Lost Decade to the Present

New Miyazaki Governor Shunji Kono

After 1993, Miyazaki saw a severe down turn in its biggest industry, tourism.  Looking for alternatives the prefecture turned to exploiting its natural resources.

Sand from the coast and silt from river beds were dredged and hauled away to be shipped across Japan for concrete and cement.  Granite from mountains was quarried and shipped across Japan as well.  The mountains also boasted native cedar and pine forests, which were cut down for timber.

This had a disastrous effect.  The typhoons of 2003 and 2005 caused enormous rock and mudslides from the mountains.  Stretches of national and prefecture highways in Miyazaki were closed off for up to a week.  The cause was that the deforestation was so severe there was no natural defense against the heavy rains.  Coastal areas flooded due to the silt and sand excavations.  Reconstruction projects more than cost what economic advantage had been won by selling off Miyazaki’s natural resources.

To prevent future occurrences what were once pristine forests on mountain sides were now concreted over to prevent future mud slides.  Entire stretches of Miyazaki coast line were fitted with concrete barricades.

Agriculture became the choice industry.  Cattle and hog farms quickly increased and the Miyazaki Beef and Pork industry was born anew.  This caused many problems.  The cattle and pigs were so crammed into pins that the effluence caused problems for the water quality in some areas.  Citizen groups demanded the prefecture set limits.  While this was done, it merely moved the problem from one area to another.  The Hoof and Mouth Disease outbreak in the spring of 2010 stood to show that no real reasonable solution had been worked out.  The Tokyo government took little action with the prefecture to set goals, guidelines, or limits.

With the aging population and young people moving out of Miyazaki, the family farms across the prefecture began to become a serious problem.  About 1000 farms in the prefecture have been listed as “abandoned” after the elderly passed away and the relatives sold the property to real estate companies.  These farms are in areas so remote that even paved roads are a luxury.  There is little hope any buyer would buy these properties, even JA, the Japanese Agricultural Ministry arm that runs Japan’s corporate farms.

Political scandal also rocked the prefecture during this time.  Former Governor Tadahiro Ando was elected in 2003 to clean up the political system.  Instead in 2006 he was found to have received kick backs in construction bids.

In 2007, Hideo Higashikokubaru was elected governor, and quickly put Miyazaki back on track to recovery.  His focus was first on Miyazaki’s agriculture.  He traveled around Japan and other nations to promote Miyazaki’s variety of agriculture.  Later, he would also push Miyazaki as a travel destination, especially for golf and other athletics like marathon running.  While Higashikokubaru’s policies were welcome by many in Miyazaki, others criticized him for being too one dimensional.  They pointed to his lack of involvement in the Showa Shell Clean Energy project in Saito, and the Miyazaki Electronic Development in Shintomi.

The 2007 closing of the Seagaia Ocean Dome in Miyazaki City was also pointed to as unnecessary if Higashikokubaru would have acted sooner after taking office to save the facility.  Higashikokubaru responded it was the responsibility of Miyazaki City, the Marriot group and Phoenix developers to save the Ocean Dome and not the prefectural government.

During this time a number of mergers occurred in the prefecture.  Takaoka, Kiyotake, Ikime, Tano, and Sadowara merged with Miyazaki City.  Takajo, Takazaki, Yamada, and Yamanokuchi merged with Miyakonojo.  Higashiusuki District was abolished and all towns formed into Misato.  Kitaura and Kitakata were merged with Nobeoka.  Togo was merged with Hyuga.  Kitago and Nango were merged with Nichinan.  Nojiri was merged with Kobayashi.  These mergers were the result of population flight from the small towns into the larger cities and out of the prefecture, and the decline in birthrate as well.  This also caused a number of school and hospital closings in the rural areas.

By 2009, Miyazaki had the distinction of being among the poorest of Japan’s prefectures.  The prefectural government has requested help from Tokyo but the aid has either been declined or having little effect on the economic problems Miyazaki has been facing.  This led to a strong defection from the Liberal Democratic Party in the prefecture and into an Independent and opposition parties like the Democratic Party of Japan, The Social Democratic Party, and the Buddhist affiliated party Happiness Realization.

In 2010, Higashikokubaru announced he would not seek a second term as governor and concentrate on national office instead or perhaps running for the governorship of Tokyo.  In December 2010, former Asst. Governor Shunji Kono, an Independent (backed by the LDP, DPJ, and New Komeito) won the gubernatorial election and will replace Higashikokubaru in Januray 2011.

Kono has been praised by the business community and agricultural community for having a balanced view on how to revitalize all of Miyazaki’s industries.  Kono believes there will have to be another reinvention of Miyazaki to accomplish this.

Post War Reconstruction (1945 - 1993)

Abandoned Tachibana Resort, Aoshima, Miyazaki

After the defeat of Japan in World War II, many in Miyazaki became discontent with news of the Emperor vacationing in the resort town of Karuizawa and playing tennis with Gen. Douglas MacArthur while they went without food, medicine, and in some cases potable water.

