case study japan

Tackling the Declining Birth Rate in Japan

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The initiative

The challenge

The public impact

• Stakeholder engagement Good
• Political commitment Fair
• Public confidence Weak
• Clarity of objectives Good
• Strength of evidence Fair
• Feasibility Weak
• Management Fair
• Measurement Good
• Alignment Fair

Bibliography

To encourage more births, the Japanese government has introduced a series of measures over the years, which include the Angel Plan, a five-year plan in 1994 to assist couples in raising children, the New Angel Plan in 1999, followed by the Plus One Policy in 2009. The Angel Plan and the New Angel Plan were both designed to make having children an easier and more attractive option. It aimed to achieve its goal by addressing a few related challenges:

• "Improve the employment environment to reconcile work and family responsibilities
• "Enhance childcare services
• "Strengthen maternal and child health facilities
• "Improve housing and public facilities for families with children
• "Promote child development
• "Improve the educational environment for children
• "Ease the economic cost associated with child rearing." [7]

The most recent idea, the Plus One Proposal, was intended to encourage families to grow by "plus one". It aimed to create parent-friendly working conditions, with funds allocated for the construction of 50,000 new daycare facilities. [8]

After having a high fertility rate in the baby boom period after World War II, Japan's birth rate dropped to being one of the lowest in the world 50 years later, and the issues of declining fertility and an ageing society have become central to the government's concerns. [1] “The phrase '1.57 Shock' was widely used in Japan in reaction to the lowest Total Fertility Rate (TFR) — the average number of children that a woman is estimated to give birth to in her lifetime — in the country's history in 1989. The rate continued its decline after 1989, reaching an all-time low of 1.26 lifetime births per woman in 2005.” [2]  The Japan Ageing Research Centre in Tokyo predicted that the nation's total fertility rate will fall to 1.16 in 2020. [3]

The country also has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, leading it to face a steep decline at one end of the lifecycle and a boom at the other. Its population is forecast to fall to about 83 million by 2100, with 35% of Japanese aged over 65, according to the United Nations.[ 4]

Similarly, the proportion of the working age population is falling, which constitutes a significant challenge for the economy. “According to estimates by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), by 2030 the number of workers will drop by about 10 million from its (2006) level to about 56 million.” [5] Economic concerns are one of the most frequently cited reasons for Japanese people to get married later in life or remain single. Women who need, or want, to work face difficulties in combining employment and child rearing, due to the limited availability of childcare services, unfavourable employment practices, and a lack of flexible working conditions. [6]

So far, the results have been very limited:

• "There has been a small increase in the TFR, reaching 1.37 in 2008. Birth rates have risen slightly for all in the childbearing ages, although somewhat faster for women aged 35 to 39." [9]
• From 2008 to 2014, TFR continued to grow but still at a slow pace - reaching 1.42 in 2014, which is significantly below the OECD average of 1.74. [10]
• "In 2008, women's labour force participation dropped to 76% for those aged 25 to 29 and to 65% for those in their 30s." [11]
• As a result of efforts to increase access to daycare, the number of children on daycare waiting lists decreased from 26,383 in 2003 to 23,338 in 2005. "However, daycare service is still less available in Japan for very early childhood. Of the 23,338 children on the waiting list, 15,831 (67.8%) were under two years old." [12]

Stakeholder engagement

Political commitment

The Japanese government was committed to increasing the TFR, and a number of initiatives were implemented to this end from the 1990s onwards. Before the Angel and New Angel Plans and the Plus One Policy were officially implemented, an inter-ministry committee was set up to ensure the right measures were adopted, and the first pro-natal measures started in 1991 with a government guideline, 'Towards Satisfactory Conditions for Healthy Child Rearing', amendments to the Child Allowance Law, and enactment of the Childcare Leave Law. Similar interventions and amendments continued over the years. [15]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated in a press release announcing the birth rate improvement plan that “Creating prosperous, bright and vital local communities is a priority for the Abe Cabinet. The wave of economic recovery must reach every corner of the nation." [16]

However, statement does not appear to have been supported by any great financial commitment. "All of the political parties from right to left state the importance of measures for families with children. But the budget share for families with children has been increasing very slowly in recent decades." [17]  Critics also point out that the government's measures have not been sufficient, citing that "70% of the social-welfare budget goes to programmes for the aged, such as pensions and medical services, with only 4% set aside for services for children, such as child benefits and childcare services.” [18]

Public confidence

Although there is some awareness of the problem of declining birth rates and their effect on country's labour force and economy, these issues do not have a significant impact. There are other pressing concerns for the population which actually discourage them from having children, such as low economic growth, a rigid working environment, and a lack of support to simultaneously manage work and child rearing. These factors make the population anxious about possible future hardship. "[The] Japanese have become increasingly concerned about the future as social security costs, such as pension contributions and insurance premiums for medical care and nursing care for the elderly, as well as tax burdens, are expected to keep rising sharply amid declining birth rates and the rapid greying of society.” [19]

Similarly, there seems to be a trend among Japanese youth that has been called "sekkusu shinai shokogun" or "celibacy syndrome", where young people do not want to date, be intimate, get married, or have sex. Some of the statements collected from young people include: "'I find women attractive but I've learned to live without sex. Emotional entanglements are too complicated' or 'I don't earn a huge salary to go on dates and I don't want the responsibility of a woman hoping it might lead to marriage'”. [20]

Clarity of objectives

The Japanese government has been clear and consistent in its goal of increasing birth rates since it started to implement its first Angel Plan. However, no measurable objectives were established at the outset that could be tracked. Over time, the government started to set more measurable targets.

The policy objectives identified for the New Angel Plan include:

• "Making daycare centres and childcare services more accessible
• "Making the employment environment more [flexible] for workers with children
• "Changing traditional gender-role values and 'work-first' atmosphere in the working environment
• "Developing maternal and child health facilities
• "Promoting an educational environment based on local community
• "Improving the educational environment for children
• "Reducing the economic burden of educational costs
• "Making community functions more supportive for families with children through housing and public facilities." [21]

In the case of the Five-Year Emergency Measures for Childcare Services, the New Angel Plan did set more concrete targets to be met by the end of 2004. More recently, in 2015, the government adopted a set of more specific targets to tackle the existing birth rate by 2020. These included:

• Raising the percentage of men taking paternity leave to 80% by 2020
• Increasing the proportion of men taking state-subsidised childcare leave — for a maximum of one year — to 13% in 2020 (from only 2% in 2013) and the proportion of women retaining their jobs after the birth of their first child, from 38% in 2010 to 55% in 2020.
• Planning to raise the time spent by those with children of 6 years and younger to 150 minutes a day from just 67 minutes in 2011. [22]

Strength of evidence

Research was conducted after the "1.57 shock" to understand the causes behind the low rate of childbirth in Japan, which revealed that the increasing participation of women in the labour market and insufficient support to help them manage their work alongside raising a child were among the major reasons for the decreasing the attractiveness of having children. The Angel Plan was introduced on the basis of these findings. [23]

The MHLW reported a survey finding that over 90 percent of couples wanted to marry and have at least two children. This led to the conclusion that "fulfilling those two desires would raise the TFR to about 1.8, the Ministry estimates. To the extent that those figures are realistic, it seems possible to raise the birth rate." [24]

Feasibility

The numerous initiatives to address the declining fertility rate in Japan started with the launch ofan inter-ministry committee for “Creating a Sound Environment for Bearing and Rearing Children” in 1990, after which several strategies were launched through the years. The most significant of these were the five-year Angel and New Angel Plans, which were supported by numerous amendments and laws regarding childcare, work insurance, etc. [25]

However, implementation has been consistently limited by budgetary constraints. "According to an estimate of the cost of social security in Japan for fiscal year 2001, 55.6 percent of total social security benefits were paid out for the elderly. On the other hand, only 3.7% were paid out for families with children." Critics argue that the Ministry of Finance is reluctant to add new budget resources for family policies. Therefore, there is always a trade-off — for every new policy which is implemented, another one is usually scrapped. [26]

For the New Angel Plan, "more convenient daycare centres were envisioned but a lack of funds impeded progress. As part of the New Angel Plan, payments from the government to support child rearing are limited to 26,000 yen per child per month (about US$280). (…) In 2009, Japan introduced a much broader version of the Angel Plan, recognising that its past attempts to encourage childbearing had shown few results." [27]

Initiatives have been led primarily by central government and the prime minister, with management under the MHLW and other ministries. They have been in charge of establishing the numerous committees formed to design policies for this initiative, with the MHLW responsible for the day-to-day monitoring of implementation, overseeing requirements for daycare centres, and publishing annual reports to disclose activities. Initiatives are sometimes also supported by individual municipalities in terms of budget, staff, etc when needed.

However, there is no evidence of clear targets or budget allocated to ensure progress, and municipalities have complained, claiming that actual running costs are over three times higher than the standard cost criterion set by the MHLW. Chiyoda-ward municipality in Tokyo, for example, has previously objected that contributions from national, prefectural and ward budgets, as well as users' charges to the actual running costs, are usually considerably higher than the guidelines suggest. [28]

Measurement

The MHLW's measurement methodology is quite comprehensive and has been tracked over time - although some metrics have been modified. The Ministry publishes an annual report which tracks relevant indicators for the overall demographic trends, as well as monitoring initiatives such as daycare centres' availability and quality. The indicators include:

• Income threshold of child allowance for two- and four-person households
• Number of children receiving the Child Rearing Allowance
• Working status of parents by type of daycare centre
• Expansion in the number of children (aged 0-2) admitted to daycare centres
• Number of daycare centres
• Maximum number of children that can be enrolled
• Actual number of children enrolled. [29]

The government struggled to align incentives for achieving the objectives of this policy with other issues affecting society in the shorter term. Even though there was a clear motivation to increase birth rates for the sake of the country's economic sustainability, there was a mismatch between the priorities of the population and those of policymakers. Economic constraints and tough working conditions were some of the key factors keeping people from having children, and these issues had to be addressed.

Komine Takao, a professor at the Graduate School of Regional Policy Design at Hosei University, argued that "while it is, of course, important to deal with problems in specific areas, fundamentally, all these issues (low economic growth, etc) are linked to the problem of birth rate decline (...). If action were taken to address birth rate decline, action to address problems in specific areas is sure to be much easier. Seen in this light, it is fair to say that responding to the population crisis with little more than a mishmash of individual reactions by disparate members of society is not enough, and Japan needs to respond to the crisis strategically from a comprehensive perspective." [30]

On the other hand, there is evidence of support from the private sector, specifically major Japanese companies. “Matsushita Electric Industrial Co extended the period during which both male and female employees can take childcare leave. Toshiba allows workers to take paid leave for childcare by the hour.” Mitsubishi Electric and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries extended their policy by reducing their employees' working hours to enable them to take care of their children until third grade in primary school (the policy formerly only covered parents of preschoolers). “Nissan Motor Co has set up what it calls maternity protection leave, which allows female workers in factories or other manufacturing facilities to take leave as soon as they learn of their pregnancy.” [31]

Cabinet seeks to raise percentage of men taking paternity leave to 80% by 2020 , March 20, 2015, The Japan Times

Child Related Policies in Japan , 2003, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS)

Declining Birth Rates: Actual Conditions and Causal Factors of Japan's Declining Birth Rates , Shigeki Matsuda, 13 February 2015, Child Research Net

Effective Measures to Halt Birthrate Decline －Responding to the declining birthrate and aging society is Japan's mission in world history , Komine Takao, 2014, Japan Foreign Policy Forum

Fertility Decline and Policy Development in Japan , Toru Suzuki, March 2006, The Japanese Journal of Population

Japan's Demographic Future , Carl Haub, 2010, Population Reference Bureau

Japan's Demographic Future and Policy Directions , Chihiro Ishii, January/February 2008, Pacific News

Japan's population is shrinking: What does it mean for the economy? Rosamond Hutt, 26 February 2016, World Economic Forum

Japanese gov't unveils plan to increase fertility rate…to 1.8 , Thaddeus Baklinski, 7 November 2014, Life Site News

Japan's no-name economic boom , 5 May, 2006, World Security Network

Japan stares into a demographic abyss , Hisane Masaki , 9 May 2006, Asia Times

The Plus One Policy , Alastair Bonnett, 5 March, 2009, New Statesman

World Bank Development Indicators , updated 23 March 2017. The World Bank

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Learning from Megadisasters: A Decade of Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake

March 11, 2021 Tokyo, Japan

Authors: Shoko Takemoto,  Naho Shibuya, and Keiko Sakoda

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE), a mega-disaster that marked Japan and the world with its unprecedented scale of destruction. This feature story commemorates the disaster by reflecting on what it has taught us over the past decade in regards to infrastructure resilience, risk identification, reduction, and preparedness, and disaster risk finance.  Since GEJE, the World Bank in partnership with the Government of Japan, especially through the Japan-World Bank Program on Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries has been working with Japanese and global partners to understand impact, response, and recovery from this megadisaster to identify larger lessons for disaster risk management (DRM).

