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In 1999, Japan turned to decentralization, and the roles of central and local administration changed, with the national government being involved in creating institutions affecting the entire country and local governments having greater responsibilities to fulfill toward local residents. Local governments must secure financial resources to maintain administrative services while communicating the appeal of their respective administrative areas to audiences both within and outside those areas. What is the basic source of financing for local governments? That would be tax revenue. For local governments and the areas that they administer to survive, it is essential that they are able to promote interaction among people by attracting people to live in, continue to live in, or visit the area. The effects of cultural administration may not become immediately apparent, but it is one option for improving the appeal of a given region. In a country such as Japan that is home to diverse and unique cultures, local governments have an important role to play. Defending these diverse and unique cultures against the forces of homogenization and commercialization also allows local governments to make the most out of these local culture. The efforts of local governments regarding cultural administration can be traced back to the late 1970s, and it is possible to see the ideas, schemes, methods, and initiatives that have accumulated over this time.
 
However, it is also a characteristic of the cultural domain that local officials do not fully recognize its potential benefits. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the cultural domain is one that people are hesitant to deal with because of its diversity and complexity. Nevertheless, so long as cultural administration is a part of public policy and administrative services to be provided by local governments, it should be handled as part of the job, not based on the likes or dislikes of the public officials in charge. In this sense, this book is not an academic book but rather is intended as an introduction to the field of cultural administration for local public officials. Recently, I have been approached by students who would like to work in the field of cultural administration. If anything, I would like readers of the book to understand why local public officials tend to avoid dealing with this domain even though there are young people who want to become involved.
 
The book is organized into four chapters. The first chapter titled “A Tale of Municipal Cultural Administration—My Experiences in the Cultural Affairs Section” begins with the story of a local government civil servant who was transferred to the cultural administration section. Starting with the question of what “culture” means to the general staff tasked with its administration, a picture of cultural administration is revealed through the questions and challenges that arise over the course of being involved in cultural festivals and working with artists and staff of cultural institutions. In Chapter 2, the characteristics of cultural administration are clarified in a question-and-answer format. The content of Chapter 3 covers more specialized areas, with the goal of improving the implementation of cultural administration. Chapter 4 presents examples of case studies of efforts by local governments throughout Japan and information that would be useful when carrying out cultural administration.
 

(Written by KOBAYASHI Mari, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2024)