Institut français de recherche sur le Japon à la Maison franco-japonaise (Umifre 19, MEAE-CNRS)

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Speaker: Dr Norihiro NAKAI (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology)

The Japanese government is currently deliberating the following major land issues: the rapid increase in vacant land and housing; the increasing number of owner-unknown land; and the decline of local city centers, particularly those within non-metropolitan areas. Nearly 7.5 million houses lay vacant across Japan as of 2018 and this number is only increasing. The owners’ whereabouts cannot be confirmed on 20% of land in Japan, despite the efforts of the national land registry system. Despite city center revitalization emerging as one of the main objectives for Japanese urban policy since the 1990s, its outcomes have been underwhelming. It is clear that these issues relate to population decline in Japan. The speaker will provide background, an outline of the current situation and evaluation of the government response to these problems. 

Norihiro Nakai is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo Institute of Technology. He received his MSc from the University of Cambridge in 1986 and a PhD in Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1994. He has since spent more than 35 years as a member of Tokyo Tech academic staff, including as Dean for the School of Environment and Society between April 2018 and March 2022. He is an urban planning expert whose research covers a wide range of urban studies, from land use planning and design to smart and resilient cities. As a planning practitioner, he advises the central and local governments in Japan in determining their urban policies. He also assists the planning process for various urban development projects in the private sector. 

Moderator: Raphaël Languillon-Aussel (FRIJ-MFJ)
Organization: FRIJ-MFJ
Co-organization: CCI France Japon
Support: French Embassy in Japan