Among the numerous lessons learned over the past decade of GEJE reconstruction and analysis, we highlight three common themes that have emerged repeatedly through the examples of good practices gathered across various sectors.  First is the importance of planning. Even though disasters will always be unexpected, if not unprecedented, planning for disasters has benefits both before and after they occur. Second is that resilience is strengthened when it is shared .  After a decade since GEJE, to strengthen the resilience of infrastructure, preparedness, and finance for the next disaster, throughout Japan national and local governments, infrastructure developers and operators, businesses and industries, communities and households are building back better systems by prearranging mechanisms for risk reduction, response and continuity through collaboration and mutual support.  Third is that resilience is an iterative process .  Many adaptations were made to the policy and regulatory frameworks after the GEJE. Many past disasters show that resilience is an interactive process that needs to be adjusted and sustained over time, especially before a disaster strikes.

As the world is increasingly tested to respond and rebuild from unexpected impacts of extreme weather events and the COVID-19 pandemic, we highlight some of these efforts that may have relevance for countries around the world seeking to improve their preparedness for disaster events.

Introduction: The Triple Disaster, Response and Recovery

On March 11th, 2011 a Magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan, near the Tohoku region. The force of the earthquake sent a tsunami rushing towards the Tohoku coastline, a black wall of water which wiped away entire towns and villages. Sea walls were overrun. 20,000 lives were lost. The scale of destruction to housing, infrastructure, industry and agriculture was extreme in Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures. In addition to the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes, the earthquake and tsunami contributed to an accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, requiring additional mass evacuations. The impacts not only shook Japan’s society and economy as a whole, but also had ripple effects in global supply chains. In the 21st century, a disaster of this scale is a global phenomenon.

The severity and complexity of the cascading disasters was not anticipated. The events during and following the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) showed just how ruinous and complex a low-probability, high-impact disaster can be. However, although the impacts of the triple-disaster were devastating, Japan’s legacy of DRM likely reduced losses. Japan’s structural investments in warning systems and infrastructure were effective in many cases, and preparedness training helped many act and evacuate quickly. The large spatial impact of the disaster, and the region’s largely rural and elderly population, posed additional challenges for response and recovery.

Ten years after the megadisaster, the region is beginning to return to a sense of normalcy, even if many places look quite different. After years in rapidly-implemented temporary prefabricated housing, most people have moved into permanent homes, including 30,000 new units of public housing . Damaged infrastructure has been also restored or is nearing completion in the region, including rail lines, roads, and seawalls.

In 2014, three years after GEJE, The World Bank published Learning from Megadisasters: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake . Edited by Federica Ranghieri and Mikio Ishiwatari , the volume brought together dozens of experts ranging from seismic engineers to urban planners, who analyzed what happened on March 11, 2011 and the following days, months, and years; compiling lessons for other countries in 36 comprehensive Knowledge Notes . This extensive research effort identified a number of key learnings in multiple sectors, and emphasized the importance of both structural and non-structural measures, as well as identifying effective strategies both pre- and post-disaster. The report highlighted four central lessons after this intensive study of the GEJE disaster, response, and initial recovery:

1) A holistic, rather than single-sector approach to DRM improves preparedness for complex disasters; 2) Investing in prevention is important, but is not a substitute for preparedness; 3) Each disaster is an opportunity to learn and adapt; 4) Effective DRM requires bringing together diverse stakeholders, including various levels of government, community and nonprofit actors, and the private sector.

Although these lessons are learned specifically from the GEJE, the report also focuses on learnings with broader applicability.

Over recent years, the Japan-World Bank Program on Mainstreaming DRM in Developing Countries has furthered the work of the Learning from Megadisasters report, continuing to gather, analyze and share the knowledge and lessons learned from GEJE, together with past disaster experiences, to enhance the resilience of next generation development investments around the world. Ten years on from the GEJE, we take a moment to revisit the lessons gathered, and reflect on how they may continue to be relevant in the next decade, in a world faced with both seismic disasters and other emergent hazards such as pandemics and climate change.

Through synthesizing a decade of research on the GEJE and accumulation of the lessons from the past disaster experience, this story highlights three key strategies which recurred across many of the cases we studied. They are:

1) the importance of planning for disasters before they strike, 2) DRM cannot be addressed by either the public or private sector alone but enabled only when it is shared among many stakeholders , 3) institutionalize the culture of continuous enhancement of the resilience .

For example, business continuity plans, or BCPs, can help both public and private organizations minimize damages and disruptions . BCPs are documents prepared in advance which provide guidance on how to respond to a disruption and resume the delivery of products and services. Additionally, the creation of pre-arranged agreements among independent public and/or private organizations can help share essential responsibilities and information both before and after a disaster . This might include agreements with private firms to repair public infrastructures, among private firms to share the costs of mitigation infrastructure, or among municipalities to share rapid response teams and other resources. These three approaches recur throughout the more specific lessons and strategies identified in the following section, which is organized along the three areas of disaster risk management: resilient infrastructure; risk identification, reduction and preparednes s ; and disaster risk finance and insurance.

Lessons from the Megadisaster

Resilient Infrastructure

The GEJE had severe impacts on critical ‘lifelines’—infrastructures and facilities that provide essential services such as transportation, communication, sanitation, education, and medical care. Impacts of megadisasters include not only damages to assets (direct impacts), but also disruptions of key services, and the resulting social and economic effects (indirect impacts). For example, the GEJE caused a water supply disruption for up to 500,000 people in Sendai city, as well as completely submerging the city’s water treatment plant. [i] Lack of access to water and sanitation had a ripple effect on public health and other emergency services, impacting response and recovery. Smart investment in infrastructure resilience can help minimize both direct and indirect impacts, reducing lifeline disruptions. The 2019 report Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity found through a global study that every dollar invested in the resilience of lifelines had a $4 benefit in the long run.

In the case of water infrastructure , the World Bank report Resilient Water Supply and Sanitation Services: The Case of Japan documents how Sendai City learned from the disaster to improve the resilience of these infrastructures. [ii] Steps included retrofitting existing systems with seismic resilience upgrades, enhancing business continuity planning for sanitation systems, and creating a geographic information system (GIS)-based asset management system that allows for quick identification and repair of damaged pipes and other assets. During the GEJE, damages and disruptions to water delivery services were minimized through existing programs, including mutual aid agreements with other water supply utility operators. Through these agreements, the Sendai City Waterworks Bureau received support from more than 60 water utilities to provide emergency water supplies. Policies which promote structural resilience strategies were also essential to preserving water and sanitation services. After the 1995 Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake (GHAE), Japanese utilities invested in earthquake resistant piping in water supply and sanitation systems. The commonly used earthquake-resistant ductile iron pipe (ERDIP) has not shown any damage from major earthquakes including the 2011 GEJE and the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. [iii] Changes were also made to internal policies after the GEJE based on the challenges faced, such as decentralizing emergency decision-making and providing training for local communities to set up emergency water supplies without utility workers with the goal of speeding up recovery efforts. [iv]

Redundancy is another structural strategy that contributed to resilience during and after GEJE. In Sendai City, redundancy and seismic reinforcement in water supply infrastructure allowed the utility to continue to operate pipelines that were not physically damaged in the earthquake. [v] The Lifelines report describes how in the context of telecommunications infrastructure , the redundancy created through a diversity of routes in Japan’s submarine internet cable system  limited disruptions to national connectivity during the megadisaster. [vi] However, the report emphasizes that redundancy must be calibrated to the needs and resources of a particular context. For private firms, redundancy and backups for critical infrastructure can be achieved through collaboration; after the GEJE, firms are increasingly collaborating to defray the costs of these investments. [vii]

The GEJE also illustrated the importance of planning for transportation resilience . A Japan Case Study Report on Road Geohazard Risk Management shows the role that both national policy and public-private agreements can play. In response to the GEJE, Japan’s central disaster legislation, the DCBA (Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act) was amended in 2012, with particular focus on the need to reopen roads for emergency response. Quick road repairs were made possible after the GEJE in part due to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)’s emergency action plans, the swift action of the rapid response agency Technical Emergency Control Force (TEC-FORCE), and prearranged agreements with private construction companies for emergency recovery work. [viii] During the GEJE, roads were used as evacuation sites and were shown effective in controlling the spread of floods. After the disaster, public-private partnerships (PPPs) were also made to accommodate the use of expressway embankments as tsunami evacuation sites. As research on Resilient Infrastructure PPPs highlights, clear definitions of roles and responsibilities are essential to effective arrangements between the government and private companies. In Japan, lessons from the GEJE and other earthquakes have led to a refinement of disaster definitions, such as numerical standards for triggering force majeure provisions of infrastructure PPP contracts. In Sendai City, clarifying the post-disaster responsibilities of public and private actors across various sectors sped up the response process. [ix] This experience was built upon after the disaster, when Miyagi prefecture conferred operation of the Sendai International Airport   to a private consortium through a concession scheme which included refined force majeure definitions. In the context of a hazard-prone region, the agreement clearly defines disaster-related roles and responsibilities as well as relevant triggering events. [x]

Partnerships for creating backup systems that have value in non-disaster times have also proved effective in the aftermath of the GEJE. As described in Resilient Industries in Japan , Toyota’s automotive plant in Ohira village, Miyagi Prefecture lost power for two weeks following GEJE. To avoid such losses in the future, companies in the industrial park sought to secure energy during power outages and shortages by building the F-Grid, their own mini-grid system with a comprehensive energy management system. The F-Grid project is a collaboration of 10 companies and organizations in the Ohira Industrial Park. As a system used exclusively for backup energy would be costly, the system is also used to improve energy efficiency in the park during normal times. The project was supported by funding from Japan’s “Smart Communities'' program. [xi] In 2016, F-grid achieved a 24 percent increase in energy efficiency and a 31 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions compared to similarly sized parks. [xii]

Schools are also critical infrastructures, for their education and community roles, and also because they are commonly used as evacuation centers. Japan has updated seismic resilience standards for schools over time, integrating measures against different risks and vulnerabilities revealed after each disaster, as documented in the report Making Schools Resilient at Scale . After the 2011 GEJE, there was very little earthquake-related damage; rather, most damage was caused by the tsunami. However, in some cases damages to nonstructural elements like suspending ceilings in school gymnasiums limited the possibility of using these spaces after the disaster. After the disaster, a major update was made to the policies on the safety of nonstructural elements in schools, given the need for higher resilience standards for their function as post-disaster evacuation centers [xiii] .

