I worked for Achi Village for 36 years, including 12 years for the Board of Education.

What I have learned from this experience is that "residents are the main actors in community development." I have come to not only value their thoughts and actions, but also to raise issues and think together with them. As an extension of this practice, I am currently involved in the establishment and operation of the "Achi Village Eco-Museum Association" and serve as well as a volunteer guide for visitors from all over Japan who come to "The Memorial Museum for Agricultural Emigrants to Manchuria" to learn about peace.

In this article, I look back on the activities that have led to these current activities and practices, and to consider what "community building" should be and how "peace education" should be approached.

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Due to the large-scale merging of cities, towns and villages during the Heisei era the number of municipalities declined sharply from 2562 in 1999 to only 989 by the year 2009. Also the Liberal-Democratic Party is attempting to further reorganize municipalities with populations of around 300,000. However, self-governance requires that the local residents autonomously govern the region. Discussion and the study to approach sharing the conclusion are indispensable so that the residents may practice autonomy relying on neither despotism nor an easy decision by majority democracy. The smaller the municipality is, the more possible autonomy becomes. "Village management committee" has been pursuing the achievement of such a resident self-governance in Achi-son. The Ngano Prefecture. "Cooperation" is used as a strategy that reduces the public field and shifts responsibility to the resident. However, the cooperation that we think about expands the public field in the opposite direction, and develops the resident sel-governance. Our thinking and acting are important in the achievement of resident self-governance.

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