REGIONAL REVITALIZATION POLICY AND ENTREPRENEURIAL HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN JAPAN: LESSONS FROM 26 YEARS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Authors

  • I. Watanabe Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research, Yamagata University, Japan iori.w@cc.yamagata-u.ac.jp Author

Keywords:

policy instruments, regional revitalization, entrepreneurial human resource development, local government, public administration, staff development, Japan

Abstract

Japan's own assessment of ten years of regional revitalization finds that the development of those who carry the region was insufficiently addressed. Why, then, did government not develop them? Drawing on the author's twenty-six years in Yamagata Prefecture, seven in personnel and staff development and three in start-up support, this paper compares the prefecture's staff development system with what entrepreneurial human resource development requires. Governmental instruments operate only within a relationship of command and presuppose objectives that can be defined in advance. The developmental function must therefore be placed outside government, with universities foremost among the recipients.

References

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Published

2026-08-13