Similarly, for building regulations , standards and professional training modules were updated taking the lessons learned from GEJE. The Converting Disaster Experience into a Safer Built Environment: The Case of Japan report highlights that, legal framework like, The Building Standard Law/Seismic Retrofitting Promotion Law, was amended further enhance the structural resilience of the built environment, including strengthening structural integrity, improving the efficiency of design review process, as well as mandating seismic diagnosis of large public buildings. Since the establishment of the legal and regulatory framework for building safety in early 1900, Japan continued incremental effort to create enabling environment for owners, designers, builders and building officials to make the built environment safer together.

Cultural heritage also plays an important role in creating healthy communities, and the loss or damage of these items can scar the cohesion and identity of a community. The report Resilient Cultural Heritage: Learning from the Japanese Experience shows how the GEJE highlighted the importance of investing in the resilience of cultural properties, such as through restoration budgets and response teams, which enabled the relocation of at-risk items and restoration of properties during and after the GEJE. After the megadisaster, the volunteer organization Shiryō-Net was formed to help rescue and preserve heritage properties, and this network has now spread across Japan. [xiv] Engaging both volunteer and government organizations in heritage preservation can allow for a more wide-ranging response. Cultural properties can play a role in healing communities wrought by disasters: in Ishinomaki City, the restoration of a historic storehouse served as a symbol of reconstruction [xv] , while elsewhere repair of cultural heritage sites and the celebration of cultural festivals served a stimulant for recovery. [xvi] Cultural heritage also played a preventative role during and after the disaster by embedding the experience of prior disasters in the built environment. Stone monuments which marked the extent of historic tsunamis served as guides for some residents, who fled uphill past the stones and escaped the dangerous waters. [xvii] This suggests a potential role for cultural heritage in instructing future generations about historic hazards.

These examples of lessons from the GEJE highlight how investing in resilient infrastructure is essential, but must also be done smartly, with emphasis on planning, design, and maintenance. Focusing on both minimizing disaster impacts and putting processes in place to facilitate speedy infrastructure restoration can reduce both direct and indirect impacts of megadisasters.  Over the decade since GEJE, many examples and experiences on how to better invest in resilient infrastructure, plan for service continuity and quick response, and catalyze strategic partnerships across diverse groups are emerging from Japan.

Risk Identification, Reduction, and Preparedness

Ten years after the GEJE, a number of lessons have emerged as important in identifying, reducing, and preparing for disaster risks. Given the unprecedented nature of the GEJE, it is important to be prepared for both known and uncertain risks. Information and communication technology (ICT) can play a role in improving risk identification and making evidence-based decisions for disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Communicating these risks to communities, in a way people can take appropriate mitigation action, is a key . These processes also need to be inclusive , involving diverse stakeholders--including women, elders , and the private sector--that need to be engaged and empowered to understand, reduce, and prepare for disasters. Finally, resilience is never complete . Rather, as the adaptations made by Japan after the GEJE and many past disasters show, resilience is a continuous process that needs to be adjusted and sustained over time, especially in times before a disaster strikes.

Although DRM is central in Japan, the scale of the 2011 triple disaster dramatically exceeded expectations. After the GEJE, as Chapter 32 of Learning From Megadisasters highlights, the potential of low-probability, high-impact events led Japan to focus on both structural and nonstructural disaster risk management measures. [xviii] Mitigation and preparedness strategies can be designed to be effective for both predicted and uncertain risks. Planning for a multihazard context, rather than only individual hazards, can help countries act quickly even when the unimaginable occurs. Identifying, preparing for, and reducing disaster risks all play a role in this process.

The GEJE highlighted the important role ICT can play in both understanding risk and making evidence-based decisions for risk identification, reduction, and preparedness. As documented in the World Bank report Information and Communication Technology for Disaster Risk Management in Japan , at the time of the GEJE, Japan had implemented various ICT systems for disaster response and recovery, and the disaster tested the effectiveness of these systems. During the GEJE, Japan’s “Earthquake Early Warning System” (EEWS) issued a series of warnings. Through the detection of initial seismic waves, EEWS can provide a warning of a few seconds or minutes, allowing quick action by individuals and organizations. Japan Railways’ “Urgent Earthquake Detection and Alarm System” (UrEDAS) automatically activated emergency brakes of 27 Shinkansen train lines , successfully bringing all trains to a safe stop. After the disaster, Japan expanded emergency alert delivery systems. [xix]

The World Bank’s study on Preparedness Maps shows how seismic preparedness maps are used in Japan to communicate location specific primary and secondary hazards from earthquakes, promoting preparedness at the community and household level. Preparedness maps are regularly updated after disaster events, and since 2011 Japan has promoted risk reduction activities to prepare for the projected maximum likely tsunami [xx] .

Effective engagement of various stakeholders is also important to preparedness mapping and other disaster preparedness activities. This means engaging and empowering diverse groups including women, the elderly, children, and the private sector. Elders are a particularly important demographic in the context of the GEJE, as the report Elders Leading the Way to Resilience illustrates. Tohoku is an aging region, and two-thirds of lives lost from the GEJE were over 60 years old. Research shows that building trust and social ties can reduce disaster impacts- after GEJE, a study found that communities with high social capital lost fewer residents to the tsunami. [xxi] Following the megadisaster, elders in Ofunato formed the Ibasho Cafe, a community space for strengthening social capital among older people. The World Bank has explored the potential of the Ibasho model for other contexts , highlighting how fueling social capital and engaging elders in strengthening their community can have benefits for both normal times and improve resilience when a disaster does strike.

Conducting simulation drills regularly provide another way of engaging stakeholders in preparedness. As described in Learning from Disaster Simulation Drills in Japan , [xxii] after the 1995 GHAE the first Comprehensive Disaster Management Drill Framework was developed as a guide for the execution of a comprehensive system of disaster response drills and establishing links between various disaster management agencies. The Comprehensive Disaster Management Drill Framework is updated annually by the Central Disaster Management Council. The GEJE led to new and improved drill protocols in the impacted region and in Japan as a whole. For example, the 35th Joint Disaster simulation Drill was held in the Tokyo metropolitan region in 2015 to respond to issues identified during the GEJE, such as improving mutual support systems among residents, governments, and organizations; verifying disaster management plans; and improving disaster response capabilities of government agencies. In addition to regularly scheduled disaster simulation drills, GEJE memorial events are held in Japan annually to memorialize victims and keep disaster preparedness in the public consciousness.

Business continuity planning (BCP) is another key strategy that shows how ongoing attention to resilience is also essential for both public and private sector organizations. As Resilient Industries in Japan demonstrates, after the GEJE, BCPs helped firms reduce disaster losses and recover quickly, benefiting employees, supply chains, and the economy at large. BCP is supported by many national policies in Japan, and after the GEJE, firms that had BCPs in place had reduced impacts on their financial soundness compared to firms that did not. [xxiii] The GEJE also led to the update and refinement of BCPs across Japan. Akemi industrial park in Aichi prefecture, began business continuity planning at the scale of the industrial park three years before the GEJE. After the GEJE, the park revised their plan, expanding focus on the safety of workers. National policies in Japan promote the development of BCPs, including the 2013 Basic Act for National Resilience, which was developed after the GEJE and emphasizes resilience as a shared goal across multiple sectors. [xxiv] Japan also supports BCP development for public sector organizations including subnational governments and infrastructure operators. By 2019, all of Japan’s prefectural governments, and nearly 90% of municipal governments had developed BCPs. [xxv] The role of financial institutions in incentivizing BCPs is further addressed in the following section.

The ongoing nature of these preparedness actions highlights that resilience is a continuous process. Risk management strategies must be adapted and sustained over time, especially during times without disasters. This principle is central to Japan’s disaster resilience policies. In late 2011, based on a report documenting the GEJE from the Expert Committee on Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Management, Japan amended the DCBA (Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act) to enhance its multi-hazard countermeasures, adding a chapter on tsunami countermeasures. [xxvi]

Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance

Disasters can have a large financial impact, not only in the areas where they strike, but also at the large scale of supply chains and national economy. For example, the GEJE led to the shutdown of nuclear power plants across Japan, resulting in a 50% decrease in energy production and causing national supply disruptions. The GEJE has illustrated the importance of disaster risk finance and insurance (DRFI) such as understanding and clarifying contingent liabilities and allocating contingency budgets, putting in place financial protection measures for critical lifeline infrastructure assets and services, and developing mechanisms for vulnerable businesses and households to quickly access financial support. DRFI mechanisms can help people, firms, and critical infrastructure avoid or minimize disruptions, continue operations, and recover quickly after a disaster.

Pre-arranged agreements, including public-private partnerships, are key strategies for the financial protection of critical infrastructure. The report Financial Protection of Critical Infrastructure Services (forthcoming) [xxvii] shows how pre-arranged agreements between the public sector and private sector for post-disaster response can facilitate rapid infrastructure recovery after disasters, reducing the direct and indirect impacts of infrastructure disruptions, including economic impacts. GEJE caused devastating impacts to the transportation network across Japan. Approximately 2,300 km of expressways were closed, representing 65 percent of expressways managed by NEXCO East Japan , resulting in major supply chain disruptions [xxviii] .  However, with the activation of pre-arranged agreements between governments and local construction companies for road clearance and recovery work, allowing damaged major motorways to be repaired within one week of the earthquake. This quick response allowed critical access for other emergency services to further relief and recovery operations.

The GEJE illustrated the importance of clearly defining post-disaster financial roles and responsibilities among public and private actors in order to restore critical infrastructure rapidly . World Bank research on Catastrophe Insurance Programs for Public Assets highlights how the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency  (JRTT) uses insurance to reduce the contingent liabilities of critical infrastructure to ease impacts to government budgets in the event of a megadisaster. Advance agreements between the government, infrastructure owners and operators, and insurance companies clearly outline how financial responsibilities will be shared in the event of a disaster. In the event of a megadisaster like GEJE, the government pays a large share of recovery costs, which enables the Shinkansen bullet train service to be restored more rapidly. [xxix]

The Resilient Industries in Japan   report highlights how diverse and comprehensive disaster risk financing methods are also important to promoting a resilient industry sector . After the GEJE, 90% of bankruptcies linked to the disaster were due to indirect impacts such as supply chain disruptions. This means that industries located elsewhere are also vulnerable: a study found that six years after GEJE, a greater proportion of bankruptcy declarations were located in Tokyo than Tohoku. [xxx] Further, firms without disaster risk financing in place had much higher increases in debt levels than firms with preexisting risk financing mechanisms in place. [xxxi] Disaster risk financing can play a role pre-disaster, through mechanisms such as low-interest loans, guarantees, insurance, or grants which incentivize the creation of BCPs and other mitigation and preparedness measures.  When a disaster strikes, financial mechanisms that support impacted businesses, especially small or medium enterprises and women-owned businesses, can help promote equitable recovery and help businesses survive. For financial institutions, simply keeping banks open after a major disaster can support response and recovery. After the GEJE, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and local banks leveraged pre-arranged agreements to maintain liquidity, opening the first weekend after the disaster to help minimize economic disruptions. [xxxii] These strategies highlight the important role of finance in considering economic needs before a disaster strikes, and having systems in place to act quickly to limit both economic and infrastructure service impacts of disasters.

