Thank you for the introduction. My name is Nishimura. And it is my great honor to be here.

　Why do we discuss this issue? I would like to touch upon this why and the background. Mr. Nagamitsu from APTEC has touched upon this issue actually. Since several years ago we have been in some committee in which discussions and deliberations were continued. And tourism policy committee had been restructured and now it was eliminated at the end of last year. The final recommendation was launched by that committee, and one of the major pillars is tourism-based community development, that was incorporated. I was a member in that committee of tourism policy, and for some time I was quite interested in the preparation of such a policy, and I was involved in the discussion from the very beginning. So in this context I was interested in how these issues became the center of the community development, and what it means, and what sort of contents are included, and what directions are they going to follow: I would like to touch upon these issues.

　As far as the contents of the recommendation is concerned, Mr. Ohkuchi will touch upon them, therefore, I will not dwell on them. You have some handouts, and among the materials you can find this Tourism-Based Community Development Guidebook. While looking at this, could you please listen to my talk. It is the second version of the publication whereas the first publication, first edition, was very popular, so with some modification and amendment we prepared this second. And in here you can find our basic principles.

　Community development or tourism-based community development might not be so well understood, and tourism has been discussed, tourism has got ramifications in community development. That is one aspect. And also community development is extended to the scope of tourism and its enhancement. There are two sides actually. Tourism is actually extending its impact to community development; there are many tourist destinations in Japan, and some have got momentum and strength with very prominent growth, and when you examine the environment, you can find some common features among them. Overseas tours have become fairly less expensive, but in Japan some have problems in tourism enhancement. Yufuin is well known, and Aya-cho has got a representative here as a panelist, and Omi Hachiman in Shiga, and also Nagahama, and Kamikochi is another important tourist destination with tremendous growth, and they have beautiful natural environment. You can see some common features among them. What are they?

　The destination is not facilitated not only for tourists but for others. As was mentioned in the opening remarks, people living in the community are making efforts for creating an environment in which they can enjoy their life, and various pleasant events have been prepared which attract many visitors from outside. And they have been very successful as tourist destinations. And without exception they have been all successful in a tourism program. Conventional destinations were usually facilitated by tourist industry, and they show something different from day-to-day normal life, but that is not working so properly in today's tourism. And for peoples' interest they do not respond well enough to tourists' interest. Therefore, it should not be limited to the tourism only; it should extend the scope of aspirations outside.

　Community development is expanding its scope covering the tourism enhancement. I am a specialist in community development, therefore I can understand it very well. Community development and also village revitalization programs are in place in many places. But in rural areas the general trend is population decrease. In this context, how can they maintain energy and strength, which is a very major issue they have to address. If the population increases, as was the case in the past, the size of population will have been translated into energy and vitality available in the community. But that age has already passed, and maybe in a few years time the Japanese population growth rate will be negative. So, in these circumstances the exchange population will become more and more important. People living in the community are not the citizens or our friends. In Japan and all over the world you have got friends and supporters for your community. If they come over to your place every season, from time to time they will give us cooperation and also support for the community. And then as a result the community can be further enhanced. It is a culture-oriented community development as well as tourism-based community development.

　In this sense, therefore, community development is not only limited to the city planning or whatever. It should encompass the aspirations for tourism-based. And tourism is not the purpose; it is just an outcome of these aspirations. And everybody makes a concerted effort for creating a pleasant environment; people from the distant places come to our community to become friends. That type of community development should be the objective and purpose for these projects. Therefore, this tourism-based community development was coined in those circumstances, and it's now getting spread in society. So we should streamline this discussion. We should streamline the concepts involved with the tourism-based community development.

　In this brochure, you can find pictures and diagrams; both Japanese and English are prepared. So we would like to streamline the discussions and deliberations in these circumstances. I should point out that there are three elements for the tourism-based community development. Residents are important. In the Asia Pacific region, the population is quite large. Whatever district or region you focus on, there is hardly any place with complete and perfect natural forests. In some way or another some human hand touched on these resources. Therefore the culture and history is in place. Based on those assets and resources we can develop tourism resources. And then people are attracted to visit these places. Therefore, there are three players, and the balance between those three elements is vital. Unless there is a good balance, community development will be jeopardized.

　But some problem occurs. Tourists come into the community and there is some jeopardization of environment in the tourist destination, some ugly shops and also signboards are put up. Tourism-related industry is on the one hand and unrelated industry on the other, and there is some conflict of interest between the two. So the balance between the three elements is not so easy to achieve. But through some commitment and also utmost efforts we could achieve it. That is a very fundamental idea of this community development. So, people would like to continue to live in there; that is translated in tourists' concept and also perception that they would like to visit this place again. And then they are making a commitment to the creation of environment with a lot of beauty, attractiveness, and also vitality.

