Structural Changes of Rural Governance in Japan

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Structural Changes of Rural Governance in Japan

• Rural-Urban Footprints
• Implications for Governance
• CRRF Fall Conference
• Tweed, Ontario
• 2004.10.14-16
• University of Tsukuba
• Nobuhiro TSUBOI

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Contents

• Short history of Japanese rural governance before
  1950
• Japanese misjudgment before WWII
• History of municipal amalgamation
• Players of rural governance (Main story)
• Rural governance in 19502000
• Changing situations
• How to establish new balance among players?

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Definition of terms

• Municipality
• Local government, excluding prefecture
  government, here.
• 3230 municipalities in Japan in 2000.
• Community
• Residents organization for livelihood
  relationship based on
• a specific area.
• About 15-100 communities in a rural
  municipality.
• Community was former municipality before
  Meiji
• Restoration or municipal amalgamation.

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Short history of rural governance before 1950

• Formation of present rural Japan
• Since 17th century,
• No battles for 16041868 (Disarmed
  period),
• Closed door to the foreign countries
  except Nagasaki,
• Almost steady economic growth.
• Feudalism with centralization
• Communities - local feudal lords
• 
  Tokugawa Central Government
• Autonomy except the foreign and military
  issues that
• were strictly controlled.

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(Short history of rural governance in Japan)

• Feudalism vs. Centralization
• Contradictory, but in Japan
• 273 local feudal land lords in 1868,
• Synthesized or well balanced for the
  period of 1604-1868.
• This contradictory is important issue
  for better
• understanding of rural Japan.
• Steady economic growth with some
  dynamics.
• Meiji restoration destroyed the
  structure under this
• system.

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(Short history of rural governance in Japan
before 1950s )

• Meiji restoration in 1868
• Opened door to the foreign countries,
• Need of centralization for against the
  foreign pressures,
• Restructured local feudal lords and
  communities.
• Westernization with power was needed.
• The Central government rushed to
  centralization,
• urbanization and industrialization to
  avoid colonization.

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(Short history of rural governance in Japan
before 1950s)

• Rural communities have sustained.
• Rural adapted to westernization through
  local
• resources development (tea-leaf
  production and
• sericulture).
• Central government didnt have room to
  interfere in
• communities.
• Rice key issue of rural Japan
• Rice was a tight bond of community.
• Rice cultivation need cooperate works of
  people until
• 1960s. Rice self-sufficiency was a
  national target even
• until 1970s.
• Urban had grown with wealth transfer from the
  rural

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(Short history of rural governance in Japan
before 1950s) Municipality and community
Before and after amalgamationDual community
structure we have in rural Japan. Each has own
name as Shuraku and Oaza as example.(Shurak a
community, Oaza multi communities)
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(Short history of rural governance before
1950s)What happened after amalgamation

• Community before 1868
• Community with large autonomic rights as
  
• municipality under the Feudalism with
  centralization.
• Community after municipal amalgamation
• Former community (before 1868) and
  municipality
• after amalgamation have kept identity as
  community.
• And these are called as community within
  a municipality.

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(Short history of rural governance before
1950s)What was rural governance before WWII?

• Community as a main player
• Strong identity and role based on
  economic activities with
• local resources.
• Main role of municipality
• Registration for draft, Tax collection,
  Education of primary
• school
• Little role for peoples welfare and
  economic development
• Character of municipality
• Mayor appointed by Prefecture Governor
  who appointed by
• Central Government.
• Weak affection of central government
  except amalgamation
• of municipality and draw of community
  commons to
• municipality.

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Japanese misjudgment before WWII

• World War II
• Japan fought against USA and other
  European countries as
• one of five industrialized countries in
  the world in 1940s,
• and lost it.
• Japan agriculture-based country by 1940s
• Japanese modernization since 1950s
• The lost war wakened Japan, and central
  government
• rushed again to really catch up the west.
  Japan had no
• room to keep rural as it was before WWII.
  

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Players of rural governancein Japan after 1950s

• Citizens
• Private Enterprises
• Municipality (Local government)
• Communities
• Intermediary organizations

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s)Who are rural citizens?

• Farm population was and is a major.
• 48 of total population lived in farm
• households in 1950.
• Still farm population is a major citizen.
• Ratio of Farm population in 2000
• 78.8 in Iitate-mura, Fukushima Pref.
• 39.4 in Awano-machi, Tochigi Pref.
• 10.6 in Total Japan including metro areas.
• Iitate and Awano are NRE sites in Japan.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) Who are enterprise?

• Civil engineering and Construction
• Governments are extremely influential
  through public
• works. Many rural people were engaged
  in these
• business.
• Small manufactures
• They were watching Keiretsu, and
  didnt care local
• issues much.
• Family farms and agri-cooperatives
• Farming was main economic activity.
• Farming is loosing its influence.
• Agri-cooperatives were second biggest
  business
• establishment in rural.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) What are local governments?

• Democratization of rural Japan
• Strengthening organization function
• Amalgamation
• Agency of Central Government
• cf. Odagiri, T., B. Jean, The Roles of Local
  Governments for Revitalization of Rural Areas in
  Japan and Canada, G. Halseth and R. Halseth ed.,
  Building for Success Exploration of Rural
  Community and Rural Development, Rural
  Development
• Institute, 2004

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) (What are local government?)