Looking to the Future

Ten years after the GEJE, these lessons in the realms of resilient infrastructure, risk identification, reduction and preparedness, and DRFI are significant not only for parts of the world preparing for tsunamis and other seismic hazards, but also for many of the other types of hazards faced around the globe in 2021. In Japan, many of the lessons of the GEJE are being applied to the projected Nankai Trough and Tokyo Inland earthquakes, for example through modelling risks and mapping evacuation routes, implementing scenario planning exercises and evacuation drills , or even prearranging a post-disaster reconstruction vision and plans. These resilience measures are taken not only individually but also through innovative partnerships for collaboration across regions, sectors, and organizations including public-private agreements to share resources and expertise in the event of a major disaster.

The ten-year anniversary of the GEJE finds the world in the midst of the multiple emergencies of the global COVID-19 pandemic, environmental and technological hazards, and climate change. Beyond seismic hazards, the global pandemic has highlighted, for example, the risks of supply chain disruption due to biological emergencies. Climate change is also increasing hazard exposure in Japan and around the globe. Climate change is a growing concern for its potential to contribute to hydrometeorological hazards such as flooding and hurricanes, and for its potential to play a role in secondary or cascading hazards such as fire. In the era of climate change, disasters will increasingly be ‘unprecedented’, and so GEJE offers important lessons on preparing for low-probability high-impact disasters and planning under uncertain conditions in general.

Over the last decade, the World Bank has drawn upon the GEJE megadisaster experience to learn how to better prepare for and recover from low-probability high-impact disasters. While we have identified a number of diverse strategies here, ranging from technological and structural innovations to improving the engagement of diverse stakeholders, three themes recur throughout infrastructure resilience, risk preparedness, and disaster finance. First, planning in advance for how organizations will prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters is essential, i.e. through the creation of BCPs by both public and private organizations. Second, pre-arranged agreements amongst organizations for sharing resources, knowledge, and financing in order to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover together from disasters and other unforeseen events are highly beneficial. Third, only with continuous reflection, learning and update on what worked and what didn’t work after each disasters can develop the adaptive capacities needed to manage ever increasing and unexpected risks. Preparedness is an incremental and interactive process.

These lessons from the GEJE on the importance of BCPs and pre-arranged agreements both emphasize larger principles that can be brought to bear in the context of emergent climate and public health crises. Both involve planning for the potential of disaster before it strikes. BCPs and pre-arranged agreements are both made under blue-sky conditions, which allow frameworks to be put in place for advanced mitigation and preparedness, and rapid post-disaster response and recovery. While it is impossible to know exactly what future crises a locale will face, these processes often have benefits that make places and organizations better able to act in the face of unlikely or unpredicted events. The lessons above regarding BCPs and pre-arranged agreements also highlight that neither the government nor the private sector alone have all the tools to prepare for and respond to disasters. Rather, the GEJE shows the importance of both public and private organizations adopting BCPs, and the value of creating pre-arranged agreements among and across public and private groups. By making disaster preparedness a key consideration for all organizations, and bringing diverse stakeholders together to make plans for when a crisis strikes, these strengthened networks and planning capacities have the potential to bear benefits not only in an emergency but in the everyday operations of organizations and countries.

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Additional Resources

Program Overview

• Japan-World Bank Program on Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries

Reports and Case Studies Featuring Lessons from GEJE

• Learning from Megadisasters: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake  (PDF)
• Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity  (PDF)
• Resilient Water Supply and Sanitation Services: The Case of Japan  (PDF)
• Japan Case Study Report on Road Geohazard Risk Management  (PDF)
• Resilient Infrastructure PPPs  (PDF)
• Making Schools Resilient at Scale  (PDF)
• Converting Disaster Experience into a Safer Built Environment: The Case of Japan  (PDF)
• Resilient Cultural Heritage: Learning from the Japanese Experience  (PDF)
• Information and Communication Technology for Disaster Risk Management in Japan
• Resilient Industries in Japan : Lessons Learned in Japan on Enhancing Competitiveness in the Face of Disasters by Natural Hazards (PDF)
• Preparedness Maps for Community Resilience: Earthquakes. Experience from Japan  (PDF)
• Elders Leading the Way to Resilience  (PDF)
• Ibasho: Strengthening community-driven preparedness and resilience in Philippines and Nepal by leveraging Japanese expertise and experience  (PDF)
• Learning from Disaster Simulation Drills in Japan  (PDF)
• Catastrophe Insurance Programs for Public Assets  (PDF)
• PPP contract clauses unveiled: the World Bank’s 2017 Guidance on PPP Contractual Provisions
• Learning from Japan: PPPs for infrastructure resilience

Audiovisual Resources on GEJE and its Reconstruction Processes in English

• NHK documentary: 3/11-The Tsunami: The First 3 Days
• NHK: 342 Stories of Resilience and Remembrance
• Densho Road 3.11: Journey to Experience the Lessons from the Disaster - Tohoku, Japan
• Sendai City: Disaster-Resilient and Environmentally-Friendly City
• Sendai City: Eastern Coastal Area Today, 2019 Fall

[i]   Resilient Water Supply and Sanitation Services  report, p.63

[ii]   Resilient Water Supply and Sanitation Services  report, p.63

[iii]   Resilient Water Supply and Sanitation Services  report, p.8

[iv]   Resilient Water Supply and Sanitation Services  report, p.71

[v]   Resilient Water Supply and Sanitation Services  report, p.63

[vi]   Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity  report, p.115

[vii] Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity  report, p.133

[viii]   Japan Case Study Report on Road Geohazard Risk Management  report, p.30

[ix]   Resilient Infrastructure PPPs  report, p.8-9

[x]   Resilient Infrastructure PPPs  report, p.39-40

[xi]   Resilient Industries in Japan  report, p.153.

[xii]   Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity  report, p. 132

[xiii]   Making Schools Resilient at Scale  report, p.24

[xiv]   Resilient Cultural Heritage  report, p.62

[xv]   Learning from Megadisasters  report, p.326

[xvi]   Resilient Cultural Heritage  report, p.69

[xvii]   Learning from Megadisasters  report, p.100

[xviii] Learning from Megadisasters  report, p.297.

[xix]  J-ALERT, Japan’s nationwide early warning system, had 46% implementation at GEJE, and in communities where it was implemented earthquake early warnings were successfully received. Following GEJE, GOJ invested heavily in J-ALERT adoption (JPY 14B), bearing 50% of implementation costs. In 2013 GOJ spent JPY 773M to implement J-ALERT in municipalities that could not afford the expense. In 2014 MIC heavily promoted the L-ALERT system (formerly “Public Information Commons”), achieving 100% adoption across municipalities. Since GEJE, Japan has updated the EEWS to include a hybrid method of earthquake prediction, improving the accuracy of predictions and warnings.

[xx]  Related resources: NHK, “#1 TSUNAMI BOSAI: Science that Can Save Your Life”  https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/3004665/  ; NHK “BOSAI: Be Prepared - Hazard Maps”  https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2084002/

[xxi]  Aldrich, Daniel P., and Yasuyuki Sawada. "The physical and social determinants of mortality in the 3.11 tsunami." Social Science & Medicine 124 (2015): 66-75.

[xxii]   Learning from Disaster Simulation Drills in Japan  Report, p. 14

[xxiii]  Matsushita and Hideshima. 2014. “Influence over Financial Statement of Listed Manufacturing Companies by the GEJE, the Effect of BCP and Risk Financing.” [In Japanese.] Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineering 70 (1): 33–43.  https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jscejsp/70/1/70_33/_pdf/-char/ja .

[xxiv]   Resilient Industries in Japan  report, p. 56

[xxv]  MIC (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications). 2019. “Survey Results of Business Continuity Plan Development Status in Local Governments.” [In Japanese.] Press release, MIC, Tokyo.  https://www.fdma.go.jp/pressrelease/houdou/items/011226bcphoudou.pdf .

[xxvi]   Japan Case Study Report on Road Geohazard Risk Management  report, p.17.

[xxvii]  The World Bank. 2021. “Financial Protection of Critical Infrastructure Services.” Technical Report – Contribution to 2020 APEC Finance Ministers Meeting.

[xxviii]   Resilient Industries in Japan  report, p. 119

[xxix]  Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. 2019. “The Role of Insurance Industry to Strengthen Resilience of Infrastructure—Experience in Japan.” APEC seminar on Disaster Risk Finance.

[xxx]  TDB (Teikoku DataBank). 2018. “Trends in Bankruptcies 6 Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake.” [In Japanese.] TDB, Tokyo.  https://www.tdb.co.jp/report/watching/press/pdf/p170301.pdf .

[xxxi]  Matsushita and Hideshima. 2014. “Influence over Financial Statement of Listed Manufacturing Companies by the GEJE, the Effect of BCP and Risk Financing.” [In Japanese.] Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineering 70 (1): 33–43.  https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jscejsp/70/1/70_33/_pdf/-char/ja .

[xxxii]   Resilient Industries in Japan  report, p. 145

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Case Studies in Japan’s Environmental and Cultural Diplomacy

Japanese society and policymakers have turned two negatives from their history into positives worthy of emulation by applying corrective measures and developing a series of bold initiatives. In both cases, social accountability and justice dictated the course of action.

The first example was the tragic consequences of wastewater discharge from the chemical plant of Chisso Co. Ltd in the mid twentieth century in Minamata Bay, the southwest region of Japan's Kyushu Island. What has come to be known as “ Minamata disease ” was poisoning that occurred in humans who consumed fish and shellfish from the area contaminated by methylmercury (MeHg). The typical symptoms of the disease included sensory disturbances, ataxia, dysarthria, constriction of the visual field, auditory disturbances and tremor. The poisoning also caused harm to fetuses in the case of pregnant women; and extensive brain lesions in newborns, some of whom were born blind and deaf. Of 2,500 patients diagnosed with “Minamata disease,” almost half died . To this day, chronic diseases associated with the toxic compound are a cause for concern.

The Japanese government acknowledged its fault and assumed responsibility for the consequences. It took actions such as the Political Settlement of 1995 , made decisions such as the Special Relief Act of July 2009, and launched initiatives such as the Minamata Environmental Regeneration Project to tackle the pollution of the aquifer in Minamata Bay. Through its effective and comprehensive response, the Japanese government demonstrated a stance of empathy, respect and trust towards its citizens.

Through the years, the government’s actions have borne fruit. In August 2001, the Niigata Learning Centre for Humans and the Environment was established. Its Niigata Prefecture Minamata Disease Museum and Story Teller Programme have succeeded in spreading awareness and developing exemplary, sustainable public diplomacy. In March 2009, Minamata was also chosen as “ Top Eco-City ” in recognition of its environmental measures.

The government’s initiatives reflect a specific strategy to connect the environment to the economy and achieve energy independence via renewable sources and a circular economy. This environmental focus may gradually lead to investment in the city, making it a model of regeneration and effective public diplomacy. This is where the “Moyai Naoshi” program (in which Minamata participates) places emphasis: on the restoration of social bonds and the regeneration of society by way of environmental initiatives. The initiative’s crowning achievement has been adoption of the “ Minamata Convention on Mercury ” (2013).

A country’s ability to demonstrate empathy and tell a story with honesty are crucial to successful public diplomacy, building trust and credibility among audiences.

