Cultural Impact on Economic Resilience in Japanese Rural Area - A comparative study on community’s capacity development between Nagahama city and Koka city -

Kiyoto KUROKAWA Ritsumeikan University

Key words: community involvement, disaster mitigation, economic empowerment and disaster preventions, suspended dam constructions

JEL: R58

I. Introduction 1.1 Background We can easily observe many floods because of heavy intensive rains, nowadays. And we will face more risks on the possible further floods caused by typhoon as well. Our government, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MILTT) established flood control plans including constructions of dams, dikes, reservoir and banks. In the beginning of 2000, many planed dams were suspended because of the environmental damages. At that time, it was said that dams were harmful to the diversity of natural lives. Actually, many dam projects were suspended and now, we cannot control floods in those targeted area. Early warning system could be one of the solutions. But they cannot enhance the resilience of the community. In this study, we focus on software components such as community empowerment instead of hardware components such as dams. The possible mitigations to save villagers lives are capacity building to tackle the risks. We selected our study area Ngaoka and Koka city because of their potential risks of flood and their higher community involvements. We identified their strong commitments come from their historical and cultural backgrounds. Finally, the strong economic resilience was identified among their local community organizations and their local governments.

1.2 Problem statements We have identified several problems on floods caused by heavy intensive rains. In , there are several flood risk areas around Lake Biwa. Because the lake is surrounded by the mountains. To control the risks of floods, our central government, MILT (Ministry of Land and Transportation) has decided to construct several water reservoirs around the lake. However, the understandings of the construction were not easy because of the public movement of unti-dam construction. The environmentalists expressed their anti-dam policy by emphasizing the importance of biodiversity. Then, how they can protect themselves from the potential risks of floods. This is the most urgent problem in this region. And in 2019, the governor of Shiga prefecture decided to re-consider the construction plans of dams in Shiga prefecture. Occasionally, in Kumamoto prefecture, they had a big flood caused by non-dam construction policy in 2020. This can be a good chance to review the flood controlling system including awareness of the local people.

1.3 Motivations of the study We had a long history of cooperation with Koka and Nagahama city in the field of local economic revitalization programs including updates of tourist maps and questionnaire survey. These two cities are close to our campus and Shiga prefectural government is encouraging universities to work with local governments and communities. Occasionally, we have got a small funding to work with these cities, called “Lake Biwa University Consortium”. And we identified several unique local treasures not only for physical but also cultural uniqueness, and social capital including community capacity to cope with natural disasters.

1.4 Research objectives We identified the following facts via a series of discussions with stakeholders in Shiga prefecture including Nagahama, Omi-hachiman, and Koka city. The objectives of this study are; i) to identify the economic resilience among the target communities, ii) to understand the challenges to promote “Dam construction policy” iii) to understand the new roles of local universities to enhance the economic resilience in neighboring cities. And finally, we will find why the local government decided to review the suspended plan of “Daido dam”, but “Nio Dam”. We will find the role of the community.

II. Previous studies 2.1 Basic facts of Koka City and Nagahama City Koka and Nagahama are a part of Shiga prefecture. And both cities have a long history, good access to big cities including Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya and famous tourists destinations. However, they have natural disaster, especially landslides and floods.

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Table-1: Basic facts of Koka city and Nagahama city Koka city Nagahama City Area (Km2) 481.69 Km2 681.02 Km2 (c.f. Tokyo Metropolitan area 627Km2) Population 90,174 (1 November 2020) 116,940 (1 December 2020) Local train Shigaraki railroad (14.7 km) Hokuriku railroad Express way Shin Meishin Express way Meishin and Hokuriku Express way Historical treasure Old ruins of Shigaraki palace (745) Kurokabe Square and Hikiyama museum Distance to urban 81.5 Km (to Nagoya) 78Km (to Nagoya) 38.7 Km (to Kyoto) 100Km (to Kyoto) Local specialty Shigaraki yaki Nagahama Chirimen (Silk Crepe) goods (1,300 years history) (300 years history) Shukuba post Tsuchiyama-juku and Minakuchi-juku Ngahama-Juku(Hokkoku-Kaido, road stations (travelers’ (Tokai-do, road from Kyoto to Tokyo from Kyoto to Hokuriku) rest town) (Coastal road)) (Mountain road) (Source: local government web site etc., adopted by author) Koka and Nagahama city are quite big because of merger of several cities and towns in early 2000. We have also examined their industrial structure. (See Table-5) One of the big differences is the big portion of manufacturing industry in Koka city. And Both cities have good access to the big cities including Kyoto, Osaka and Nagaya.