　In this environment there ought to be some local community network; that is essential. If one locality tries to do everything, and with their own resources, things would be quite difficult. The exchange of people cannot be done by only one community. Therefore, the network among communities would be essential. In the past, some towns were not involved with tourism, but people in that community can understand the idiosyncratic nature and attractiveness, through which they can develop their environment and they can be incorporated in the network. This network is important, particularly for the future circumstances where the wider area administrative executive branch will be formed. And when there is competition among localities, there ought to be enough cooperation as well. And for that type of approach and also effort, networking is important.

　So they should create their own community, which is beautiful and attractive, at the same time, options are important. When the tourism population is increasing all the time, they should be able to provide the tourists with good facilities and assets they can offer. What is important is connectivity between them, and there should be some mechanism. So the system should be in place for the fundamental commitment of community development.

　Community development can be translated as "machizukuri, " but it is perhaps unique to Japan, and it is not so well widespread in overseas countries. An additional word in Japanese started around 1965, and it was started in Osaka when people started their opposition to the increasing pollution. Therefore in this sense this has gotten a bottom-up concept as well as grass-roots origin. They tried to protect their own community through their effort, which was culminated into community development. "Machizukuri" is always written in Hiragana without using Chinese characters. In many parts of Japan the administrative body took the initiative, but instead, in contrast, here it is grass-roots oriented, so the social and also community network is particularly important. That's why we use Hiragana for "machizukuri. " It is not a physical construction but it is a creation of networking, and vitality is essential for these initiatives. Therefore, it is now quiet well understood that this should be represented in Hiragana. So the initiative was taken by residents and citizens first but not by local governments. On the part of the local governments, however, they became interested in good cooperation between public sector and private, and in the former Ministry of Construction there was the Community Development Office. In the recommendations, often this term was used.

　So, this is some sort of an assembly of cooperation between the public and private sectors. And it has become more and more deep-rooted in people's perception. But interestingly enough, we cannot find an equivalent to this Japanese term. For example, in Taiwan it was translated in 1994; "shak-tai-enzo"(phone.) was the Taiwan or Chinese translation. And after that momentum was given, perhaps almost everybody is aware of this term meaning "machizukuri. "

　What about Korea? Today, what is the circumstance? "Maurukaui"(phone.) is a translation; "mauru-mandarugei" is a Korean translation; "Mauru" means "town" and "kakuri" (kauri?) is "creation;" so it is the "town creation" or maybe the rearing of a town. In English, however, we cannot find the original English term equivalent to that. So we translated "machizukuri" as "tourism-based community development, " because we are fairly confident this is the closest term to translate " machizukuri. " But probably some people think about a slum environment which is to be subjected to the city planning for improvement. But two elements of "machizukuri" are both hardware and software. Therefore the slum environment improvement projects are not exactly the same as "machizukuri. " And if one term is missing in one language, it means that that concept or practice did not exist in that population. So in this sense, "machizukuri" is some sort of a symbol of the uniqueness in Japan. So residents and visitors and the resources represented here, each should be sustained and we should create a mechanism in which balanced development can be ensured.

　Finally, the comprehensive coordination is important, for which we should also have a mechanism, and we need to think about it. In order to make progress into that direction, in these frameworks we can learn from advanced communities in which projects are quite well defined and the guidelines and also check lists for monitoring are essential. And we came up with this as an outcome of our effort, and you can see this handout or the brochure. Through these processes we came up with this guidebook, and guidance is provided in this booklet, and more specific representation of activities in each step is also incorporated, and you can see various case studies towards the back of this booklet.

　And then you may think this is probably the very unique thing and only applies to Japanese cases. Especially in fall this year, the WTO General Assembly is going to take place in Osaka, and we are thinking maybe we can have to share idea in Asia Pacific regions or worldwide level. Maybe we can transmit some concept or word. Well, there may be the language barrier, but such kind of discussion we are doing here could be very informative to all over the world in order for the towns to survive. And this can be also applied to other countries as well, and this can be also understood by other countries if we have a certain concept or framework.

　And last year such kind of discussion should be shared with the overseas countries, and actually we went to other overseas countries and talked about this in discussion and talked with the experts regarding the tourism-based community development. And especially I went to Queensland in Australia, and Indonesia, that was Bali. The reason why we visited there is, as you may be well aware, Australia is the country which had a strong emphasis and focus on the principles of the eco-tourism. Therefore from that sense they have a very string concept framework, and based on the framework they have a lot of actions. From that perspective they are actually tackling with the community-based tourism in a very progressive manner. That's why we have visited there, to have the discussion over there. And Bali Island, as you may be well aware, they have a wonderful traditional culture, and also a resort area, and they are very successful as the tourism industry. And we discussed with them and we talked with them, and they said that they agree with us, and they said that their concept of the community development based on tourism is very close to what we call "machizukuri. " There is no word for " machizukuri" in English, however, the same concept can be shared on universal level. Sustainable development is relevant to tourism. Certain facets or aspects are now being shared among all the countries in the world.