The second example is the New Tohoku program .  The program falls within the sphere of corporate cultural diplomacy, specifically how Japanese business leaders perceive and incorporate the promotion of national interests and the country’s image into corporate strategy. Supported by Pasona Group , the program attracts foreign students, businesspeople and social media influencers to Tohoku, a region that has been undergoing reconstruction since the 2011 tsunami. These visitors, as part of the program, learn about Japan’s economy, history, climate and culture by way of customized interactive programs.

The initiative has served to promote Japanese culture and stimulate economic growth by creating a sustainable local industry and a progressive social model. These are the program’s strategic objectives regardless of profit, which speaks to the important role of multinational corporations in cultural diplomacy as a component of public diplomacy.

Bearing in mind Ronfeldt & Arquilla ’s emphasis on the power of information in international relations, I consider Japan a poignant case study, demonstrating “sometimes it is the side with the best story that wins.” The development of a country’s sustainable public diplomacy can be based on stories told as part of its national brand.   

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Tokyo Station City: The railway station as urban place

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• Published: 25 October 2011
• Volume 16 , pages 242–251, ( 2011 )

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• John Zacharias 1 ,
• Tianxin Zhang 2 &
• Naoto Nakajima 3  

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Railway stations in Japan and elsewhere are undergoing redevelopment to accommodate new spaces of consumption and leisure. Tokyo Station redevelopment is a representative case illustrating the experiment of integrating new facilities into an existing spatial system. The station's image is being recast as an important urban centre in Tokyo with a particular mix of prestige business, shopping and unique entertainment venues. The walking network is being reconfigured in a larger space with a complex set of new land uses, leading to new spatial configurations and patterns of behaviour. These transformations support a new role for the station. The station redevelopment, along with related investments in the surrounding space represent a distinctly Japanese approach to transit-oriented development. This article examines the urban design strategy underlying these transformations.

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Introduction

Nowhere in the world can one find railway station complexes as large as in Japan. The railways themselves play a central role in urban transportation in Japanese cities, connecting suburb to centre, and city to city. The urbanization that Japan experienced in the twentieth century was accompanied by rapid development of the railway network within urban regions. At the same time, Japanese city centres were deeply affected by railway station development and redevelopment ( Onishi, 1994 ).

Transit-oriented development (TOD) in Japan is a fundamental characteristic of all central city urban development, and is almost exclusively rail-based and specifically not intermodal. TOD refers to the land use characteristics of areas where transit is being promoted ( Dittmar and Ohland, 2004 ; Lund et al, 2004 ). Higher density development and mixed land uses have been used in North America and elsewhere to promote public transit use. TODs in North America typically combine road-based transportation and one or more forms of public transit. After the Second World War, the railway became one of the most important tools for development in Japan, particularly in the context of a weak planning system ( Sorensen, 2002 ). As a result of suburbanization with relatively undeveloped road infrastructure, commuting by train and subway became the most effective way to travel for most people who live in the suburbs and work in city centres. This urban spatial development created unprecedented demand for railway services, which were then met by the railway companies. In the late 1990s, the train line density was 1.01 km of line for every square kilometre with 86 per cent of all travel in Tokyo by rail. The comparable figures were respectively 0.74 km/km 2 and 65 per cent in London and Paris, and 0.41 km/km 2 and 61 per cent in New York ( Focas, 1998 ). In spite of the large part of the travel market occupied by the railway and the intensity of the operations, the companies are involved in much more than rail operations. Since 2000, railway station redevelopment has become one of the most significant new urban regeneration programmes underway in major Japanese cities. The stations and adjacent railway properties are undergoing physical transformation to accommodate new urban functions and to enhance the passengers’ travel experience. The surrounding neighbourhoods are also involved due to their multi-layered connection with the stations as well as their close proximity. Railway stations are consequently performing a different role in the city than that of transport hub, becoming cultural symbols, social communication hubs and business centres.

These projects parallel similar investment programmes in Europe, but with characteristics that are particular to Japan. The layouts, designs and activities of these redesigned stations reflect the operational structure of the railway companies, the location and physical condition of the stations, the close relationship with the surrounding urban space and building complexes, as well as the importance of rail-based travel in Japanese cities. Railway stations in Europe seldom attract high-end business and retailing activity although serious efforts are being taken to correct this historical problem ( Bertolini and Spit, 1998 ). The trend in Japan is to combine commerce, leisure, media, fashion, information, as well as other advanced industries into a new ‘city’ within the city, so as to make the stations important spaces for creation and innovation. Such a focus on creative industry is hardly associated with TOD as practised in North America or Australia, for example. While continuing to serve the needs of travel within the city and beyond, the railway stations are becoming significant places in their own right and at or near the top of the hierarchy of such urban places.

The development of stations is in keeping with the TOD idea of attracting people from the nearby areas on foot. Major pedestrian facilities are then required to support the heavy flows of people through these local areas. In Japanese cities, as in European and North American examples, there is an immediately adjacent area which is in close relationship with the station. But uniquely in the Japanese case, the station building complexes are an accumulation of all kinds of functions, and not merely a point of distribution. Some private railway companies built station-based department store complexes before the Second World War. The Japan National Railways built many ‘station department stores’ after 1950. The pattern of new centres after 2000 is therefore in some continuity with earlier development practices, but at a higher level in quality, service and volume of clientele.

In recent years, the design and functions of the new underground station facilities in Japan are increasingly the object of research (for example, Tanimoto et al, 2004 ). Visitor preferences in facility design, lighting and social ambiance are receiving increasing attention. How people find their way and understand such underground spaces is also an important topic of investigation ( Moriyama, 2009 ), for reasons of evacuation safety but also for the efficient functioning of commercial space. Scholars argue that rising rental rates and commercial benefits have encouraged projects to improve daily services for the white collar working population in the area ( Yoshida, 2007 ). However, the special features of Japanese station redevelopments have not received enough attention. For example, there are few studies touching on the organizational mechanism underlying the redevelopment of railway stations. Nor is there enough attention given to the features of the Japanese approach to TOD, which has had such powerful effects on urban structure and has achieved very high ridership for rail-based travel. It is apparent that this country-wide investment programme is worthy of investigation in its own right because it is at an early stage of innovation and experimentation. What is learned from the Japanese case will also be of interest to planners working on railway station developments in Europe, China and North America.

In recognition of the above, this article examines one such railway station redevelopment project, Tokyo station, from the urban design perspective. Firstly, we discuss why the railway companies operating at Tokyo station are making these particular investment decisions. Secondly, the programmes themselves are examined for their contribution to the making of a new urban place in the constellation of such places in the Tokyo metropolitan region. Thirdly, how the spaces and their associated activities are accommodated within the physical constraints of the stations and the surrounding environment is considered. Finally, we evaluate the effects of station restructuring on surrounding urban space, with particular attention to a pre-existing shopping facility adjacent the station.

Redevelopment of Railway Stations in Japan

A new phase of station redevelopment began in the 2000 decade, when railway companies themselves invested in their properties, together with financial partners. Major stations such as Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Fukuoka saw large-scale redevelopment. The projects included extensions to the pedestrian system, the provision of new commercial facilities and public leisure spaces, atmospheric effects, and high-rise office buildings.

The common goal of Japanese railway station redevelopment projects is to enhance the in-station commercial function among many others, making the station a powerful magnet for visitors. These projects are mostly initiated by the station companies, who need to diversify their operations under the Japanese railway system organization and operations.

There are roughly three types of railway companies: Japan Railways Group, which was founded as a result of the privatization and break-up of the Japanese National Railway in 1987, private companies and city-owned companies. Each company operates one or several lines. Most of the stations are also operated by the railway companies, whose railway lines pass through the station. When several lines of different companies intersect at a certain station, they normally share the intersection space and related facilities. The station is consequently operated collaboratively by several companies. In most cases, one of the companies acts as the chief owner. In order to interconnect with each other, the companies have to work together to achieve a reasonable spatial distribution plan that allows efficient interchange between the various lines. This often makes the station space very complex.

Until the 1970s, the Japan National Railways company operated many rail routes all over the country. They began to face economic difficulties in the late 1960s and had accumulated large debts by the beginning of the 1980s. To help the companies achieve financial health, the government began privatizing the railways, dividing JR into six passenger transportation companies according to their geographic locations. The privatization accompanied a change in regulation which allowed the newly privatized railway companies, like JR East, the major owner-operator of Tokyo station, to accumulate profits through commercial activities in addition to pure transportation uses ( Ieda et al, 2001 ). In exchange, railway companies became responsible for recovering capital investment through their operations and related investment decisions. Although rail-based travel in Japan, as a proportion of all travel, is the highest worldwide at about 36 per cent of all kilometers travelled, many observers consider the railway system in Japan to be underinvested. Railway companies hold territorial monopolies, which discourage them from making investments in railway services. To make such improvements in services, these private companies must either raise fares or derive benefits from other operations. Improving rail services has become increasingly difficult as the cost of providing infrastructure has risen very rapidly. Expected decline in passenger numbers, as a result of demographic decline, is an additional reason companies are reluctant to invest ( Ieda et al, 2001 ). On the other hand, their territorial monopolies encourage the companies to invest in ancillary services, which are also highly profitable, and represent an increasing proportion of the railway companies’ revenues ( Kanemoto and Kiyono, 1995 ). These services enhance the travel experience, do not add to travel cost and exploit the lands under control of the railway companies.

In an early study of redevelopment of inner city areas in Japan, it was observed that the addition of a department store or shopping centre had a significant positive effect on land value. The great majority of such developments that resulted in increased numbers of shoppers in the last two decades were at railway station locations ( Onishi, 1994 ). However, the investments in ancillary services at railway stations are not evenly distributed over stations. One of the reasons for uneven investment is the availability of lands for such development. Another important reason is that commuters making non-work-related stops are most likely to make those stops at the commuting terminal and at the work place zone ( Nishii and Kondo, 1992 ). As a consequence, interchange stations with good accessibility in the railway network attract office development and related commercial and personal services. Among these interchange station areas, a limited number of stations with both good accessibility and connectivity between urban and regional transport infrastructure are developing as important places in the urban region. Examples in Tokyo include Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ueno stations. In the larger metropolitan region, new rail-based centres have sprung up in Yokohama, Chiba and Omiya. As a consequence, once-simple and direct daily travel patterns have become much more complex, multi-directional and multi-purpose.

The land development policies of the Japanese railway companies are not unique to Japan although they have particular characteristics that distinguish them from the parallel activities of the European railway companies. In France, for example, rail passengers were spending 22 per cent of their travel costs on products and services within the railway station in the late 1990s ( Perrin, 1998 ). The investment policies of the French, Dutch and German railway companies emphasize services related to travel and the improvement of the ambience of the station. The European railway station is increasingly an important place in the city, a destination in its own right and a magnet for related investment ( Reusser et al, 2008 ). Commercial space nevertheless remains highly oriented to travel, whereas in Japan the station hosts a comprehensive set of services and products, equivalent to city core shopping districts. The highly integrated development of real estate with railway services in the Japanese cases is in part due to structural differences in the railway companies. The French, Dutch and German railway companies have distinct and relatively autonomous real estate divisions ( Priemus and Konings, 2001 ). The European practice has been to hive off real estate no longer required for the core transport operations of the railway companies. The real estate developments on former railway lands are urban districts in their own right, accessible to the railway station but primarily a component of the city fabric. Developments have been designed to revitalize station-adjacent areas that suffer from poor connections to the rest of the city and a negative image ( Staudacher, 2001 ). In Japan, however, the railway lines are an integral component of the city fabric, as are the stations. As a consequence, the real estate operations are an increasingly important part of railway activity, within the stations, on lands owned by the railway companies and in the immediately adjacent urban space. In this respect, the redevelopment of stations is equivalent to city centre revitalization.

