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INTRODUCTION
One of the largest issues Japan has, and currently faces, is a decline in population and birthrates. While having shown effects nationwide, rural municipalities have seen the largest effects with its young adults additionally moving to the urban capitals to seek higher education and opportunity leaving rural towns and cities, with a declining population, an aging workforce, and dying industries. According to the 2024 report, 744 municipalities, over 40% of all municipalities, are projected to be at risk of disappearance by 2050 1.
This issue has sparked Japan’s government to enact policy to combat its declining population and affected municipalities. However, due to faults of national action, it has led local government, communities, and actors to take it within their own hands to redevelop their towns and cities.
The intention of this research is to investigate where architecture can play in municipal revitalization through creating identity by telling the greater story of how they would come through fruition including, national and local policy, community action, and national and international circumstances that would affect the courses of action. Through this, we are able to dive deeper into the process of revitalization through architecture, understanding the cause of faults and success. This paper specifically looks at the town of Naoshima, within the Kagawa prefecture, as an example of a new architecture development in Japan’s rural environment, and Kanazawa, a city within the Ishikawa prefecture, as an example of preservative architectural development in Japan’s urban environment, as well as a comparison between the two.
THE CURRENT STATE OF DEPOPULATION IN JAPAN AND ITS DISAPPEARING RURAL MUNICIPALITIES
Since the 1970s and leading into the 21st century, Japan’s largest issue has been a steady widespread decline in its population. Due to the increasing decline in the birthrate within major cities, amplified by the desire of young adults within rural municipalities to move to urban capitals, this fall is expected to increase over coming years, largely affecting rural areas, placing them at higher risk of disappearing within the near future.
2.1 Japan’s Population Decline
Having started in the 1970’s, Japan’s depopulation has become increasingly dire since 2010 with a consistent annual decline of 250,000. In a 2012 projection by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) it was believed that the decline would exceed the 250,000 annual decrease, and by 2030 would reach a population of 116.6 million 2. Current census data tells us the growth appears to be following this trend with the decline growing from a 0.09% fall in annual population in 2010 to 0.5% in 2024, with a loss of 660,000 from 2023 to 2024 3.
Falling parallel to this is Japan’s birthrate with Japan’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) having taken a dive since the 1970’s. The predicted drop of Japan’s population to 116.8 million above was reached through a suggested continual rate of the 2013 TFR at 1.43, however, as of 2022, it has dropped to 1.26 4. In order for the population to begin to level, the TFR would need to rise back to 2.1 5. The lowering fertility rate is believed to be due to the increasing migration of Japan’s young adults moving to urban capitals, which has seen changes in the socioeconomic work culture of working women as well as a lack of support provided to working couples with children, incentivising women to not have children.