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A third element of port development policy was the emphasis on research and engineering. Hence, the Port and Harbor Research Institute and the Ports and Harbors Bureau have invested in human capacity and innovative technology in the area of port engineering. In general, port policy was responsive to the spectacular development of the national economy in the sass. In particular, it had had to contend with the negative effects of the massive growth and concentration of population in the Pacific Industrial Zone. This required the rectification of regional disparities and the dispersal of the population and resources concentrated in 167 a few regional centers.
Consequently, the Law to Promote the Construction of New Industrial Cities was enacted in 1962 and fifteen such cities were developed across the country, though mainly along the coastline. An Act of 1964, which provided for the creation of Special Areas for Industrial Development, produced six Special Areas based on the earlier identified industrial bases. In all of this, the ports served as the hub of development. At such locations, urban and regional development plans, containing infrastructure, city planning and industrial components, were implemented (Ports and Harbors in Japan, 2002:65). Specifically, port and regional development has been pursued through Developer ports’, created in depressed regions as a catalyst of industrial and urban development (Lookout 2004).
This was the case in Sashimi and Tomato on the islands of Honshu and Hooked, respectively. At both places, much expense was incurred in developing artificial ports in economic backwaters. With the development of the ports, urban centers emerged with the migration and settlement of people, mainly workers, the provision of social and economic infrastructure, and the establishment of industries. Although port impact studies have generated their own economic impact on the adjoining communities. This may be gleaned from the increase in port traffic, the growth in industrial output and the rise in demand for commercial products by a burgeoning urban settlement.
Remarkable changes took place in Sashimi, a city (and region) that developed in the aftermath of the development of a Developer Porto’ in a hitherto backward area of Japan. The development of the port and the industrial projects had an immediate social and economic impact on Sashimi, the Barrio Prefecture and wider areas of Japan as far field as the mega-cities of Tokyo and Osaka. There were dramatic changes in the absolute size of the population, and in the number and composition of the labor force. The population of Sashimi increased five-fold from 57,000 in 1960 to 300,000 in 1975, while the number of workers rose sharply from 28,000 to 122,000 within the same period. However, the proportion of workers engaged in primary, secondary and tertiary industries changed significantly.
In 1960, the bulk (20,000) was engaged in primary industries while 3,000 and 5,000 respectively were employed in secondary ND tertiary industries. In 1975, the trend had been reversed: the highest proportion (58,000) was employed by secondary industry, followed closely by tertiary (52,000) while primary industry employed only 12,000 (Attacked 1983:38). These figures demonstrate the rapid transformation of what had been an agricultural area into one of industry and commerce. The erstwhile economic backwater had become a large industrial zone, with implications for population 168 movements and standards of living. Arbitration necessitated the provision of public infrastructure such as roads, waterworks and sewerage.
In terms of the percentage of the population with access to potable water supply, Sashimi had exceeded the average for the Prefecture and almost equaled the national average by 1980. More remarkably, the transformation of Sashimi affected the larger cities, such as Tokyo and Osaka, from which people and industries drifted (Attacked 1983:40-41). The direct impact of the construction of the port on the maritime trade of the region was most remarkable. The number and tonnage of foreign shipping increased dramatically from zero in 1968 to 980 and 24,302 respectively in 1975. The domestic raffia increased from 104 vessels with a tonnage of 24,000 in 1965 to 7,974 vessels and 7. 56 million tons respectively in 1975 (Satsuma 1977:98). At Tomato, no less dramatic changes followed the construction of a Developer Porto’.
As was the case at Sashimi, port development at Tomato (West) number of employees increased dramatically. The number of factories rose from about 70 in 1951 to about 270 in 1975 while the labor force swelled from about 5,000 to some 12,000 within the same period. The volume of commercial sales tripled from about 50 billion yen in 1958 to 150 billion yen in 1972 and the number of stores treasured from about 500 in 1952 to well over 2,000 by 1972. The statistics buttress the assertion that The location of industry (at Tomato)… Enhanced by port construction, improved the industrial structure of the entire nation and increased its overall economic growth potentials’ (Attacked 1983:44).
In general, ports policy was responsive to the changes in the local and global economies. Hence, during the period of accelerated economic development in the sass and the consequent shortage of port capacity, the government enacted the Law on Emergency Measures or Port Development and drew up the first Five-Year Port Development Plan in 1961. Both measures were coordinated with the overall national development Plano;the Plan to Double the People’s Income;and resulted in a considerable expansion of port facilities (Ports and Harbors in Japan 2002:65) As the examples of Sashimi and Tomato show, the policy did achieve the goal of regional economic development.
Although the results were uneven, it has been claimed that the development plan had succeeded in Promoting new industrial zones in areas outside of existing voltmeter zones Development has not only provided thousands of people in these areas with Jobs, but it has helped to revivalist the economies in these areas’ (Ports and Harbors in Japan 2002: 66). A related development in maritime policy towards the ports was the coordination of port and city planning in the sass. This was characterized 169 as Thee Era of Port and City Co-Existences’ (Attacked 1983:36). Closely connected with this was the injection of environmental considerations into port policy.
The declared aim was The creation of a pleasant port environments’ (Mazurka 1983:62). These programmers integrated such activities as waste disposal through landfills, creation of green zones and provision of environmental protection facilities along the coastal zones. The consequence was an improvement in the living environment in spite of the intensification of port, industrial and urban developments. By the early sass, maritime policy aimed at creating Spaceport’s’, which took Animals and plants into consideration as well as humans’ Pans Times 18 March 1994: 2). In response to population explosion, the Japanese also intensified the process of Taking the cities