Sanpo-yoshi Communication

President's Column] Marginal Cities

The other day, I had a dinner in Yame City and tried to take a cab back to my home in Kurume, but I could not catch a cab. 5 or 6 years ago, when I had dinner in Yame City, I remember there were several cabs waiting for customers, but the number seems to have decreased due to the Corona disaster. In the end, we had to wait for more than an hour.

A study of Yame City's demographics (future projections) reveals something frightening: the population will decline from approximately 60,000 in 2020 to 42,000 in 2040. Unless something extraordinary happens, the population projections are accurate. We will lose 30% of our population in just 20 years.

A 30% decline in population in a region with a declining birthrate and people moving out to other parts of the country will have a shockingly negative impact on businesses and stores that cater to the local retail, food and beverage, and service industries. Sales, and even the retention of workers, will be considerably more difficult than they are today.

When we look into it, we find that there is a big difference even within the same prefecture because of the influx of population to large cities and their surrounding cities. The population of Fukuoka City is expected to increase for the foreseeable future, although the birthrate will continue to decline. This is not limited to Fukuoka Prefecture. Fukuoka is still in good shape, and it is almost certain that local governments in other prefectures in Kyushu will face a significant population decline much sooner. They should already be facing it. Fukuoka is still a good place to start.

Kurume City, our hometown, has not experienced such an extreme decline, but it is expected to lose about 5% of its population in 20 years. Kurume City also encourages people to move to the central area of the city, as the city's county areas may not be able to provide government services in the future. Even with such a gradual population decline, it has become much more difficult in terms of recruitment than it was 10 or 20 years ago.

Given these stark facts, local companies have no choice but to focus their efforts on selling their products in large cities. We feel a strong sense of urgency that if we do not consider selling overseas if we have the product power to export, our business will soon cease to exist.

Although we do not feel it when we live day by day, the population decline is steadily progressing. My experience in Yame, a city blessed with culture, history, traditional industries, and nature, made me think that now is the time to take countermeasures.