• Democratization of rural Japan
• Mayor should be elected by people.
• Main roles
• Management election of Mayor, Assemblys
• member and others,
• Collection of local taxes,
• Economic development,
• Development and maintenance of local
• infrastructure,
• Peoples welfare and health,
• Education of primary and secondary
  school.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) (What are local governments?)

• Strengthening organization function
• Local government employees per 1000
• citizens increased as follows.
• Iitate 2.6 in 1950, 33.7 in 2000
• Tweed 2.6 in 1951, 9.1 in 1997
• It was about 41.4 employees in Iitate in
  2004
• April.
• Because of Expanding roles through civil
  services,
• and civil engineering and construction.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) (What are local governments?)

• The employees increased by more than ten times
• even under the amalgamation.
• But, what will happen in future?
• Amalgamation
• For efficiency of local government
• Number of municipalities
• 1950 10,500 municipalities
• 2000 3,230
• Three types of municipality in Japan City, Town
  and Village.
• Town and village are typical rural, and city
  includes large rural
• areas.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) (What are local governments?)

• Number of towns villages
• 1950 10,246 (Total Muni. Japan 10,500)
  97
• 2000 2,558 (T
  3,230) 79
• Population of towns villages
• 1950 52,749,051 (T. Japan 84,114,574)
  62
• 2000 27,060,567 (T. 126,919,288)
  21
• Population per a town/village
• 1950 5,148
• 2000 10,579

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) (What are local governments?)

• Agent of Central Government
• Strengthening roles through subsidies of
  the
• central government for economic
  development
• Back-scratching alliance of local and the
• central government
• Restructuring of central government
• Decentralization is forcing local
  government to
• restructure.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) What were and are communities?

• Census Subdivision in Japan is municipality.
• Community is not Census Subdivision in Japan, and
  is a basic units of municipality.
• Municipality consists of 15-100 communities.
• Community was former municipality before 1868
  and/or municipal amalgamation.
• Community had informal powers until 1970s.
• (Still it
  has some powers in rural.)
• Community had and have common property.
• (forest, water right,
  community hall, cemetery)
• Community municipality balanced in power until
  1950s.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) (What were and are communities?)

• Community played important role in rice
  cultivation until 1960s.
• Community collected local taxes for municipality,
  and still collects in some areas.
• Community has a board with chairman, directors,
  and own budgets.
• NRE sites in Japan are Iitate and Awano
• Iitate and Awano are municipality.
• 20 communities in Iitate with 7,098
  population,
• 55 communities in Awano with 10,637
• population,
• In Awano, there are 4 multi-community with
  
• 8-23 communities, and
• these multi-communities are former
• municipality before amalgamation in 1955.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) What are rural intermediary
organizations?

• Intermediary organizations
• Family kinship groups, Business and
  culture associations,
• Commerce of chamber, Community, Voluntary
  organizations
• etc.
• Community is essentially one of
  intermediary organizations,
• but more than a intermediary organization
  as like as other
• players especially before 1950s.
• Back-scratching alliance of intermediary
  organizations and local government
• Especially business association and
  voluntary organization.

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(Players of rural governance in Japan after
1950s) (What and who are rural intermediary
organizations)

• High dependency of intermediary organizations on
  government sectors
• Organizations except family kinship
  groups were
• established through local government
  initiative.
• Even communities were reorganized by the
  government.
• Government sectors didnt have time to
  wait voluntary
• actions from citizen and private
  enterprise sectors.

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Rural governance in 19502000

• An only influential player was
• Local government as agent of Central
• Government
• Dependency of other players on Local and Central
  government
• Rural Japan had no governance!!
• Since 1950s communities had lost
  influences, and
• municipality became an only player in
  rural Japan.
• Before lost war, Rural Japan had some
• governance with balanced structure of
• community former municipality before
• amalgamation and municipality that
  consisted
• of the 3-25 communities.

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(What was rural governance in 1950-2000)

• Background of the rural characters
• Japan had to rush to catch up the modern
  western
• society within a limited time, especially
  since 1950s after
• WWII.
• Result of Catching up policy
• Japan had rushed to catch up the western
  countries since
• Meiji Restoration in 1986.
• Rural Japan had gradually lost its
  endogenous
• development structure since 1868.
  Catching up policy
• had promoted centralization since 1950s
  after World War
• II because of not only central government
  policy but also
• peoples wish including rural people to
  catch up the west.

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Changing situations

• Entering affluent society
• Peoples motivation is changing gradually
  in
• transition period from insufficient to
  affluent
• society.
• From more income to quality life!!
• Even in poor rural
• Restructuring of central government
• New amalgamation of Municipality
• in new ways are requested.
• Change of rural demography

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How to establish new balance among players

• Main discussion issues in Japan
• How to establish new balance among rural
  players,
• How to establish new endogenous
  relationship
• among local assets and rural players, and
  among
• rural players,
• How to establish interdependence among
  local
• enterprises.
• How to restructure rural community?
• Big discussions about endogenous development,
• among agri. economists and rural
  politicians.
• But is it endogenous syndrome?

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(How to establish new balance among players)

• How to form new steady relationship between rural
  and urban
• The both are in interdependent
  relationship.
• Reflections for the last 50 years
• Rural growth without endogenous
  development than
• rural had before!!
• Entering to affluent rural society.
• Rural future
• Japanese have to reconsider the following
• issues in stead of Catching up
• ?Whats development?
• ?Whats rural life, and Whats urban
  life?
• ?Whats rural-urban relationship?

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• Thanks for participating.
• Nobuhiro TSUBOI
• 2004.10.16
• Tweed, Ontario