Abstract

Although tax revenues for Japanese local governments (prefectures, cities, towns and villages) are no longer expected to be back on an upward trend in the future, the expenditures of these governments for welfare, healthcare and public works projects show no sign of decreasing. As a result, almost all Japanese local governments have accumulated huge debts to an uncontrollable level. An extreme case was seen in Yubari City in Hokkaido, which nearly went bankrupt in June 2006. In addition to the financial problems of many Japanese local governments, the issue of aging public facilities is becoming clear. Because many of these facilities were built in the 1960s and 1970s, they are expected to need large-scale repairs or reconstruction in the near future. If the amount of revenue in local governments does not increase, which is predicted to be highly likely, most local governments will not be able to repair or reconstruct all of these existing public facilities. In order to avoid bankruptcy, local governments are said to need to pull their heads out of the sand and look at reality. Not only local governments but also other stakeholders of public facilities, such as politicians and citizens, also have to be more responsible. Japanese local governments are required to make plans to deal with their issues of finances and facilities taking into account the framework of their budget and implement the plans step by step. This case shows an example of a Japanese city that experienced a merger of small towns. In the midst of tackling the issues of redundant public facilities in its former town districts, the city came to realize the importance of dealing with public facilities, based on the idea of the Public Facility Management, in its entire area. By describing the process of the city introducing the new idea and compiling its basic plan and action program, this case provides some clues for an organization to optimize its assets. In addition, this case casts the limelight on some city officials who were working on the reorganization issues of public facilities. An official in a middle management position tries to use this opportunity to get public facilities back to the hands of the citizens while her boss, who is not so serious about the issues, just tries to utilize this chance to climb up the corporate ladder. This case also portrays a woman living in a town district who is afraid that the city will compile its new projects without knowing the real situation in the town district very well. She points out during an explanatory meeting some hands-on information that the city should have taken into account. By describing various kinds of stakeholders of public facilities, this case provides an opportunity for the readers to think how these stakeholders should cooperate together in order to manage public facilities in a city. For readers who are not familiar with Japanese bureaucratic organizations, this case provides some information about the Japanese local government systems, cultures and customs as much as possible in an attempt to help readers understand the case. The Case is divided into two parts (Case A and Case B) in an attempt to stop the readers at the two turning points and encourage them to think at each phase. Case A ends at the time when City A has to decide the principle of a plan about the future of its public facilities. Case B ends the time when City A’s action program of its public facilities is going on but the city official who has been involved in the process of making the principle and the action program has been forced to leave the job. The Case is separated into two parts but both parts are linked to each other and have to be examined together. Therefore, the consulting notes for both cases are combined.

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