Recognizing the Resources of Bungotakada

114

Table 4 - A-A-A description of Yufuin

Attributes Agents Actions

Sense of Community

• vision to establish a hot spring resort area

• “a good place to live and place that people would want to visit”

• Dr. Seiroku Honda

• Yufuin Tourist Association

• Mr.

Mizoguchi

• Mr. Nakaya

• Yufuin local government

• Study tours to Germany

• Plant trees and plants

• Transportation Policy

• Design of walkways

• Restoration of Kinrinko Lake

• Built botanical parks and wildlife preserves

• Built public hall

• Established music festival

• Public facilities – toilets, waste bins, signs

• Preservation of traditional architecture and landscape

• Production of tourist maps

• Local specialty products

Commitment • Yufuin Tourist Association took over many public sector activities to promote vision and achieve objectives

Objectives • environmental preservation

• economic development

Resources • many natural resources pointed out by Dr. Honda:

nature, hot springs, architecture, local traditional products

• public-private partnerships

Source: Author

Similar to Tables 2 and 3, Table 4 highlights the specifics of community capacity in Yufuin.

Yufuin was particularly successful at setting and achieving their objectives, therefore the actions column is noticeably long. Furthermore, it should also be pointed out that the primary stimulus for the active objective setting was the consolidation of the commitment to the community vision. Without the guiding principles of the preservation of the natural and traditional atmosphere in accordance with the development of tourist destination successful attainment of objectives, prosperity, and the notoriety of Yufuin as a resort would have not been possible; thus, reinforcing the importance of the community capacity attributes and their relationship with community outcomes.

115 (Quibria, 1993, p. 5). Furthermore, in terms of poverty reduction, it is necessary for a community to identify and utilize its own local resources in order to grow accordingly. Jean-Pierre Cling (2002) notes that “pro-poor growth aimed directly at reducing poverty …must use the factors of production that they possess (p. 36).” In other words, the utilization of local resources is necessary for improving the lives of people, noting that the scale of poverty that Cling is referring to is not limited to only economic poverty. The identification, access, and use of local resources become particularly poignant in addressing holistic community development through the scope of community capacity.

The case of Bungotakada demonstrates how even forgotten and under-utilized resources can bring fulfillment and prosperity to a community through the revitalization of the commercial district and creation of a Showa-era village. Bungotakada is a sleepy rural town of 25,000 in Oita Prefecture and after several years of economic slowdown, due in part to urban migration and the suspension of regular train service to the town, resolved in the early 1990s to do something to revitalize their dying commercial district.

The municipal administration along with the Bungotakada Commerce and Industry Association spent nearly eight years researching possible avenues for their revitalization. Two major outcomes of the research period in Bungotakada were the proposal for a large scale commercial overhaul, proposed by an external consulting firm, and a book entitled Street Stories of Bungotakada City produced by the Commerce and Industry Association. Through the research for the book, the resources of the town were explored and it was noticed that the community was very active in the 1960s. After rejecting the proposal of the consulting firm to completely overhaul the commercial area, citing the high cost and loss of local personality, a municipal project was launched in 1997 to study reviving the existing commercial area and the idea of creating a “retro modern town” was born (Yasuda, 2008).

Bungotakada recognized a very valuable resource at their disposal by recognizing the uniqueness of the era in which their buildings were built. In fact, 70% of the buildings were built prior to 1955 (Yasuda, 2008). Whereas many people may have considered old buildings to be a challenge, the thinking in Bungotakada was that by restoring these storefronts to the way that they looked in the 1960s (the height of the Showa era) a unique identity and atmosphere would be created in the shopping district, thus bringing in more customers and tourists. Further study about the unique aspects of the Showa era was conducted; spanning about one year and included study tours to other areas trying to recreate the same era. They then spent another year developing the strategies and planning their revitalization. The ginza³ of Bungotakada’s Showa Town was opened in 2001 (Yasuda, 2008). Innovation and cooperation inspired by recognizing the resources that the community already had led to the revitalization of the area by utilizing those resources.

The vision of creating the retro modern town also encouraged other community members in Bungotakada to recognize and utilize other resources within the community. For instance, the

33 A ginza is a traditional shopping district in Japan.

Source: Author Figure 16 - Shop in Bungotakada's Retro

Modern Town

116 extensive collection of penny candy store toys by Mr. Hironobu Komiya was considered and subsequently interned at a museum in the city, which opened in 2005. Mr. Komiya’s collection is now proudly displayed and is a tourist attraction in Bungotakada.

