Compete or Lose Funds Is Japan’s Message to the Countryside

The Abe government’s chief for regional Japan looks into the future and sees enterprising communities that maintain their grip on state funding and flourish, and stragglers that are cut loose.

“Am I telling them to compete? Yes, I am,” Shigeru Ishiba, the minister responsible for regional revival, said in an interview in Tokyo. “Does that mean wider gaps among the regions? You bet. If we equalize things among those who make an effort and those who don’t, the whole nation will collapse.”