Figure-1 Location of Koka and Nagahama, Table-2 Industrial structure of Koka and Nagahama

Million yen Koka Nagahama Agriculture 6,360 7,340 Manufacturing 1,025,764 595,646 Industry(2015) Retail(2015) 150,686 207,670 Sightseeing visitors 2.8 7.1 (Million/year) (2016)

(Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 2020)

2.2 Community preparedness survey by Shiga prefectural government The prefectural government of Shiga conducted questionnaire surveys on the community preparedness on natural disasters, especially for floods preparedness. (Shiga Prefecture 2020) It was a comparative study between 2007 and 2018 and indicated several differences among the community. Some of them indicated good improvements as follows. i) Organization rates for disaster volunteers among the community improved from 66.7% in

3 2007 to 77.9% in 2018. ii) Recognition rates of “hazard maps” from 49.5% in 2007 to 73.2 % in 2018. iii) No evacuation drill community decreased from 56.2 % in 2007 to 40.5% in 2018. However, some of the answers clearly indicated the reduced resilience as follows. i) Positive answers for “expected evacuation”, more than half of the community decreased from 69.7 % in 2009 to 52.9 % in 2018. This means nearly half will stay their home in spite of the evacuation announcement at the risk situation. ii) Disaster experienced people recognized by the community people decreased from 79.5 % in 2009 to 62.1% in 2018. This means they cannot get enough information from the experienced elderly. From this survey, we can understand the awareness and capacity of the communities increased but the practical decisions could not be made because of the lack of experienced leaders. And Shiga prefectural government are collecting disaster related information, lessons learned and photos from the community people. That informal information including how to identify the risks of floods, indicated mutual help sprits among the community.

2.3 Special mindsets of the community people in Ohmi district. To understand the local mindset for their daily life, Sanpo-Yoshi is essential for both cities since they had strong motivation to work for the community. And many private companies including Kokuyo co., ltd and Yammer co., ltd. • Seken-yoshi: (Good for society) • Urite-yoshi: (Good for seller) • Kaite-yoshi: (Good for customer) (Source: Shiga Prefecture, The Foundation(2020), et al) In our study, we focused on local re-vitalization aspect of Sanpo- Yoshi. Then, we found many CSR activities among the companies in Shiga prefecture. The Japanese culture stresses the importance of maintaining group harmony, saving face, and maintaining emotional ties such as “amae” or emotional dependence, “on” or obligation and “giri-ninjo” or affection. (Doi, 1971; Yabuuchi, 2004) We can call this, as a “Group-centered culture”. But the dam construction decision is not easy. Some groups will be against the plan in spite of public welfare. But as far as we observed, we found very limited disagreement among the community.

2.4 Suspended dam projects in Koka and Nagahama city In 2019, the governor, Mr. Mikazuki announced that we will reconsider the planed dam projects because of recent heavy rains. And accordingly, we realized the impact of this decision can be a big issue for the flood risks in the communities. In Koka city, Daido dam construction plan,

4 which was suspended in early 2000, is now under the review process by the prefectural government.

2.5 Kuma River Floods in Kumamoto Prefecture We observed huge flood disaster in 2020 along Kuma river in Kumamoto Prefecture. Some people criticized the suspended dam construction of Kawabe Dam in 2008 was a wrong decision and if they constructed the dam, then such a disaster can be well controlled like Yanba dam, Gunma prefecture. Occasionally, Yanba dam successfully controlled the possible flood risk by Typhoon No. 19 in 2019. (MLITt 2020) This fact influenced public awareness for dam construction. But, some people are still against the constructions.