The museum complex also houses a children’s story book museum, which accesses the talents of local authors and artists, a café, and has a model of a Showa era home and school room. The school room is also used for community meetings,

presentations, and other community activities.

Elderly residents serve as tour guides through the Showa Town and the museums (Yasuda, 2008). The stories, wisdom, and experience of the elderly members of Bungotakada are accessed to assist tourists and to truly bring the Show era to life in the city. The inclusion of the talents of the seniors in this way helps to instill a sense of pride and value in them and within the community, and ensures that their resources and contributions are preserved and utilized. The museums definitely bring a sense of pride to the community by displaying the way of life in the community in the 1960s and using some of the items from the community members, in addition to its economic function.

In order to successfully revitalize Bungotakada, external resources were accessed as well. Political resources were summoned to obtain prefectural subsidies to support the retro modernization of the commercial district (Yasuda, 2008).

Network resources were used to obtain information about

creating a Showa Town, which can be seen through the study tours before the revitalization project commenced. The skills and entrepreneurial nature of the local people are also being used as resources to fuel the revitalization effort. Locally made products from the Showa era are showcased, such as the ice candy delivered by bicycle and the production of traditional wooden shoes known as geta. The revitalization effort has also inspired new products to be created and sold along side the traditional ones, such as paintings, handicrafts, and uzu juice (Yasuda, 2008).

The recognition of latent resources within a community is a contributor to development that is often overlooked. The case of Bungotakada shows how existing resources and ingenuity can combine to facilitate rural development. Not only did the revitalization of the commercial district and the creation of the retro modern Showa Town bring a renewed economic vitality to Bungotakada, but it also contributed to the development of community capacity there. By identifying the local resources and creating a vision to which people in the community could adhere to, commitment of the people was increased by stimulating them to take active interest as stakeholders to change the privately owned stores to be consistent with the Showa Town vision.

This commitment by some encouraged others, particularly in terms of reconstructing the shop fronts which had to be undertaken by the individual shop owner, and produced even more results in terms of creating the Showa Town.

The sense of community was changed from a sense of despair to one of hope and the vision of the retro modern town (Yasuda, 2008) after the resources were recognized and objectives were set into action. The synergy of the new sense of community and the commitment lead to an increase in community actions, which can be seen in the success of the first ginza and the plans for expansion to include a second ginza.

Figure 17 - Display at Bungotakada's toy museum

Source: Author

117 Furthermore, the case of Bungotakada serves to demonstrate the cyclical nature of community capacity, which can be seen in the A-A-A cycle. The intervention strategy helped to create a vision (revitalization through the retro modern town), which in turn, fostered the development of the other community capacity attributes (commitment of shop owners, commercial plans, the use of Showa era items), then produced community actions (the creation of Showa town), that in turn inspire the growth of the community capacity attributes (stronger commitment to and participation in the concept of Showa town) to produce more sophisticated community actions (the museums and the second ginza).

Table 5 - A-A-A description of Bungotakada

Attributes Agents Actions

Sense of Community

• Vision of creating Showa Town - feeling in

community changed from despair to hope after creation of vision

• Bungotakada Commerce and Industry Association

• Mr. Hironobu Komiya

• Oita Prefectural government

• Bungotakada local government

• Shop owners

• Political networks

• Study Tours to other Showa Towns

• Revitalization Strategy

development and planning

• Refurbishment of shops

• Creation of Show era shopping ginza

• Construction of museums

• Revitalization of Showa era products – geta, ice candy

• Creation of new local specialties – paintings, handcrafts, uzu juice

• Expansion to second ginza

Commitment • Store owners endured cost of changing store fronts to be consistent with Show era look – inspired hold out shop owners to upgrade as well

Objectives • Commercial area revitalization study and plans

Resources • Showa era buildings

• Items from Showa era

• Skills and memories to recreate Showa era village

• Elderly people

• Government subsidies

Source: Author

Table 5 describes the basic attributes and agents that contributed to the actions for the resurgence of Bungotakada. The most notable attribute in this case is the ability to recognize and use the resources available in the community. This contributes further the development of the sense of community and community capacity, as well as economic growth.