{"id":2333,"date":"2025-05-02T09:52:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T07:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/?p=2333"},"modified":"2025-05-02T09:53:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T07:53:57","slug":"guest-contribution-collaborative-community-planning-in-minakami-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/2025\/05\/02\/guest-contribution-collaborative-community-planning-in-minakami-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Contribution: Collaborative community planning in Minakami (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Arne Bartzsch<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my last blog post, I introduced Minakami, a small onsen<\/em> town in Gunma Prefecture that, like so many rural towns in Japan, is struggling with various structural problems. In order to revitalize the town\u2019s main touristic area, Minakami Onsen or Yubara, various measures and projects of urban planning were proposed in the Minakami’s 2020 master plan and other plans. Particularly interesting is a current project that relies on the collaboration between of business (san<\/em>), administration (kan<\/em>), academia (gaku<\/em>) and \ufb01nance (kin<\/em>), which I will introduce in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Machizukuri event at the project\u2019s central location in Minakami Onsen<\/em>
Copyright \u00a9 Urban Design Laboratory, University of Tokyo 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning, two measures were taken to solve the prominent problem of abandoned houses and properties in Minakami Onsen. First, a cleanup campaign was conducted at several deserted sites, bringing lightness to the townscape and new spatial prospects. And second, for smaller vacant commercial or residential buildings, an executive committee was established as an intermediary between owners and potential users. That measure provided facilities for some new businesses in or near the district. The next step was about improving public space to create a more appealing and easy-to-walk touristic area. Under the concept of \u201c5 public places\u201d (itsutsu no hiroba<\/em>), three places in Yubara and one each at the train station and the michi no e<\/em>ki were selected to help connecting the onsen-gai <\/em>and the Tone River areas. The keyword of \u201cwalkability\u201d emphasizes ease of access and leisure. This project is supported by special funding by Gunma Prefecture. The actual joint development project of the four partners, however, does not focus on the entire Minakami Onsen area, but on a central site in Yubara in the area of the former Hotel Ichiyo-Tei. Here, a public square is planned, with a park linking the onsen-gai<\/em> with the riverbank and an open area for markets, events and festivals (matsuri<\/em>). New buildings on the base of remaining structures (sustainable use of \u201egrey energy\u201c) will house a hotel as well as touristic and public facilities. However, the \ufb01nal design of this site has not yet been decided but is depending on the search for suitable operators and tenants and on remaining questions about the urban layout. For example, a new public onsen<\/em> bathhouse is in consideration, and also the scale of space for parking lots is still an issue of discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The University of Tokyo\u2019s Urban Design Laboratory is introducing the urban development project on-site<\/em> Copyright \u00a9 Urban Design Laboratory, University of Tokyo 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The project is a collaboration of \u201csan-kan-gaku-kin\u201d (business, administration, academia and \ufb01nance) and the project design re\ufb02ects the speci\ufb01c roles and motives of the four partners involved. The business side (san<\/em>) is represented by The Open House Group, an expanding real estate investor, active in urban development. Since the company\u2019s roots are in Gunma Prefecture, interest in investing in Minakami is strong. The company has acquired the former hotel Ichiyo-Tei – beside several other real estate in the community, including a ski-resort and plots of land for luxury accommodations. The commitment of Open House proofs that Minakami is an attractive place for investment. And it re\ufb02ects a general trend of real estate investment in Japan to \ufb02ee the heated marked in Tokyo and other major cities, and to look for profitable projects in the countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality of Minakami represents the administration (kan<\/em>). It has chosen the former Ichiyo-Tei as the project\u2019s main site because of its central location and the relevance for strategic communal development, but also because of certain necessities. The site comprises several large buildings and has a long history under the former name \u201cHigaki Hotel\u201d. In 2019, the hotel ceased operations. Due to debts and irregularities on the part of the previous owner, the municipality was left to struggle with the desolate site and considerable financial burdens. In the search for redevelopment opportunities and suitable investors, the Open House Group came onto the scene. This cooperation, and the concentration of the project\u2019s scope to this central area, were strategic moves by the municipality, which had (and still has) to manage its limited resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial support came from the Gunma Bank which represents the \ufb01nance sector (kin<\/em>). The bank\u2019s support is important for the municipality which bears the main burden of demolition, renovation and rebuilding of the hotel\u2019s facilities. The building site itself, however, was acquired by the Open House Group who will be its lessor. This pattern of separate ownership of a real estate\u2019s site and the objects built on it is quite common in Japan. In any case, the realization of this project goes along with substantial investment backup, and with considerable risk as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Citizens discussing local urban planning with the Urban Design Laboratory of Tokyo University<\/em>
Copyright \u00a9 Arne Bartzsch 2024<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To link this business development with a sound and sustainable local development, a proper framework of urban design and planning is inevitable. For this purpose, important expertise could be secured from the Urban Design Laboratory of the Department of Urban Engineering of Tokyo University which represents academia (gaku<\/em>) in this project. Sponsored by the Open House Group, the Urban Design Laboratory is supporting the municipality\u2019s planning department with know-how, project design, organization and other activities. The Tokyo University, on the other hand, benefits from interesting opportunities for fieldwork education of its students, and from budget enhancement through third-party funding. The Urban Design Laboratory\u2019s main tasks are to coordinate the central project at the former Ichiyo-Tei with comprehensive local development strategies, and to design a suitable framework for citizens\u2019 participation, including facilitating the concurrent process. While seminar groups conduct on-site research of local histories, the Urban Design Laboratory is also taking part in the formal planning process. It discusses ideas and designs in public workshops, publishes information via various media, and initiates further dialog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March\u00e9 at the \u201cHigaki-dorm\u201d in Yubara<\/em>
Copyright \u00a9 Urban Design Laboratory, University of Tokyo 2024<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The former Ichiyo-Tei has become the main location for activities of the Tokyo University student group, especially the abandoned accommodation buildings for employees of the former hotel, the \u201eHigaki-dorm.\u201c The students, who frequently come from Tokyo for the project, have cleaned the desolate site and continue to provisionally renovate the buildings. They are joined by motivated citizens. While being accommodated privately, they can experience local life and develop cordial and trustful relationships. In the autumn of 2022, a market (March\u00e9) was organized by the Tokyo University students at the Higaki-dorm. This form of event with \ufb02ea-market, food-stands, project workshops and information tables are fashionable in present-day Japan, and it became quite a success in Yubara, too. It was repeated in 2023 and 2024 and expanded to additional sites. Machizukuri<\/em> events like this attract a large number of visitors and serve as multipliers for information about the project, and as measures for confidence-building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arne Bartzsch graduated as M.A. of Information Science and Japanese Studies from Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin. He is researching topics of cultural information and local development. In Japan, he has taken part in various machizukuri activities. Knowledge transfer between Germany and South Korea about re-unification and transformation was another long-term project.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Arne Bartzsch In my last blog post, I introduced Minakami, a small onsen town in Gunma Prefecture that, like so many rural towns in Japan, is struggling with various structural problems. In order to revitalize the town\u2019s main touristic … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7641,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions\/2339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}