ビジネスケース：島根県隠岐郡海⼠町の⾏政改⾰

The Oki Islands, located about 60 km off the coast of the Sea of Japan, north of Shimane Prefecture, constitute an administrative division called Oki District. One of the four manned islands, Nakanoshima, which has an area of 33.43 ㎢ and a circumference of 89.1 km, is called Ama Town as a basic municipality, and it is said that about 7,000 people lived around 1950 at its peak time. The number is, however, currently less than 2,300. The population by over 60 reaches 47.73% and the islanders call this situation a "microcosm of Japan." The climate is relatively warm, and it is a semi-agricultural and semi-fishing island. As is often the case, a traditional local food became the detonator of the island revitalization. The recent popular souvenir "Sazae Curry" was once a home-cooked dish for the islanders using turban shells and delivers the exquisiteness particular to the land and nostalgia of a sort. This is, however, memorabilia of the old days when the "Sazae" was a substitute meat for unwealthy fishermen. Today, on the contrary, the island's agriculture, forestry and fisheries has become known to deliver local specialities such as Oki beef of range cattle, farmed rock oysters from the natural coves, and squids that utilize the latest quick-freezing technology, etc. This economic restructuring is not the only achievement that the administrative reform of Ama Town has demonstrated, which also covers local finance and public education. As a business case, this paper provides a clearer picture of the process of the reform that was initiated in 2000s by the former town mayor, Michio Yamauchi.

研究ノート(Research Notes)