Law and Disaster by Shigenori Matsui

Author:Shigenori Matsui [Matsui, Shigenori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, Japan, Law, General, Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice, Comparative, Constitutional, Legal History, Public, Government, Political Science, Comparative Politics, Constitutions, American Government, National, Social Science, Disasters & Disaster Relief
ISBN: 9781351059336
Google: 7XtqDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-09-03T03:39:54+00:00

4.5.4 Business and industry still sluggish

In addition to assistance to business operators by the Industrial Rehabilitation Organization and by the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Affected Business Operators Reconstruction Support Organization to buy out the debt,176 the government also provided the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Reconstruction Special Loan, for 6.6 trillion JPY (600 billion USD) and provided emergency assistance for small and medium size companies for 13 trillion JPY (118 billion USD).177 Further, the government provided a loan to farmers, foresters, and fishermen for 350 billion JPY (3.1 billion USD) and provided assistance to farmers, foresters, and fishermen for 120 billion JPY (1 billion USD)178 Further, each prefecture with the help of the central government provided a subsidy to groups of companies for a total of 501 billion JPY (4.5 billion USD) to 698 groups of companies, consisting of 11,330 business operators.179

With respect to the “reconstruction special zone’ program created by the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Reconstruction Special Zone Act of 2011, more than 230 areas adopted reconstruction promotion plans to receive special tax and regulatory treatment with approval180 and more than 860 local districts have already published reconstruction development plans to confer special reconstruction development consideration.181 Reconstruction grants were distributed to local governments 17 times for a total amount of 3.8 trillion JPY (34 billion USD).182 These grants were used to facilitate urban redevelopment, group relocation, building reconstruction housing, and other purposes. Apparently, however, since the progress of relocation and redevelopment in the affected areas is so slow, the recovery of the economy and industry in the affected areas is also taking time.

Additionally, the government also decided to create a take-away type of reconstruction fund and the central government supported the fund by contributing to it with special tax distribution money.183 The total amount of the fund is 224 billion JPY (2 billion USD) and the central government contributed 196 billion JPY (1.8 billion USD). This fund allows the affected local government and municipal government to spend funds flexibly.

The local government and the central government also supported businesses by building temporary marketplaces and factories in 644 places, allowing more than 2,500 companies and business operators to start businesses temporarily.184 They further provided assistance to the establishment of shopping malls and reconstructed permanent facilities.185 Also the affected prefectures budgeted some 49 billion JPY (45 million USD) to support fishermen’s associations to re-acquire fishing ships and fishing equipment, 106 billion JPY (96 million USD) to repair and rebuild fishing storage and processing facilities, and 92 billion JPY (84 million USD) to help fishermen introduce new technology or facilitate cooperation with other fishermen.186

The government claims that manufacturing in the Tohoku Region has returned to pre-disaster levels and total amount of retail sales of major department stores in Tohoku has surpassed pre-disaster levels.187 Indeed, the mechanical/electrical production industry suffered devastating losses as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. However, due to quick supply chain repairs, production levels in affected prefectures have returned to pre-earthquake levels.188 Nevertheless, the government also has

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