Culturally creative cities in Japan: Reality and prospects

- More cities in Japan are using the “creative city” concept to try to alleviate social and economic problems.
- The actual volume of “creative industries” in Japan is not so large and is not growing, despite expectations.
- This study shows the difficulty of stopping the decline of traditional craft industries through design creativity.
- “Creative city” policies increase the attractiveness of a city and thus indirectly promote cultural tourism.
- “Creative city” policies are a shift from growth-oriented models to a more sustainable service-oriented model.

The creative city concept was recently introduced in Japan as an urban planning tool with the potential to alleviate social and economic problems related to cities. This differs from previous approaches to urban planning creativity in Japan in that it focuses on culture, the creative arts in particular, rather than science and technology. It has considerable appeal for cities addressing difficulties with on-going globalization, economic stagnation, and depopulation. However, the real volume of the so-called creative industries (which embody the creative city concept) is not large and is not growing, despite high expectations.This paper examines the case of creative city policy in the city of Kanazawa, which has formally adopted the creative craft city strategy, using advanced design capabilities to revitalize traditional craft industries. Conventional market-based analysis indicates that it is very difficult to halt the decline of such industries, which are steadily losing competitiveness. On the other hand, promotion of traditional craft industries and other capacity-building measures does help to increase the attractiveness of a city, and indirectly supports service oriented industries including cultural tourism. Thus, creative city policy can enhance cultural assets and contribute to a shift from previous growth models, which were largely dependent on manufacturing, to a more service-oriented and sustainable model. This would lead to an increase in visitors and consumption, and would eventually support the maintenance of the urban functions essential for Japanese cities with decreasing populations.