Earthquake reconstruction machizukuri and citizen participation

In considering what kind of people and groups play a leading part in machizukuri, I would like to focus on two points. One question is how the volunteer groups and Non Profit Organizations (NPOs) that have recently been set up in Japan are developing and spreading within Japanese society. The other is how traditional Japanese local groups like neighborhood associations (jichikai, chonaikai) are restructuring themselves to carry out new machizukuri activities. Neighborhood associations (NAs) are the most general Japanese local group, which are organized in more than 90 percent of neighborhood areas in Japan (see also Chapter 11, this volume). They consist of almost all the households (not persons) in each NA area. They usually play the role of helping residents get acquainted with each other and passing on information from local government to residents. It is important to consider both together. In this chapter, however, I will be examining the latter point in particular.