Tokyo Station Redevelopment Projects

The status of tokyo station in japan.

The redevelopment of Tokyo station is among the most prominent projects in the national trend of redevelopment. It is particularly important due to the station's symbolic status, important location, and its role in Tokyo’s transportation system. It has national and global status because of the important districts immediately adjacent the station. Regarded as the entrance to and the face of Tokyo, it is surrounded by such important areas as the Imperial palace, and the Ginza and Nihonbashi commercial areas ( Figure 1 ). On the west side of the station, the Marunouchi entrance leads to the Imperial palace and the office area. On the east, the Yaesu entrance leads to the important office buildings of Yaesu area.

Tokyo Station in the local environment of central Tokyo with other recent developments along the railway corridor.

Tokyo Station is the busiest railway station in Japan in terms of the number of trains. The number of passengers entering the station daily reaches 380 000, ranking fifth among stations where the East Japan Railway Company is an owner. In contrast, income earned by the company within its station premises reaches 260 million yen per day, which places Tokyo station first in terms of benefit, ahead of Shinjuku station, for example, which earns the company some 160 million yen per day ( Yoshida, 2007 ). On the other hand, Shinjuku station has far higher transiting passenger volumes than Tokyo station so that more space in the station is actually devoted to movement. The goods and services that would otherwise invest the station are displaced to neighbouring sites.

The operational system of Tokyo station and its vicinity

Tokyo Station is primarily owned by East Japan Railway Company (JR Higashi Nihon or JR-EAST), the privatized company once part of Japan (National) Railways (JR). The Shinkansen high-speed railway through Tokyo Station, along with space above and below the tracks is owned and operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai).

The Marunouchi side of the station has long been Tokyo's most prestigious office district. From 2000, high-rise towers were added to the low-rise blocks with efforts to preserve the façades of many buildings, including several that predate the Second World War. To compensate for the higher density currently being practiced in Marunouchi, Tokyo Metropolitan Government required an extensive and generously dimensioned underground walking system that connects many of the renewed buildings to Tokyo Station ( Figure 2a ). The major owner of real estate in Marunouchi is the Mitsubishi company whose headquarters is immediately opposite Tokyo Station entrance. This company's extensive real estate holdings facilitated the development of the underground system, since most of the underground corridors connect their own buildings under the streets. The building of the underground system provided the opportunity to redesign the street environment as well. Today the streets of Marunouchi are traffic-calmed and tree-lined, hosting sponsored public events, public art and luxury retailing.

The pedestrian system of Tokyo Station ( a ) and the recorded pedestrian flows of First Avenue and Yaesu shopping centre ( b ).

On the east or Yaesu side of the station, major property owners include the Mitsui real estate company, the Kajima Yaesu development company, the International Tourism company and the Shinnihon Sekiyu (Nippon Oil Corporation, currently JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corporation). The Yaesu side has always been associated with everyday business, entertainment and living. The world-famous Ginza shopping district is within walking distance as is the Tsukiji wholesale fish market, the world's largest.

The configuration of Tokyo station area

Tokyo station is complex in configuration ( Figure 2a ). There are five platforms and 20 lines on the ground level; four platforms and eight lines underground serving urban railways; five platforms and 10 lines on the ground level for the Shinkansen; and finally, one platform and two lines for the subway lines. In addition, there are three station concourses and two layers of pedestrian system. There are three entrances from three main directions, namely Marunouchi at the west, Yaesu at the east, and Nihonbashi at the north-east, with the main pedestrian flow between the west and the east.

The ground level pedestrian system is at grade at its eastern, Yaesu entrance while elevated a few steps at the west exit, because of a slight declination toward the Imperial gardens and palace. The underground pathway system is entirely at the same level, immediately below the street and the three controlled station concourses. The underground level is linked to the ground with regularly spaced stairwells leading directly to uncovered sidewalks.

Despite the fact that the station offers one toll-free corridor that connects the east and the west, the huge volume and the complex space make Tokyo Station a major barrier between east and west, accentuating the different roles and character of Marunouchi and Yaesu. Bars and restaurants proliferate in the nearest reaches of Yaesu, supplying the Marunouchi business district which has little such activity of its own. As the railway companies begin to emphasize place-based activity and consumption, there is a new need to promote pedestrian linkage between the various components of the emerging underground system. Such underground facilities are exceedingly expensive to retrofit to existing station facilities, given the exiguity of the spaces and the abundance of complex underground infrastructure. It is important that the linkages work well and pedestrian flows are sufficient to support the costly commercial space created in this restructuring effort. The last section of this article examines one such linkage effort.

Redevelopment projects at Tokyo station

Considering the important status of Tokyo station in Japan and its role in the city, the key urban design challenge becomes firstly, to heighten the symbolic status of Tokyo station by emphasizing its unique identity; secondly, to make better links between the two sides of the station; thirdly, to make the station an integral part of the city.

There are two projects that show how Tokyo station responds to the above challenges. One is the Tokyo station city project for the whole station area, and the other is the First Avenue project for the underground pedestrian system.

Tokyo Station City project

As the main station company, JR East collaborated with other companies and launched a major re-investment programme known as ‘Tokyo Station City’ ( Figure 3 ). Its ambitious pursuit is to make Tokyo station a leading urban place in Tokyo. With this goal in mind, the redevelopment project has several components. The first is the restoration of the early twentieth-century station, damaged during the Second World War, to its original architectural form. This work accompanies the beautification project consisting of a tree-lined boulevard from the symmetrically arranged station through the Marunouchi district to the Imperial Palace. This vista is symbolically extended across the station to the Yaesu side by demolishing the Tetsudo Kaikan buildings on the Yaesu side, symbolically uniting the two sides of the station ( Figure 4 ).

Tokyo Station City project as proposed by the developer. Source : Gransta: Tokyo Station in Evolution and ‘Tokyo Station City’, Tetsudo Kaikan, 2009.

The proposed vista from the Imperial palace and gardens through Marunouchi to Yaesu, with the restored station façade. Source : Gransta: Tokyo Station in Evolution and ‘Tokyo Station City’, Tetsudo Kaikan, 2009.

High-rise office buildings were constructed around station facilities at the Yaesu side and connected directly with station entrances. By transferring development rights to Yaesu side from the Marunouchi side, the historical station building could be restored in place while promoting new development on the other side of the station site. These new buildings include the Sapia tower, and GranTokyo North and South towers, all connected directly with the station's Marunouchi and Nihonbashi entrances through the GranRoof facility ( Figure 5 ). The Sapia tower is owned by the station company, while the GranTokyo buildings are owned jointly by other companies. Tokyo Station City's office buildings are intended to be the most technically advanced in Japan. ‘Sapia’ derives from the Greek ‘sapience’, meaning knowledge or wisdom. More than merely a commercial venture, such buildings are intended to act as crucibles of research and education, with facilities devoted to university activities, for example. The GranSta facility opened in late 2007 and has become the main commercial space inside the station complex. A three-floor deck is under construction between the GranTokyo North and South towers, which will incorporate more shops and open spaces ( Figure 5 ). The Station Square at the Yaesu side will be renewed by 2013. A great deal of design effort characterizes these projects, intended to give Tokyo station a pre-eminent position in the city and contribute to a favourable national and international image.

The Gran Roof facility connecting the recently completed towers at the Yaesu side of the station. Source : Gransta: Tokyo Station in Evolution and ‘Tokyo Station City’, Tetsudo Kaikan, 2009.

First Avenue project

Along with the large-scale Tokyo Station City project, there are also big changes in the pedestrian system. For example, Tokyo Station Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of station owner Central JR, opened the first phase of its commercial development known as First Avenue in 2008 ( Figure 6a and b ). First Avenue is located parallel to and two levels below the Shinkansen tracks at the underground level, directly connected to the north side passage between the Marunouchi and Yaesu sides of Tokyo station and at the same level as the long-open passage. It is also directly connected to the Yaesu Shopping Centre with one existing and two new connections. Kitchen Street, also developed by Tokyo Station Development Company, is directly connected to the sole pedestrian link between the Marunouchi and Yaesu sides of the station. The ‘free’ passage leads directly to Kitchen Street, First Avenue and the new Daimaru department store. First Avenue runs the length of the station with two new tunnels cut through to the Yaesu shopping centre, to facilitate linkage between First Avenue and the existing shopping centre although the two facilities are owned and operated by different companies. The First Avenue facility currently houses 102 shops, about one-third of which are devoted to food services. Two blocks of First Avenue are known as Tokyo Character Street, where 15 shops sell signature goods related to popular television shows. Another segment of this development, known as Tokyo Ramen Street, will fully open in 2011 and house eight famous noodle restaurants.

First Avenue phase 1 opened in 2008 ( a ); Phase 2 under development in 2009 ( b ).

The case of First Avenue illustrates the place-based strategies of the railway station owners. The latest trends in products and services are finding their way into the stations, attracting a new clientele of younger people, countering the image of Tokyo Station as a somewhat staid, conservative business location. By specializing segments of the pedestrian walking system the companies have created a sense of place, even if place in this case is underground and connected to other places only with the pedestrian system.

The First Avenue project is a link between the existing pedestrian system and the Yaesu shopping centre. Although a place in its own right, attracting long lines of customers to the new restaurant venues, for example, it is also connected to the Yaesu shopping centre through the two new underground connections. Although under separate ownership, the companies have an interest in connecting with each other and benefitting from each other’s trade. The pedestrian volumes recorded in 2009 in the First Avenue and Yaesu shopping centre show to what extent the visitors are shared among these different facilities ( Figure 2b ). The counts reveal strong flows between the facilities with inputs from the office buildings and from the Yaesu district, but also from the Marunouchi side.

Pedestrian volumes in this part of Tokyo station reach as high as 6000 persons per hour. High peak traffic is no longer restricted to mid day on working days, but is repeated in the late afternoon and early evening as visitors discover the Tokyo Station area as a place for consumption and educational activities. The success of the First Avenue project is leading a re-examination of the Yaesu shopping centre operation. That centre was positioned as a convenient service centre for business people in the vicinity and from the Marunouchi district, but also as a climate-controlled pathway into the station from the east. Traditionally, this centre paid much less attention to its place-based characteristics. The centre has a wide variety of affordable and readily available goods and services, mixed together in the various corridors. Until now, the operators have tried to identify the corridors thematically by colour and symbol, but not by the content of the operations or centre image. This approach seems likely to change as the visitors to Tokyo station gravitate to the newest venues. Already, the centre has begun to introduce new activities and design elements in the corridors nearest First Avenue in an attempt to capture more of the movement.

Overall, the various operators in Tokyo station compete and cooperate. Limited pedestrian access and the restrictions of building underground have forced the various property operators to consider how to use common facilities, including the pedestrian system, to their own advantage. While one of the greatest challenges of building in underground space is creating a viable and sustainable image in the long term, these experiments at Tokyo station illustrate one approach using activity themes concentrated at places with attention given to the connections between such places.

Conclusion and Discussion

Japanese station redevelopment projects show a distinctive approach to TOD, in which the central station complex becomes more multifunctional, and the linkage system is more thematic to satisfy a diversity of needs.

This change is made possible through close cooperation between the land owners. In the Tokyo station case, although JR East, Central JR and Mitsubishi are able to undertake their own redevelopment projects, the social and commercial success of the whole system depends to a considerable extent on cooperation among these companies. Cooperation includes the development of linkage between the various components of Tokyo Station, largely through the further development of the underground pedestrian system.