By May 1946, there was a group in Miyazaki calling for self rule.  During each day of Golden Week that year, this group – Citizens for an independent Miyazaki – gathered at Heiwadai Park.  Here speakers from the newly formed Miyazaki Workers Party took to the park’s large platform to layout their platform.

Party leader Ueda Masanori in one sentence summed it all up:

We in Miyazaki sacrificed for nothing, and now we continue to sacrifice for nothing, but I assure you that if we can rule Miyazaki independent of Tokyo we shall prosper.

Many in Miyazaki saw Tokyo as the direct reason for Miyazaki’s suffering and they wanted free.  How could they make this happen?  Well, they didn’t because of what plagued the rest of Japan, money.

In 1946 there was enormous inflation due to the massive amount of currency in circulation.  There was 14 times the amount of currency in circulation as in 1937.  Add to this the fact that Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines were no longer under Japanese control and could not help with the famine that faced Japan.  What drought didn’t destroy in domestic crops, typhoons and storms did.  US and allied militaries airlifted food to all prefectures to prevent mass starvation.

Thoughts of an independent Miyazaki faded away in the spring air when Golden Week ended.  Then the reconstruction of Miyazaki got under way earnestly when Gen. MacArthur arrived in the prefecture to personally inspect the coordination.  Bridges had to be replaced, rail lines reestablished, cities rebuilt, so there was no time as he said in Heiwadai Park, “…to dream of a situation so far from reality that Saigo Takamori himself would die laughing at.”

The British and Australian regiments began working to rebuild roads and bridges and US forces over saw the cities reconstructions.  By 1950, Miyazaki was completely reconnected with the rest of Japan by rail, highway, communications, airplanes, and also television.

Through the 1950s, Miyazaki rebuilt its agriculture and other industries.  Nyutabaru Airforce Base in Shintomi opened to the Japanese Air Force.  Miyakonojo Army Barracks reopened to the Japanese Army.  Miyazaki, Hyuga, and Nichinan ports reopened and a ferry from Miyazaki to Osaka began service.

By 1960, Governor Kuroki Hiroshi came up with the idea looking at Miyazaki’s beaches, palm trees, and climate to “Recreate Miyazaki as the Palm Beach of Japan.”  Soon investment in resorts began, and golf courses were designed.  By 1964, world class resorts were in Nichinan, Miyazaki City, Aoshima, and Takaoka boasted the first PGA course in Miyazaki.  Miyazaki had recreated itself again.  The phoenix was adopted as the unofficial symbol of Miyazaki.  Just as the phoenix rose from the ashes, so did Miyazaki.

Miyazaki was the honeymoon destination of Japan.  Soon every city was catering to the well heeled honeymooners from Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto.  They came and left behind them their money.  Before long people from all over Japan and Kyushu came for weekend trips.  Finding a hotel was almost impossible.  Some people booked a year to two years in advance.

By the 1980s, Miyazaki had no problem competing with Hawaii, The Gold Coast, or LA.  There was no need to leave Japan for these destinations since Miyazaki had beaches, service, resorts, and surfing comparable to those destinations.  To add more convenience, the tourists didn’t have to worry about language – “Japanese is spoken in Miyazaki” as the tourist association tagline went.

At the height of the bubble in 1989, Miyazaki had over 150 resorts, 4 PGA golf facilities, 50 private golf clubs, 8 surfing only beaches, and 60% of Miyazaki’s economy was tourism related.  The indoor Seagaia Beach Dome opened in 1990 along with the Sheraton Seagaia Resort and the Tom Watson Phoenix Golf Resort.  A brand new toll road took tourists from the airport to Seagaia in under 30 minutes.  Tokyo was taking notice.

A bullet train was planned to take tourists from Fukuoka to Miyazaki Station via Oita in under two hours.  A major freeway was planned to run the entire length from Fukuoka to Oita to Miyazaki City.  Tokyo was investing in Miyazaki.  Then in 1993 the unimaginable happened, Japan’s bubble burst.  Almost immediately the tourists stopped coming.  JAL took over the bulk of the tourist industry and naturally pushed Hawaii and other foreign locations.  Other tour agencies like JTB and HIS followed JAL’s lead and pushed foreign locations as well.

Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto didn’t need help in tourism, domestic and international travelers naturally headed to those locations, but Miyazaki found itself locked out.  The reason – too far from the exciting places people want to travel to.  With the discounts agencies provided, it was cheaper for a tourist in Tokyo to travel to Hawaii and stay at a JAL hotel, go on JAL tours than to travel to Miyazaki.

At the end of 1993 half of the resorts were in foreclosure or bankruptcy.  Unemployment hit record highs in Miyazaki, and airlines cut flights.  No bullet train, freeway, or new Tokyo investment happened.  Tokyo stopped taking notice of Miyazaki.  Miyazaki was the disco queen of Japan; nice for a while, but long past its prime and popularity.

By 1994, there was an exodus beginning from Miyazaki to Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, and Chiba.  In one year the population of Miyazaki fell from 1,479,000 to 1,340,000.  Miyazaki desperately needed to recreate itself.