With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Japan established the National Police Reserve （the predecessor of the National Safety Forces （1952―54） and its present-day Self-Defense Forces）, which was the starting point for the nation's rearmament.
　This article focuses on the successful invitation issued by the city of Matsumoto （Nagano Prefecture） to a National Police Reserve unit to set up a training camp within the city limits, for the purpose of regional development. The author explores how the city came into conflict with other municipalities in the prefecture over providing the site for the training camp free of charge, one of the NPR's conditions for accepting the invitation, in order to elucidate the complex impact of Japan's rearmament on the various forces within local communities.
　The NPR unit in Matsumoto initially used the city's highlands and other locations to convert an airfield of the former Imperial Japanese Army into a training center. In the process some local communities refused the NPR's request to use their land on the grounds that the training exercises would damage farmland, while other communities complied with requests to conduct road maintenance and improvement. For example, the town of Karuizawa, located at the foot of Mt. Asama, was faced with the dilemma of trying to develop a tourist resort spot, while benefiting from procuring supplies for the Unit. In fact, there was both a move to invite the unit to bivouac there on a temporary basis, with the possibility of providing a permanent camp within the town limits.
　It was in 1953 that the NPR unit and Matsumoto City formulated a plan to purchase a field in Ariakegahara, a former World War II army training site, that had been developed into a residential area after the War. The move caused the residents to split into opposing and supporting groups. The opponents enjoyed both the backing of the local Ariake Village government and national anti-rearmament organizations, including the Japanese Socialist Party and labor unions in efforts to confront the NPR authorities, its Matsumoto unit and public opinion throughout the city.
　Ultimately, the training site plan failed to gain approval from the Ministry of Agriculture, resulting in a serious setback to rearmament and the formation of the National Police Reserve, in addition to creating a situation in which an opposition group comprised of local farmers claiming infringement on their rights to subsistence clashed with commercial interests expecting economic benefits from a permanent NPR garrison. This conflict would rage on even after the camp issue was decided.

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Following the postwar “great Showa era municipal incorporation movement”, Japan’s basic local autonomous political entity came to encompass both urban and rural communities, giving rise to the problem of how to secure regional uniformity in the midst of conflict occurring among former townships（cho 町）and villages（mura 村）. During Japan’s era of rapid development and economic growth, as local entities entered a new stage of governance dealing with the issues of regional development and welfare programs, how greatly enlarged cities （shi 市）, towns and villages overcame the confusion arising from incorporation and responded to rising economic growth has yet to be taken up in earnest in the research to date, in terms of the conflict that arose among diverse neighborhoods after incorporation in relation to the changing face of regional autonomy due to rapid development. The present article takes up the case of urban development in the township of Todacho, located in Saitama Prefecture on the Arakawa River border with metropolitan Tokyo, in order to analyze how one post-Showa incorporation local entity attempted to secure regional unity, while responding to a booming economy.
　During the 1950s, incorporated Toda became the scene of conflict between the neighborhood of former Todacho, which was rapidly urbanizing, and that of former Misasa Village, which was seriously lagging behind. In response, the local government implemented a consolidated urban plan in order to secure uniformity throughout the township. One key to the plan was provided by the designation of Toda as the site for the Tokyo Olympic rowing competition, the construction of which was designed to solve all the post-incorporation rancor. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office’s National Metropolitan Infrastructure Development Committee chose Toda for its green-belt program, promoting less development in favor of turning the sports facility into a full-fledged national park. The green-belt proposal was opposed by the progressive members of the town assembly, whose constituents comprised newly settled residents in the urbanized eastern neighborhoods, calling for a departure from the administrative policies of administrations supported by residents based on Notable order and introducing a reform program which emphasized central planning and citizen participation. The green-belt proposal was forthwith shelved.
　The author concludes that the case of new Todacho shows that urban planning at the time was always aimed towards trying to mitigate the conflict and confusion brought about by large-scale municipal incorporation during the Showa era. Moreover, as a result of the increasing tendency of new basic autonomous entities to suppress traditional solidarity dividing former towns and villages, a new type of regional autonomy was instituted during Japan’s era of rapid growth, based on central urban planning and citizen participation.

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