In these redevelopment projects, the stations are no longer taken as an exclusively transportation-oriented facility, but rather as integrated city space. They begin to represent the cutting edge of the city by including fashion trends and new ideas in an up-to-date physical setting. These developments are transforming the railway stations. From their beginnings as a pure transportation hub, the stations also became commercial operations designed to serve business travellers. These commercial operations expanded to serve a larger segment of the population, adding leisure facilities and reasons to remain in the space for longer periods. The station areas are evolving again into places for the exchange of ideas and the promotion of lifestyle, within a physical framework that incorporates innovations in building and space technology. The railway stations are in effect becoming nerve centres for the so-called ‘intelligent’ city, in which the transportation function plays a supportive role and no longer a central role. Such places have the particular advantage of being exposed to the highest volumes of foot traffic in the city.

To achieve these ends, all the new facilities and spaces are tightly interwoven within the pedestrian system. This makes for a richer pedestrian experience but also one where the whole space is highly accessible. Because of early attention to the connectivity between surrounding areas and the railway stations, achieved through pedestrian facilities on the surface, the station is assured a steady flow of inbound pedestrian traffic ( Figure 7a and b ). The indoor walkable ‘city’ is thus connected to the larger space around the station, which is also undergoing transformation in keeping with the new and expanded role of the station itself.

The Yaesu entrance and the new Daimaru department store ( a ); The Nihonbashi entrance to Tokyo station ( b ).

Western countries can learn from this Japanese redevelopment process in a number of ways. A different organizational system makes the Japanese case difficult to copy directly. Nevertheless, Japanese railway stations show a highly efficient land use model, which makes maximum use of the space under, over and beside the stations. Strapped by limited land resources, the necessary concentration of facilities became one of the most positive features of the redevelopment. In this way, Japanese railway stations have avoided the experience of European railway stations where there persists a zone of lower value and less accessible space in the immediate vicinity of the station. In the European case, this persistent problem has delayed redevelopment of those inner city lands, even as the stations themselves have been upgraded. In the Japanese case, the station is enclosed by new developments and pedestrian facilities that have largely overcome the historical disconnect between the transportation facility and the surrounding environment.

The next phase of development is of particular interest. The evolution of the station as an important centre for creation and exchange provides an interesting template for the development of transportation hubs elsewhere. A place of transit becomes also a place for exchange and communication at the city’s cutting edge.

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John Zacharias

College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

Tianxin Zhang

Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, 5322 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-0882, Japan

Naoto Nakajima

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Zacharias, J., Zhang, T. & Nakajima, N. Tokyo Station City: The railway station as urban place. Urban Des Int 16 , 242–251 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2011.15

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Published : 25 October 2011

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2011.15

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Japan - A country with a high dependent population

Japan – A country with a high dependent population

Japan has a declining population . The population pyramid below shows the age-gender structure of Japan’s population. Japan has a large proportion of elderly people, above 60, and a declining youth population.

Japan’s Population Pyramid

There is an increasing proportion of elderly dependents in Japan. The proportion of elderly dependents is increasing due to an increase in life expectancy . This is likely to cause a number of problems for Japan, including:

• increased pressure on health and social care services
• financial pressure to provide pensions to a greater number of people
• increased pressure on public transport as elderly people are less likely to drive
• the need to increase tax rates to cover the costs above

An additional problem facing Japan is its declining birth rate . Fewer women are having babies due to changes in lifestyle. Having fewer children, later in life, leads to a better standard of living. Also, more young people are focussing on their careers rather than having children.

If this trend continues the working population of Japan will not be able to support its ageing population. The result of this will be:

• higher tax rates to cover increased medical costs and pensions
• a declining population
• a negative impact on economic development in Japan as there are fewer people of working age

To overcome this Japan may need to encourage migration to increase the size of its workforce. Alternatively, Japan could take steps to increase its birthrate by offering financial incentives to encourage couples to have children. Without taking measures the population will continue to decline.

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The Rise and Fall of Japan: A Case Study

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• In book: International Economics: Cases and Exercises (pp.89-97)
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• Chapter: International Monetary Policy
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複雑化する社会課題に向き合う中で、変わりゆくコンサルタントの役割・立場とは

PwCコンサルティング合同会社（以下、PwCコンサルティング）のPublic Services（PS：官公庁・公共サービス部門）は、多様な領域に対応する専門性を有する15のInitiativeチームから構成されています。この連載（全10回）では、テーマごとにさまざまなInitiativeからメンバーが集まり、よりよい社会をつくるために、社会課題解決へのアプローチや、新たな価値創出のアイデアなどについて語り合います。

最終回はPSのパートナー3名が登場。これまでの連載を振り返り、改めてPSのミッションやユニークさについて意見を交わし、今後どのような価値を創造していきたいかを語りました。

（左から）作佐部孝哉、宮城隆之、南出修

宮城 隆之 PwCコンサルティング合同会社 パートナー 官公庁・公共サービス部門リーダー。運輸・物流や人材サービス、不動産など社会インフラ系企業も公益性の高い事業として官民一体のコンサルティングサービスを提供。約30年にわたり、製造、流通、自動車、通信、物流など多岐にわたる民間コンサルティングの経験を有し、2018年より官公庁・公共サービス部門のリーダーを務める。

作佐部 孝哉 PwCコンサルティング合同会社 パートナー 官公庁チームのリーダー。経産省、厚労省、文科省を中心に、政策立案の支援（調査研究、制度設計、政策提言）から政策実現支援（PMO）まで、日本の課題解決に資する案件を数多くリード。政府・中央省庁のアドバイザーとして、300を超えるプロジェクトで統括責任者や有識者委員を務める。出版・講演の実績も多数。

南出 修 PwCコンサルティング合同会社 パートナー サービスインフラストラクチャチームのリーダー。20年以上にわたり、大手製造業、流通・サービス業を中心に、戦略策定、基幹システム導入、業務改革・改善、J-SOX／IFRS導入、ガバナンス強化など、幅広いテーマのコンサルティング業務に携わる。近年は、公共性の高いサービス(人材、運輸・物流、不動産など)を提供する業界を専門とするサービスインフラストラクチャチームのリーダーとして、国民一人ひとりの生活をより豊かにするために複数業界が連携し、さまざまな社会課題を解決するための触媒になることを目指している。

PSはあらゆるステークホルダーを巻き込み社会課題に立ち向かう「扇の要」

――改めて、public services（ps：官公庁・公共サービス部門）の役割とミッションをお聞かせください。.

宮城： PSには官公庁とサービスインフラストラクチャ（SI： Service Infrastructure）の2つのチームがあり、私はその2つを統括しています。PwCのパーパスである「社会における信頼を構築し、重要な課題を解決する」を実現するために、PSは政策の立案から社会実装までを担い、課題解決における「扇の要」となる存在だと考えています。

同時に、日本が抱える重要な課題を解いて、人々のQOL（Quality of life：生活／生命の質）を向上させることをミッションとし、公共セクターに限らず国内外のあらゆるステークホルダーをつなぐことでインパクトの最大化や、経済成長と社会・環境価値の創出を目指す部門です。Public Servicesと言いながらも公共セクターを支援しているというより、公共セクターを巻き込んで新たな価値を創出することを支援しています。

日々、産官学のあらゆるステークホルダーと接していて感じるのは、立場によって社会課題の捉え方が異なるため、共通のゴールを設定する難しさがあるということです。私たちコンサルタントが果たすべき役割は、立場や目的が異なるステークホルダーに対して課題を翻訳して伝え、関係者同士を同じフィールドに集めて行動を促すことだと考えています。

作佐部： 加えて意識しているのは、何を追求する組織であるべきかということです。私がリードする官公庁チームだけにとどまらず、PwCコンサルティングは多数の優秀な人材を社会から預かっていると認識しています。だからこそ、その能力を企業の利益追求だけに使うことなく、複雑かつ解決困難な社会課題に役立てる組織をつくることは、パートナーの重要な責任だと考えています。

南出： 私がリードするSIチームは人材や運輸、物流、不動産などの生活インフラに関わるサービスを主な支援対象としています。コロナ禍で人々の行動制限が起きていた2022年初頭、「移動」の価値を再定義するために設立されました。鉄道や観光など、移動が限られたために大きくダメージを受けた産業があったこと、そして国民に閉塞感が漂い、豊かな生活をするのが難しくなったことがその背景にあります。

そこで、アフターコロナを迎えた際に、コロナ禍以前の社会に戻るのではなく、新たな価値観や産業のあり方を模索し、より豊かな生活を送れる社会づくりを業界横断で実現したいと考えてチームを結成しました。「働く」「暮らす」「余暇を楽しむ」という活動を自分の意思で選択できることは、豊かな生活に欠かせません。その要素の1つが、SIのテーマである「移動」だと捉えています。

――コンサルティングという仕事において、PSならではの特徴はありますか。

宮城： 通常は単年度での成果を求められるコンサルティングファームの中で、中長期で課題を捉え、解決策を見出していくことが特徴です。長い視点でビジョンを掲げ、1つのプロジェクトが終わった後に、それが形を変えて次のプロジェクトにつながることも珍しくありません。

そのため、PSはアカウント（企業／官公庁別のセクター）だけではなく、社会テーマごとにイニシアチブというチームを形成しています。これもPwC コンサルティングの特徴の1つですね。今回の連載も、イニシアチブごとにテーマを設けてコンサルタントの対談を行ってきました。

――PSのコンサルタントには、どのような素養が求められるのでしょうか。

宮城： 大きく4つあると考えています。物事を解釈してストーリーとして伝える「ストーリーテリング能力」、課題を議論するコミュニティを社内外でつくる「コミュニティ形成能力」、それを事業化できる「アントレプレナーシップ」、そして事業を大きくする「増幅する力」です。

いずれも、これまでコンサルタントの必須能力といわれてきた論理的思考などとは異なる素養であり、「暗黙知」をステークホルダーとともに共有できる「形式知」に変えていくことが求められます。また、産業を横断する難易度の高い事業を開発するには、事業を立ち上げる本人の強い意思、すなわちアントレプレナーシップが必須です。

作佐部： 自ら意思をもち、新しいアジェンダをつくる力は大切ですね。例えば、一昔前までは環境保全などの課題に対する企業の熱量は低かったのですが、いまは社会課題でありビジネスでもある。行動する人を増やすためにストーリーで語り、周りを巻き込んでビジネスを構築する力は、PSのコンサルタントに特に求められます。

南出： EQ（Emotional Intelligence Quotient）と呼ばれる、他者への共感力や感情の取り扱い能力の必要性も高まっていると思います。宮城さんが挙げたコミュニティ形成などにおいては、時として「論理」と「感情」を使い分けることが求められます。PSが関わるステークホルダーは多岐にわたり、ロジックだけでは通用しない場面も多い。さまざまな相手に共感し、行動を促す能力を発揮することで、領域横断のコラボレーションを実現し、大きなインパクトを生み出せるのだと思います。

PwCコンサルティング合同会社パートナー 南出修

内発的動機をもち、異なる専門性を掛け合わせる

――これまでの連載を振り返り、印象に残った点をお聞かせください。.