　And so we decided to have this seminar, and we had to choose the panelists today, and we discussed with people, and we selected those experts who actually discussed. In Australia, Mr. Morgans from Australia, and also from Bali, Indonesia, the person, expert, unfortunately he couldn't come to this symposium but we decided that we had to invite him at the time. And there is no person represented from the Bali Island today, so I just would like to introduce a little bit about the Bali Island.

　Nusa Dua is the one which is a very well known resort place. This is one of the very successful examples. Arriving at the airport, you can go to Sadua Beach, and this is kind of an isolated area but there are big hotels and accommodation established in that area even though that is quite an isolated area far away from the airport. And a large-scale tourism industry has been managed in a very appropriate manner. And they are controlling the access of the tourists to those areas as well in a very appropriate manner. But is this really enough? If the visitors go to Bali Island and lay on the beach and have good food and enjoy very luxurious hotel accommodation, is it enough? The visitors or tourists are satisfied just only doing that? Well, some tourists would be satisfied with that. However, they, the tourists, some tourists who often go to Bali Island, think that it is not satisfactory; they might want more, they would like to go into more into the town, and they would like to know more about the town. Bali is a very mysterious area. That is a Hindu, Bali Hindu island. And this is the only island which believes in Hindu, and the surrounding area which believes in the Muslim. And there are a lot of villages, and also there are a lot of customs and traditional dancing remained, and it is not only remained but they are actually improving the level of dancing, level of customs, by having exposure to the tourists. And at the same time they are becoming affluent, economically speaking. Even though they have a traditional building, they are actually refurbishing into the high standard level of living. So, that's how they are maintaining their culture, at the same time they are improving their environment as well. They are having a very good linkage between the tradition and their own living. And this is one of the extremely wonderful case study which can be provided to you.

　Of course, the tourism-based community development is not everything for the tourism industry from now. Of course we need Nusa Dua, something like the beach, but certain people in Nusa Dua, of course, the tourists enjoy, but in parallel with that, there should be some kind of new aspects, new way of observing tourists for tourists to understand culture or traditional food or the history or the customs and habits of the folklore. By doing so, then the tourists can have the sort of emotional attachment to the regional area. This is needed now, because in Asia there are a lot of diversity, cultures are different, and there are a lot of the ethnics as well. So, that kind of unique characteristics should be transmitted from those areas. So from that sense, the tourism-based community development or "kanko-machizukuri" is the concept which can transmit from Japan. And this concept, tourism-based community development, is extremely important which can be applied to all over the world.

　So, we would like to review and study again how our towns should be and how our cities and towns and villages should be. A lot of the representatives are attendants from the Japanese towns who are actually working in various areas regarding the tourism. And we have to utilize the advantages of both aspects of tradition and also development. "Machizukuri" is based on the city development plan. Of course we can increase the number of tourists, but as the number goes up, then there are a lot of problems; maybe lack of parking lots or congestion problems or traffic congestion, or sometimes privacy issue. So we have to deal with such kind of problems. We have to manage tourism in appropriate manner.

　However, discussing with experts in tourism, they often say, they use the word "tourism product;" how they can develop wonderful tourism products, that's the word they always use. And probably this is quite natural for them to use that word, "product, " but as the supporter of the town or fan of the town, we believe that our town is not a product, because there are residents living there and the residents are having pride living there. Then why can we call as "product"? And so, the word, just one word, "product, " depending on the area which you use, it has a different repercussion or a different connotation. Here we say " tourism-based community development," we shouldn't think the tourism or town as just a tourism product. We need to create a supporter or a fan for the towns. And of course, industry has to support the tourism.

　And also in the past, if we think about tourism, we have to maintain the historical heritage. And if more and more visitors come, then there will be the damage on such a historical heritages. And it seems like the people living in the town think that we are showing too much of our assets, our own assets. But this is not something like that. We have to present our town in a real meaning, and we have to absorb the people who really understand the true meaning or true essence of such heritages. For that we have to provide information in appropriate manner, and also we have to select people who come to the town. " Selecting the tourism," may provide some misunderstanding, but we have to transmit a lot of information from diverse towns. And we have to have a certain system in order to provide appropriate information to the tourism. So, there are both proposals to the people who are actually involved in the tourism and to the people who are coming to the towns. That' s how we have to manage this tourism-based community development.

　Well, I think it is time that I have to close my presentation, but today we have the experts involved in the tourism-based community development, and they are going to have a 30-minute presentation each, and after that in the afternoon session there is going to be the discussion period. And in that context, we have been discussing regarding tourism-based community development in Japan, and how that can be internationally applied, and how we would be able to expand the concept, to what level, and this should be discussed more and more in the afternoon session in the discussion period. I am actually the one who started this presentation, why the tourism-based community development started here in Japan.

　Thank you very much for your attention.