Masahisa Fujita - Spatial Economics for Building Back Better: The Japanese Experience

The Asia Pacific region is expected to steadily enhance its economic and political presence in the world during the twenty-first century. At the same time, many serious economic and political issues remain unresolved in the region. To further academic enquiry and enhance readers understanding about this vibrant region, the present series, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, aims to present cutting-edge research on the Asia Pacific region and its relationship with the rest of the world. For countries in this region to achieve robust economic growth, it is of foremost importance that they improve the quality of their markets, as history shows that healthy economic growth cannot be achieved without high-quality markets. High-quality markets can be established and maintained only under a well-designed set of rules and laws, without which competition will not flourish. Based on these principles, this series places a special focus on economic, business, legal, and institutional issues geared towards the healthy development of Asia Pacific markets. The series considers book proposals for scientific research, either theoretical or empirical, that is related to the theme of improving market quality and has policy implications for the Asia Pacific region. The types of books that will be considered for publication include research monographs as well as relevant proceedings. The series show-cases work by Asia-Pacific based researchers but also encourages the work of social scientists not limited to the Asia Pacific region. Each proposal and final manuscript is subject to evaluation by the editorial board and experts in the field.

All books and chapters in the Economics, Law and Institutions in Asia Pacific book series are indexed in Scopus.

Editorial Board

Aoki, Reiko (Commissioner, Japan Fair Trade Commission, Japan)

Chun, Youngsub (Professor of Economics, Seoul National University, Korea)

Dixit, Avinash K. (John J. F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Princeton University, USA)

Fujita, Masahisa (Fellow, The Japan Academy, Japan)

Kamihigashi, Takashi (Director and Professor, Center for Computational Social Science (CCSS), Kobe University, Japan)

Kawai, Masahiro (Project Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, Japan)

Kojma, Fuhito (Professor, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo, Japan)

Lo, Chang-fa (Honourable Justice, The Constitutional Court, Taiwan)

Matsushita, Mitsuo (Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo, Japan)

Nishimura, Kazuo (Professor, Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB) and Interfaculty Initiative in the Social Sciences (IISS), Kobe University, Japan; Fellow, The Japan Academy, Japan)

Yabushita, Shiro (Professor Emeritus, Waseda University, Japan)

Yoshino, Naoyuki (Professor Emeritus of Keio University; Director of Financial Research Center, Financial Services Agency, Government of Japan)

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13451

Translation from the Japanese language edition: by Masahisa Fujita, et al., 2018. Published by . All Rights Reserved.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

The Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. The two photographs in the frontispiece of this book highlight both the severity of this disaster and subsequent efforts to recover. The economic and social challenges arising from this recovery process are the primary motivating themes of this book.

The first photograph is a distant view taken by the authors on December 6, 2016, from a hill site in the Imaizumi District of Rikuzentakata City in Iwate Prefecture. Below us is a disaster-resistant residential area being built for those who had lost their homes to the monstrous tsunami that struck the area in 2011. To the right, along the banks of the Kesen River, is a small tree known as the Miracle Pinetree. To the left is the faint image of large double rainbow that can be taken to symbolize the dream of reconstruction for this devastated area.