Regional
14 items
Furusato Tax Points Ban: A Six-Month Review of System Purpose and Return-Gift Competition
Six months after the October 2025 enforcement of Japan's furusato tax points ban, this analysis traces donation patterns, municipal finance, platform competition, and the gap between the reform's reach and the system's foundational tensions.
The 'Can't Earn a Living' Problem in Japan's Rural Migration Push — A Career-Design Vacuum in Regional Revitalization Policy
Japan's first decade of regional revitalization tracked migrant counts but failed to design income and career-continuity systems. From the FHL Masui case, this column reads the structural gap between rural assignments worth tens of thousands of yen per month and urban salary levels, the unmeasured income behind the 55.7% retention rate for the Local Vitalization Cooperator Squad, and the institutional vacuum surrounding the 22.63 million "related population."
Kamakura Overtourism: Treating Tourist Destinations as Public Goods
Kamakura's friction between concentrated visitors and resident life, reread as a public-goods question — is a tourist destination a commodity or shared infrastructure? An international comparison of four policy levers (price, quantity, time-space distribution, and collaborative governance) and what they can and cannot solve.
The Fragility of 'One Million Furusato Residents': Can Numerical Targets Qualify as EBPM?
The "Regional Revitalization 2.0 Basic Concept," approved by the Cabinet in June 2025, set a numerical target of reaching one million "related population" members (jinkō) through the Furusato Resident Registration system and 100 million cumulative engagements over ten years. Yet the basis for the one-million figure is nowhere stated in the main text, summary, or policy collection of the basic concept. Nor has any comprehensive evaluation of the outcomes of Regional Revitalization 1.0 (2014–2024) been conducted. This article critiques the validity of the numerical target itself through the lens of EBPM (evidence-based policymaking), and analyzes — structurally — the risk that "related population inflation" and "dependence on success-story collections" are being carried over from 1.0 to 2.0.
Where Did 1.3 Trillion Yen in Hometown Tax Go? — The Redistribution That Never Reaches 'the Regions'
Japan's Hometown Tax (furusato nozei) hit a record 1.27 trillion yen in FY2024, yet 46.4% goes to expenses—portal site fees alone account for 165.6 billion yen. With Yokohama losing 31.4 billion yen and Tokyo's 23 wards losing approximately 93 billion yen in tax revenue, we examine the zero-sum structure behind the "support your hometown" rhetoric.
Four Furusato Tax Reforms: Who Is the Redistribution Engine Really For?
From the October 2025 points ban to the high-earner deduction cap taking effect in 2027, Japan's furusato (hometown) tax donation system is undergoing four reforms over three years. With an expense ratio of 46.4%, intermediary portal fees totaling ¥165.6 billion, and ¥216.1 billion in residence-tax outflows from Tokyo alone, these reforms aim to restore credibility. But do they actually fix the redistribution mechanism?
Who Gets the ¥9.5 Trillion? — Questioning Japan's 'Tourism Nation' Without Residents
Japan's inbound tourist spending reached ¥9.5 trillion in 2025, yet almost none of this flows back to local residents. We analyze OTA commission leakage, urban concentration, and the low-wage accommodation sector, comparing Japan's approach with Barcelona and Amsterdam's resident-return models to outline the circulatory design Japan still lacks.
Regional Revitalization 2.0 and the '10 Million Related Population' Target: Are Means and Ends Reversed?
Japan's "Regional Revitalization 2.0 Basic Plan," approved by Cabinet in June 2025, aims to create 10 million "related population" through a Furusato Resident Registration system over 10 years. Has the structural logic of 1.0's failures truly been addressed? This article examines the policy through definitional ambiguity, target-setting risks, and international comparison.
The Disappearing Workforce of Local Government — What Halved Exam Ratios and Surging Youth Resignations Reveal
Competition ratios for Japan's local civil service exams halved from 7.9× to 4.1× in a decade, while resignations among employees under 30 surged 2.7-fold. Teacher hiring exams hit a record low of 2.9×. This structural crisis goes deeper than "young people losing interest in public service" — the underlying causes are demographic decline, Japan's lowest-in-OECD public sector employment ratio, and an unsustainable workload structure.
Corporate Hometown Tax at ¥63.1 Billion — How Personnel Dispatch Is Reshaping Public Asset Regeneration
Japan's corporate hometown tax donations reached ¥63.1 billion in FY2024, with 157 personnel dispatched to 119 municipalities. With up to 90% tax relief and human capital costs treated as deductible donations, this system can solve both funding and staffing gaps in public asset regeneration — but a fraud case is forcing structural reform.
Structural Analysis of Local Government 'Extinction' — 744 Municipalities Face the Critical Point of Population Decline and Fiscal Crisis
The 2024 Population Strategy Council classified 744 municipalities as at risk of extinction. A decade after the Masuda Report, decline continues as projected.
Renewable Energy and the Regional Economy — New Inequalities Born of the Energy Transition
Analyzing regional disparities in renewable energy deployment and the structural impact on local economies. Reading the asymmetry of benefits and burdens.
Does DX Promotion Narrow or Widen the Regional Gap?
A simulation debate analyzing the benefits and inequality risks of Japan's Digital Agency DX policies. Examines the digital divide between municipalities, IT adoption gaps among elderly populations, and the relationship with Tokyo-centric concentration in the context of regional revitalization.
Population Decline and the Concentration in Tokyo — Reading the Mechanics of Regional Disappearance Through Structure
Structural analysis of population outflow from regional areas and Tokyo concentration. Using demographic projections to read beyond the extinction city thesis.