III. A Comparative Study 3.1 A flood risks and cultural comparison between Koka and Nagahama We visited both flood risk area, Daido river and Anegawa river. We visited several times to see the possible re-vitalization programs. Our survey scope was; i)To understand the potential tourist destinations and treasures to attract younger generations. ii)To identify possible solutions to tackle the possible flood risks with the communities. Accordingly, we have been conducting field surveys in Shiga prefecture including Kusatsu, Otsu, Nagahama, Omi-hachiman, and Koka city since 2013. We summarized our main findings into the comparison table. (See Table-3) Table-3: A Comparison of Culture and Natural Disaster between Koka and Nagahama Koka City Nagahama City Local treasures Ninja, Shigaraki pottery Nagahama castle, Kurokabe Square Tourism strategy Alternative tourism (Learning tourism) Foods specialties Medical herb Fermented foods Natural disaster Floods, Land slide Religion “Shugendo”: Japanese mountain Buddhism backgrounds asceticism incorporating Shinto and Buddhism Flooding river Daido river Anegawa river (Length 38 km, Catchment 190 km²) (Length 39 Km, Catchment 686 km²) Suspended dam Daido dam Niu Dam plan (Upper stream of Yodo River) (Upper stream of Anegawa River) Recent Natural Typhoon No. 18 in September 2015 Typhoon No.5 in August 2017 Disaster (Floods) Daido River Anegawa river 1 death, 9 injured 550 residents evacuated 500 houses flooded in Otsu city. Commercialism Ohmi merchants, Hino merchants Free market and open guilds Neighboring city Hino town Hikone city (Merchant city) (Castle city) Business Sanpo-Yoshi Self-respect and independence Philosophy (Good for seller, buyer and society) (Autonomy) (Source: Adopted by the author from the web sites of Koka and Nagahama etc.)

5 IV. Findings 4.1 Mutual help sprits Our study found out some challenges and similarities of community roles between Koka and Nagahama city. For their mutual help sprits, we found religious influences, especially Buddhism was strongly identified. Accordingly, 4.2 Practical trainings for evacuation According to our interview survey, their evacuation training was very limited in spite of many practical knowledge sharing among the village. Flood prevention practice such as preparation of sandbags for floods are inevitable. And drill of evacuations can be carried out with local university students.

V. Conclusions and further studies 5.1 Conclusions During our study, we learned roles of cultural motivations for disaster prevention. To activate our local economy, good managements of natural disaster, especially floods preparedness can be the most urgent matter in this region. Many dam projects were suspended in early 2000. But after that, we had many floods all over Japan. Some governors and community people are supporting dam construction plans. But it is not perfect and still needs some improvement to activate people’s awareness. All the private companies are trying to expand their CSR activities. However, they do not have strong commitment to the local economy. Consultations between community, local university and local governments could assure better argument about their natural disaster preventions. 5.2 Further studies For Daido dam project, local people were not against the construction plan. However, the governor Ms. Kada was against the plan. The role of community opinion should be reviewed to have sustainable management plan of the flood risks. Because to mitigate the disaster, people’s awareness is essential. We cannot control everything just by the dam. Selected References and URL [1] Doi, T. (1971). Amae no Kozo (Structure of Dependence). Tokyo: Kobundo. [2] Wolf Ruth (2013) Management Relations in the Work Culture in Japan as Compared to That of the West, Innovative Journal of Business and Management 2 : 5 September-October (2013) pp.116 -122, Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences & Economics Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel [3] Daido Dam construction office (2020) https://www-1.kkr.mlit.go.jp/daido/know/gaiyo.html final access on 20 November 2020 [4] Higashi Omi city (2020) “Sanpo-Yoshi Research committee”, Higashi Omi city, Shiga prefecture http://sanpo-yoshi.blogspot.com final access on 16 July 2020 [5] Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLITT) [6] Shiga Prefectural Government (2020) “Lake Biwa University Consortium”, https://www.kanbiwa.jp final access on 20 November 2020

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