joshnii 2 Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 Niigata-ken seems to be going through a "gappei" boom (is that the right word - when towns/villages/cities get together to form a bigger one). What exactly are the benefits and implications of all this? I don't know the details but it just seems to be almost a scramble to either be in or out, with no-one, at least the Japanese I speak to, really knowing what the implications are. Link to post Share on other sites
2pints-mate 0 Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 Something for the public workers to do? Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 It's happening everywhere. I think it benefits the town financially at first as a few towns I know that have become "shi's" have added new parks, recreational areas etc that would have cost some serious dosh. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 Everyone gains I wonder? I wonder why so many towns seem opposed to this, surely more than just "pride"? Link to post Share on other sites
guzzlers-baps 0 Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 Our town is doing the gappei thing right now. There's a lot of opposition against it. I think you're right, joshnii, most people here just don't really seem to know the implications of doing it - both good and bad - when you ask them. I don't really know either, having heard things from both the good and the bad sides. Good is that we'll get those new parks and things - more money for some reason, bad is that the area will lose its identity and might be "left out". Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 What happened with the proposed Yuzawa one with neighbouring towns... Yukiguni-shi wasn't it?? Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan.Com#3 0 Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 I'm not in Yuzawa, but from what I remember Yuzawa and Shiozawa decided not to join in the gappei fun. But Muikamachi and Yamata will join to become 'Minamiuonuma-shi'. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Yuzawa is by far the richest of them up there so I didn't think they'd want to join up with poor old guy neighbours. Link to post Share on other sites
r45 4 Posted November 2, 2004 Share Posted November 2, 2004 I see some of those towns where the earthquake were in Niigata have gone and done the gappei thing from today... just to confuse matters more. Link to post Share on other sites
slow 0 Posted November 2, 2004 Share Posted November 2, 2004 I learned about this the other day. My English isn't good enough to tell you what I learned exactly, but I try. The central government has encouraged to Gappei since 1999 because they wanted to reduce "Chiho Kofuzei Kofu kin" (distribution of local allocation tax?). Gappei wasn't so easy for the small towns which has "debt", especially the towns with ski resorts... So, the central government made special law on the merger of municipalities and bear 70% of the costs for the new project if towns have merged before 2006. Now the number of local authority is about 3030 and the central goverment wanted to reduce this number to 1000. The ideal population in each town was between 10,000 and 200,000 on average. But Gappei have to be brought from the governor. So, if the governor doesn't like this Gappei, he can avoid it. Like Nagano governor Mr.Tanaka. He is against Gappei. And Democratic Liberal Party lost the vote in small towns because of confusion of Gappei. The towns and villages realized that they can get financial support for new project but they have to go into debt in the event. There are some other inconsequence. Now, nobody knows why we need Gappei. It was too complicated for me to understand... Is there any benefit that small towns in Niigata merge after disaster? I heard that there are many small villages in Italy and France people live happily. Link to post Share on other sites
blinkin'ek 0 Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 Just to add something, the towns up there in Niigata aren't really ski towns, they're just to the north. Do the towns pay to help small businesses make all the changes they need to - stationary, ads, etc. Must be a complete pain having to change all that shit. Link to post Share on other sites
joshnii 2 Posted November 4, 2004 Author Share Posted November 4, 2004 You'd think they might delay it or something. It's really confusing now with all the new names for all those towns down to the south of me. Even the people who live there aren't up with it - and don't really care given their circumstances. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted November 4, 2004 Share Posted November 4, 2004 The main reason for gappei is streamlining the administration. Admin costs per capita fall as population increases. I went to a gappei meeting for Hakuba and Otari and that was the main thing they pushed. I voted against, but that's because I believe in decentralization. Around here, small entities seem to be in favour of joining with signficantly larger ones such as Nagano City, but prefer to stay independent when their neighbours are also small and weak. Hakuba and Otari was the weak and heavily indebted with the very weak and heavily indebted, so people, esp. Otari people, voted against. Link to post Share on other sites
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