Two Field Surveys & Two“Kouzoukaikaku Tokku Proposals”to Meet Challenges to the Quality of Life in the Pastoral Town of Uenohara

Fumio TANIGUCHI

“River Terrace” characterizes the daily life of the people in the pastoral town of Uenohara where Teikyo University of Science and Technology (TUST) was established in 1990.  The author of this article have been invited to lecture in the Management Engineering Department on industry and business economics based on his knowledge and experience as an industrial economist and member of the corporate staff involved in promoting the commercialization of new products of Toray Industries Inc., an innovative company in the polymer science field.

After a few years since joining TUST, he began to realize the relentless depopulation of the remote areas of the town caused by the aging population and declining birthrate.  He started to investigate ways to meet the challenges and help maintain the quality of life in this pastoral community.

The first step was to count the total number of vehicles over a twenty four hour period, both on weekdays and at weekends, not only big dump trucks, road tankers, trailers and buses but also passenger cars, commercial vehicles and very small family cars that passed in both directions along National Route 20, where people are unable to do their daily shopping without the risk of a traffic accident.  The number of vehicles passing every ten minutes was reported to the municipal authorities and a plan to build a tunnel was proposed so that traffic could pass through the town but bypass the main shopping street.

The second step was to count total number of passengers in and out of using trains at JR Uenohara Station from the first train at 5:20 to the last train at 24:50, to know the exact number and direction of travelers every ten minutes both on weekdays and at weekends.  These data were also reported to the municipal authorities and a plan was proposed for a new bus terminal in front of the south exit of the station.

The author found these two proposals were shelved owing to an insufficient municipal budget and administrative regulations and so he became determined to take the opportunity to bring his ideas to the Koizumi Kouzoukaikaku platform hoping to open the window on improving the Quality of Life in this pastoral town of Uenohara.

His first idea was to set up a “car-sharing scheme” based on a dating site system to let those people with almost no private transportation get a lift easily and legally by asking neighbors and by paying, not in legal tender, but in private local currency.

His second idea was to allow the divisional ownership of land for the first time in Japan just like those legalized in the case of an individual residence within a condominium.  The author has observed over the last fifteen years that very large spaces in front of the south exit have not been utilized efficiently not only in terms of people’s QOL but also with regard to municipal design and development.

These two proposals were ranked “D” by government officials, which　　 means they could be put into practice immediately under the existing laws and no new specific Kouzoukaikaku regulations were necessary.