liquefaction prevention.

This study examined active older people's motivation to go out and its relationship with their travel behavior, through questionnaire surveys administered to healthy older people who regularly participated in local activities in Kashiwa City. Considering motivation as a possible psychological factor that influences travel behavior, this study looked at (a) the relationship between motivation to go out and travel frequency, (b) differences in motivation depending on age, and (c) the characteristics of older people with elevated motivation. Motivation affected travel behavior to a greater degree than did physical fitness or travel capability. Older people up to 74 years and those 75 years and above showed different patterns in travel behavior and motivation. Personal values also had significant effects, with openness to change positively correlating with motivation to travel and participation in local activities.

As the New Public Management (NPM) system is widely implemented in the local and central governments, some municipal offices have adopted a Performance Evaluation System for its officials. However, it has been argued that the evaluation system has a negative side in terms of work environment. Sakano and Park (2012) have shown through a survey conducted among public officials in prefectural governments that, by implementing goal-oriented managerial behavior based on the ownership by employees and a decentralized organizational structure, interpersonal relationships can actually be facilitated. However, their focus was on the effects which implementing an organization-wide system has on individual behavior: therefore, different effects may be seen depending on mid-organization factors. As such, this article will build on Sakano and Park (2012)'s model and focus on the concept of interdependence, in order to examine its effects on interpersonal facilitation among officials.

This study aims to understand the effective management of vacant houses in Nichinan town, one of the most depopulated areas in Japan. Specifically, this study focuses on “non-resident owners” who own a house in Nichinan yet reside in other locations. Data from mail surveys of 408 non-resident house owners were analyzed using a descriptive analysis and a binary logistic regression. The study found the following results: 1) The descriptive analysis found that the non-resident owners who regularly manage their house in Nichinan experience the stress of maintaining the house. 2) The binary logistic regression found that household income, distance from current residence and Nichinan house, interaction with local people, and attachment to the region can affect the house management behavior of non-resident owners. The results suggest two possible policy implementations for local governments: the local government can take measures to maintain non-resident owners' interaction with local residents; and the local government can also devise different measures to provide information for non-resident owners who live either near or far away from the town.

The importance of municipal governments in coping with complex environmental issues has been addressed in Japan. However, the focus has been mainly on policy measures, not to the organizations that establish and implement such policies. In this paper, a questionnaire survey conducted among all municipalities in the Kinki region reveals the diversity in structure of environmental policy organizations in terms of their size, degree of divided sections, and coordination between different policy sections. This study also examines the factors affecting organizational structure. Quantitative empirical analysis reveals that not only the size of municipal governments, but each mayor's policy preferences and the establishment of a basic environmental ordinance influence the types of organizational structure used for implementing municipal environmental policy. In order to fully understand these diverse policy organizations, further research is needed on the relationship between policy and organization.