[Oe List ...] Japan's Yubari!

[SVESjaime at aol.com]

Found this article in the _J at pan_ (mailto:J at pan)  Inc.  Is  this the same 
mining town where an HDP was attempted?
 
CONTENTS:
@@ VIEWPOINT: Yubari Still Has Melons

Yubari City, on  Hokkaido, northernmost of the main Japanese
islands, is known for its  orange-fleshed melon. Film buffs
will recognize it as the partial setting for  the 1977 film
'Shiawase no kiiro hankachi' (The Yellow  Handkerchief),
which won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Picture.
Now  it is notorious as a symbol of fiscal mismanagement
in the  hinterlands.

Yubari went bankrupt. It will become an organization  for
fiscal reconstruction in March. Under state control the
city will have  18 years in which to repay its debts. That
will mean higher taxes and reduced  public services--in short,
a heavy burden on the backs of Yubari's  citizens.

Yubari is the most prominent example of fiscal  mismanagement.
But it is hardly unique. Nationwide as many as 20 percent  of
municipalities are facing a financial crisis. In case a
municipality  goes belly up, should its citizens be saddled
with a heavy tax  burden?

When the 'Asahi Shimbun' posed this question to  9,000
nationwide monitors during a four-day period from January
19 to 22,  60% of the 2,476 respondents said no. The reason
they most often gave was  that government bears the heavier
responsibility. Commented a 46-year-old  monitor in Tokyo,'
[Placing the burden on the people] blurs the  responsibility
of top officials.'

In rebutting the notion of the  people's responsibility,
a 37-year-old woman in Ibaraki compared a  municipality
to a company: 'When a company fails, its employees never
bear  a financial burden.'

Then again, some respondents opined that in case a  town
goes bust its people have no choice but to sacrifice for
its  restructuring. Yubari has became a symbol of a bleak
future, and a verb:  'It's clear that all of Japan will be
Yubari-ized one day,' said a  46-year-old Tokyo woman.

A 38-year-old man used his hometown as an  example in raising
the question of the electorate's  responsibility.

'Since the election of the present mayor when I was in  middle
school, there has not been a mayoral election, and I'm now over
30.  And the same people always run for the town council. It's said
that the  people elect the politicians, but I think that's an
empty theory held by city  people who don't know the actual
situation.'

Yubari is now 35.3  billion yen in the red. Mining, the
town's principal industry, ended with the  closing of the
mine. The town staked its future on development of  tourism,
with 'Yellow  Handkerchief Plaza,' the location for  the
shooting of the film; Coal Mining History Village; a tour
of a  pitch-black mining road; and, the last resort of a
failing provincial city,  an art museum. Tourists didn't
come in sufficient numbers for a return on  investment.
Yubari obtained loans from financial organs to hide the
red  ink and fell deeper into debt in making repayments.

Thirty-six percent of  monitors replied they would
continue to live in their town even if it went  bankrupt,
as opposed to 27% who said they wouldn't. A conspicuous
number  of respondents said they would stay put because
an unpaid loan on their house  prevented their moving.
The Japanese have entered an age when it behooves  them
to investigate municipal finances before sinking roots
in a  town.

While watching a news slot on the plight of Yubari,  my
nine-year-old asked if he would still be able to eat
Yubari  melons.

'That, son, is all Yubari has left.'



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20070219/35e46ab9/attachment-0002.html