6 Years On: Iwate governor eyes revitalization beyond reconstruction

March 6, 2017

MORIOKA, IWATE Pref.- Iwate Governor Takuya Tasso has pledged to carry out far-sighted projects to revitalize regional economies in the northeastern Japan prefecture, primarily by promoting local tourism under its coming third reconstruction program.

"I'll work on regional revitalization beyond disaster reconstruction for the future of the prefecture," Tasso said in an interview ahead of the sixth anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The prefecture is expected to complete the construction of some 80 pct of planned public housing for disaster victims by the end of March, according to Tasso. It has also built many hospitals and school buildings, he said. But the prefecture's reconstruction efforts have been hampered by severe labor shortages, while local businesses suffered major losses of sales channels in the disaster, he noted.

"We aim to encourage more people to work in seafood processing and other food industries and nurture these as basic regional industries," Tasso said. "We also hope to invigorate local industries by expanding exchanges of people," he said, expressing eagerness to take advantage of such opportunities as the 2019 Rugby World Cup, when the Iwate city of Kamaishi will host matches. In the new reconstruction program being drawn up for the two years from April, the prefecture plans to provide support for all disaster victims by reconstruction measures that respond better to local conditions, he noted.

Tasso also pledged to look beyond disaster reconstruction and push ahead with regional revitalization efforts by, for example, upgrading Sanriku Geopark, in the prefecture's Sanriku region on the Pacific coast, and establishing a so-called Destination Management Organization to spearhead local tourism promotion. The governor then asked the central government to secure budgets that fit the actual situation in each disaster area, instead of fixing a specific support period. "We want visionary policy measures that local municipalities can't come up with by themselves, as well as meeting their requests," he said.

On the series of strong earthquakes that rocked Kumamoto Prefecture and its vicinity in southwestern Japan in April 2016, Tasso said his government sent personnel to Kumamoto soon after the quakes and provided information on processing paperwork on disaster waste.

"We were able to utilize lessons from the March 2011 disaster," he noted. In preparation for future large-scale natural disasters, Tasso stressed the importance of creating an institutional mechanism for collaboration between local governments and between local governments and specialist organizations. Jiji Press