Governor aims to promote Iwate’s attractions

March 6, 2018

Morioka, Iwate Pref.- Iwate Governor Takuya Tasso has pledged to promote the attractions of the northeastern Japan prefecture seven years after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in 2011 while focusing on human resources development.

"Reconstruction is still under way," Tasso said in an interview. Labor shortages are coinciding with the postdisaster reconstruction, becoming an impediment to industrial revival, he noted.

"We'll step up efforts to develop human resources capable of corporate management and nurture personnel working in the agriculture, forestry and fishery industries, in order to create a society where people want to stay, return, and work and live," Tasso said.

He added that the prefecture plans to work on attracting tourists from other parts of Japan and abroad partly through the utilization of new transportation systems, such as roads built or being built to support the reconstruction.

According to Tasso, more than 7,750 people still live in temporary housing and other makeshift facilities in the prefecture.

He said that the prefecture will move ahead with projects to build public housing for people dislocated by the disaster and reconstruct damaged homes.

Noting that Iwate was also hit hard by a powerful typhoon in 2016, Tasso said that the prefectural government will provide assistance that fully meets the needs of affected areas.

On the prefecture's declining population, Tasso said that the restoration efforts are a countermeasure on the issue.

"We'll establish appealing workplaces and create an attractive society for young people and women in light of work and life," he said.

The governor also expressed his eagerness to publicize the prefecture's increased "regional potential" through opportunities including the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, for which some matches will be held in the Iwate city of Kamaishi, and events to help prevent the memories of the March 2011 disaster from being forgotten.

On an organization that will succeed the Reconstruction Agency, which will be dissolved by the end of fiscal 2020, Tasso said that the new body should have functions to look at disaster areas from a cross-ministry perspective.

Tasso said that he wants the new organization to listen to the voices of affected municipalities in moving forward with reconstruction projects. Jiji Press