Reconstruction Plans and Planning Process After the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami - Post-Tsunami Hazard: Reconstruction and Restoration - page 25

Fig. 2.6 Relocation plan of Norinowaki district to Tsugaruishi, Miyako city. Material used for the
explanation meeting for local residents (Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan)

farmland inside the neighboring Tsugaruishi district. The main reasons for this are
that the number of the households to move is not many, around 30, 8 the aged people
occupying the greater part of the inhabitants were reluctant to live in isolation and
inconvenience.
On the contrary, the relocation project of Akamae district in the same city has
planned a new relocation site mainly distributed outside the district (Fig. 2.7 ),
although there are many vacant lots and houses in this settlement. The reasons for
that are as follows; the unwillingness of the victims to live in the village with unaf-
fected residents, the unwillingness of land owners to sell their land to local govern-
ment, and the impossibility of expanding the narrow roads of the unaffected
settlement, because it concerns many land owners and may result in complex and
long-term projects.
Moreover, it is also important to consider shrinking processes in land use or
architectural plans of the new settlements. One of the typical examples is the
conversion from the public housing to nursing home after the residents get older.
Another example can be the land use plan with consideration of use program of
vacant lots before they generate (Ubaura 2013 ).
However, the local municipalities cannot afford to consider the future implications
as the target of their planning is mainly limited to the accomplishment of the project.

8 Interview to an administrative offi cer of Miyako city on June.