Tour the villages of Japan. This is a journey to find the key to revitalizing regions and transforming Japanese society.
What I am conscious of on this trip is to approach the villages as ” countries with small populations,” in other words, as one nation. The big point is digitization.
　　
According to the “World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2022” released by the Swiss business school IMD, the first place was Denmark, the second place was the United States, the third place was Sweden, the fourth place was Singapore, and the fifth place was Switzerland. Japan ranks 29th.
According to the “World E-Government Ranking” released by the United Nations in 2020, Denmark is in first place, South Korea in second place, Estonia in third place, Finland in fourth place, and Australia in fifth place. Japan ranks 14th.
At the top are countries with small populations. South Korea has about 50 million people, and Australia about 25 million. Sweden has about 10 million people, Switzerland about 8.7 million, Denmark, Finland, and Singapore just under 6 million, and Estonia about 1.3 million.
One trend that emerges from this is that countries with smaller populations are more likely to introduce digital technology and to see its effects.
It is easy to understand if we take the example of applying for a residence card. Countries with small populations also have fewer civil servants. In an age before digital technology, citizens had to go to a government office to apply and wait all day to receive a residence card. The people have to give up on their jobs, and keeping public servants busy with miscellaneous tasks is a waste of tax money. It was extremely unproductive.
For countries with small populations, digital technology has become a tool to liberate their people and society from hopeless inefficiency. It’s not a question of whether you like it or not, or whether you’re good at it or not, it’s become an essential tool for survival. Therefore, it will develop and become more competitive.
　　
As is well known, Japan has entered an era of population onus, and its population will continue to decline. Traditional manual labor will become hopelessly inefficient.
Nowadays, I believe that the villages in Japan, a country with a small population, are the first to bear the burden of the challenges of the era of population onus.
In many villages, the foundation for survival is being shaken, with the provision of daily life services delayed due to aging and population decline, and main industries (in many cases, primary industries) becoming exhausted. Although this is a serious situation, it can also be seen as a picture of the future of Japan as a whole. On the other hand, villages, which are “countries with small populations,” may be able to revitalize their regions and transform Japanese society by building new ecosystems.
As mentioned earlier, many countries with advanced digitalization have small populations. Smaller frameworks make it easier to introduce digital technology and achieve its effects.
This also applies to villages in Japan, where villages with smaller populations can quickly introduce digital technology and enjoy its full benefits if they feel like it. It is possible for a weakened village to be reborn into a state-of-the-art village overnight.
In fact, many villages are gaining momentum for regional reform and are also showing a desire to utilize digital technology.
If villages emerge that are successful and revived from this momentum, their methods will become horizontally deployed as best practices. If the village life progresses further, a path to rebuilding Japan as a whole will become clear.
With such expectations in mind, I tour the villages.