作佐部： 各テーマとも、さまざまな領域の専門をもつコンサルタントが独自の視点で意見し、それらを融合させて新たなアプローチを見出していました。いずれも上からパートナーが指示したものではなく、コンサルタントが自らの課題意識に基づき、内発的動機によって動いていることが感じられましたね。個々の思いが伝わる内容でした。

南出： 私も、コンサルタント一人ひとりが、誰かから与えられた意見ではなく、自分の原体験や考えに基づいた発信をしていると感じました。個人の価値観が多様化し、社会課題も複雑化する中で、多面的に物事を捉えることや、個人が強い想いをもつことは重要だと改めて思います。

宮城： 多様な専門性を持つコンサルタントが集結すると課題を多面的に捉えられますし、さらに別の専門領域のメンバーが解決策を見出す議論ができますね。

そして、誰もが同じプロセスで課題解決に導く時代は終わったことを改めて感じました。PSには、仕事とプライベートを完全に分けず、興味関心がある領域は生活でも実践しているメンバーが多くいます。内発的動機に基づいて仕事をしているからこそ、発信したことが相手に理解され、共感を生み出すことを実感させられた連載でした。

コラボレーションなくして、社会課題は解決できない

――pwcの特徴であるコラボレーションを促す文化が生み出す価値について、どのようにお考えですか。.

宮城： 1人のコンサルタントだけでは解決できないことが増えている時代ですから、コラボレーションは課題解決の大前提です。コンサルタントが専門領域を超えていかに連携し、課題解決に導くかを瞬時に考え、チームを組成することは欠かせません。

私がコンサルティング業界に身を置いた約30年前は、一企業の課題を1人のコンサルタントが解決する「一対一」の関係でしたが、課題が複雑化し、解決までのスピードも求められるようになりました。

さらに最近では、PwC Japanグループ内部だけでなく、近しい領域を事業としている他社とコラボレーションする事例も見られています。このような会社の枠を超えたコラボレーションが加速すると、日本のドリームチームがつくれますね。

作佐部： 同業他社だけでなく、クライアントとの関係性も変化しています。コンサルティングファームが価値を提供して対価をいただくという一方通行の関係ではなく、クライアントと一緒に価値を生み出したり、クライアントと一緒にその先の別のクライアントへ価値を提供したりするといったケースも増えてきました。

南出： 違う専門性をもつコンサルタントも交えてクライアントと議論すると、新たな発見を多く提供できますし、自分自身も純粋に面白いと感じます。これは、コラボレーションの明確な価値ではないでしょうか。

この文化が醸成されるまでを思い起こすと、印象的だったのは、15年ほど前にPwC Japanグループ内の監査法人の一部門がコンサルティングに出向し、一緒にビジネスを進めたことです。会計士とコンサルタントでは、仕事に対する考え方や能力、専門性も大きく異なります。こうしたメンバーが同じプロジェクトでクライアントの課題に向き合ったチャレンジは、今のカルチャーを生み出す源流になったと思います。かつては、組織を変えることで半ば強制的にコラボレーションを生み出していたのです。

作佐部： 複雑な課題を解決するときだけ必要なコラボレーションをすればよいと、ある意味「手段」と捉えている企業もあると思いますが、普段から専門領域を超えてコミュニケーションをとることで、コラボレーションをカルチャーの次元にまで根付かせることができます。クライアントからの依頼に対して、瞬時に躊躇なく最適なチームやメンバーで対応できる文化こそ、私たちの武器であり、強みだと感じています。

宮城： 私自身は、意見が一致していない人がコラボレーションをする場作りを意識してきたと思います。同じ考えの人たちだけではイノベーションは生まれません。考え方や専門性が異なる人たちの偶発的な出会いをつくることで、違う角度の議論が生まれ、イノベーションにつながっていくのです。

コラボレーション文化は、目の前の短期的な収益だけを考えるならば、遠回りに思えるかもしれません。今後、仮に当社の業績が落ち込むときがあっても、この活動を止めてはいけないと考えます。どのような局面においても、どのように大義をもってコラボレーションを続けるかは今のうちに考えておくべきことですね。

PwCコンサルティング合同会社 パートナー 宮城隆之

――今後どのテーマに対して、どのようにコラボレーションをして活動したいと考えていますか。

作佐部： 私自身は、毎年1つは新しい社会課題にチャレンジすることを自らに課しています。2024年は大橋歩パートナーと一緒にスタートアップ・中小企業支援のチームを立ち上げ、「中小企業×脱炭素」「ベンチャー×宇宙」「中小企業×M&A」など、いずれも領域を超えたコラボレーションによる取り組みを進めました。

2025年は、投資対効果が見出しにくい文化産業やコンテンツ産業に携わりたいと思っています。文化産業1つとっても、文化だけで課題が解決できるわけではありません。観光やスポーツ、テクノロジー、民間のエンターテインメント業界などとの連携が必要です。私たちが領域横断の取り組みをリードし、文化に新しい光を与えていきたいと思います。

宮城： 作佐部さんが挙げたテーマこそ、PSが扱うべきだと考えます。営利企業が扱う社会課題は、どうしても解決の道筋が見えているものに偏りがちであるため、短期的なリターンが得られにくい深刻な課題は取り残されてしまいます。そうした課題にメスを入れていくのが、私たちPSの役割だからです。

南出： 私は、人と人をつなぎ合わせることを積極的にやっていきたいと考えています。これまで仕事で関係をもった方々と築いた信頼貯金は、自分の財産であり、強みだと思っています。こうした信頼関係がある方々をつなげ、偶発的なイノベーションを起こし、新しい社会価値を生み出していきたいと思います。

具体的には、私が長く関わってきた人材サービス分野において、少子高齢化が進む日本の中で貴重なものである人的資本を軸に、産業を超えたつながりを生み出したいと考えています。

宮城： 私の役割は、各コンサルタントが新たなテーマを生み出していく場づくりです。そして、自分が想像する世界観を超えていくために大切にしたいことに、根気強さやネガティブケイパビリティがあります。前者は事業の成否を短期間で簡単に評価してしまわないこと、そして後者は自分が受け入れられない考え方をいったん受け止めることです。

いずれも、その瞬間は違和感を抱く営みですが、各コンサルタントが自分の中にある常識をアップデートしていくためにつくりたいカルチャーですし、この違和感を受け入れることは、今後の時代において必要なリーダーシップだと考えています。

インパクトは地道な努力の積み重ね

――未来に向けてどのような価値を創造し、psとしてバリューを発揮していきたいとお考えですか。.

作佐部： クライアントとともに未来を描き、ナビゲーションしていく役割を担っていきたいと考えています。いまや経営課題は、社会課題とも限りなく重なってきています。特定の業界に閉じて考えることなく、産業横断的に産官学をつなぎ、長期的な視点で課題を考える先導役は、国や官公庁と近い私たちPSが貢献しやすい領域と考えています。より良い社会を次の世代に残していく活動を、誇りをもって推進していきたいですね。

PwCコンサルティング合同会社 パートナー 作佐部孝哉

南出： 自ら最前面に立って、リスクに晒されながらも率先して社会課題を解決し、インパクトを発揮していきたいと思います。リスクを取らずに後方支援だけをするというコンサルティングファームへの悪しき印象を変える意味でも、私たちが思い描く世界を実現するために、クライアントを巻き込んでいくという姿勢が必要です。

宮城： 課題解決に向けてあらゆるステークホルダーと伴走するバックボーンを担うのが私たちの役割です。今後も、金銭的な価値だけでなく社会のインパクトを増幅させることに向き合っていきたいと思います。

インパクトとは、あっと驚かせるものを一瞬で生み出すことではなく、現実は泥臭い活動の積み重ねです。現場の経験がなければイノベーションは起こせませんから、コンサルタント全員が現場の感性を持つべきですし、活動の成果が出るのはかなり先のことになるでしょう。もしかしたら、努力の成果は自分の世代では花開かないかもしれませんが、一歩を踏み出して続けることに意味がある。そうしたタイムラグがある活動に対して向き合い続け、それを評価する会社でありたいと考えています。

パートナー, PwCコンサルティング合同会社

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Deaths Linked to Japanese Supplement Suddenly Rise to 80

The case, involving a supplement intended to reduce cholesterol, has put attention on how companies are allowed to self-report claims about their products.

By River Akira Davis and Hisako Ueno

Reporting from Tokyo

A Japanese pharmaceutical company is investigating 80 deaths possibly linked to a yeast-containing supplement it sells in Japan, the country’s health ministry said Friday, in a shocking increase from an earlier revelation that is focusing attention on how supplements are regulated.

The company, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, in March had reported five deaths potentially linked to its CholesteHelp rice and red-yeast pills. Japanese government health officials said the supplement, which is claimed to help reduce cholesterol, contained the highly toxic compound called puberulic acid that is a product of mold.

In response to the sudden surge in reported deaths, Health Minister Keizo Takemi said it was “extremely regrettable” that Kobayashi Pharmaceutical had not updated the ministry sooner. The company, which is based in Osaka, had not provided new information on deaths potentially linked to CholesteHelp since March.

Since then, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has received reports that 1,656 people sought medical advice for CholesteHelp-related health concerns, and 289 people have been hospitalized, the company reported. CholesteHelp has been recalled in Japan and China, the only countries the supplement was sold in, according to a spokeswoman for Kobayashi Pharmaceutical.

Mr. Takemi said the government would step in to take a more active role in investigating, after allowing the company to self-report its findings. “We cannot leave Kobayashi Pharmaceutical alone to handle it anymore,” he said.

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical was founded in 1919. While it is not one of Japan’s top pharmaceutical companies, it produces a variety of supplements and health products such as hand warmers and air fresheners, some of which are sold in the United States and elsewhere in Asia.

Quality control guidelines related to supplements and other products making health claims were established in Japan in 2015. Those regulations are perceived to be less stringent than Japan’s rules governing prescription medications. Companies are typically responsible for self-reporting compliance rather than undergoing state screenings.

In the United States, where the dietary supplement market is booming , organizations like the American Medical Association have urged the Food and Drug Administration to implement stricter rules to ensure supplement safety. Dietary supplements marketed for weight loss and muscle building have been linked with a number of deaths in the United States.

At a news conference in March when the potentially CholesteHelp-related deaths were first disclosed, the president of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, Akihiro Kobayashi, apologized for not providing information sooner and said he had “no words.”

River Akira Davis covers Japan, including its economy and businesses, and is based in Tokyo. More about River Akira Davis

Hisako Ueno is a reporter and researcher based in Tokyo, writing on Japanese politics, business, labor, gender and culture. More about Hisako Ueno

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Energy availability and interstitial fluid glucose changes in elite male japanese triathletes during training camp: a case study.

1. Introduction

2.1. subjects, 2.2. experimental overview, 2.3. energy and macronutrient intakes, 2.4. eee and ea, 2.6. statistical analyses, 3.1. energy and macronutrients intakes, 3.4. igc profiles, 3.5. relationships of nocturnal igc with ea and ei, 3.6. relationship between eee and ei, 4. discussion, 4.1. nocturnal igc, 4.2. daytime igc, 4.3. limitations and future perspectives, 5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Hiromatsu, C.; Goto, K. Energy Availability and Interstitial Fluid Glucose Changes in Elite Male Japanese Triathletes during Training Camp: A Case Study. Nutrients 2024 , 16 , 2048. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16132048

Hiromatsu C, Goto K. Energy Availability and Interstitial Fluid Glucose Changes in Elite Male Japanese Triathletes during Training Camp: A Case Study. Nutrients . 2024; 16(13):2048. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16132048

Hiromatsu, Chiyori, and Kazushige Goto. 2024. "Energy Availability and Interstitial Fluid Glucose Changes in Elite Male Japanese Triathletes during Training Camp: A Case Study" Nutrients 16, no. 13: 2048. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16132048

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