City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108

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City, Culture and Society

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Culturally creative cities in Japan: Reality and prospects

Emiko Kakiuchi
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Roppongi 7-22-1, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8677, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The creative city concept was recently introduced in Japan as an urban planning tool with the potential to
Received 11 December 2014 alleviate social and economic problems related to cities. This differs from previous approaches to urban
Received in revised form planning creativity in Japan in that it focuses on culture, the creative arts in particular, rather than sci-
13 October 2015
ence and technology. It has considerable appeal for cities addressing difficulties with on-going global-
Accepted 24 November 2015
ization, economic stagnation, and depopulation. However, the real volume of the so-called creative
Available online 11 December 2015
industries (which embody the creative city concept) is not large and is not growing, despite high
expectations.
Keywords:
Creative city
This paper examines the case of creative city policy in the city of Kanazawa, which has formally
Creative industries adopted the creative craft city strategy, using advanced design capabilities to revitalize traditional craft
Attractiveness industries. Conventional market-based analysis indicates that it is very difficult to halt the decline of such
Development industries, which are steadily losing competitiveness. On the other hand, promotion of traditional craft
Cultural assets industries and other capacity-building measures does help to increase the attractiveness of a city, and
Urban function indirectly supports service oriented industries including cultural tourism. Thus, creative city policy can
enhance cultural assets and contribute to a shift from previous growth models, which were largely
dependent on manufacturing, to a more service-oriented and sustainable model. This would lead to an
increase in visitors and consumption, and would eventually support the maintenance of the urban
functions essential for Japanese cities with decreasing populations.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction previous price-competitive commodity-based production, is ex-

Considerable research has explored the desirable linkage be-
tween culture, the city, and industry. The Arts and Crafts Movement
in the UK, which aimed to improve the quality of life through dis-
covery of beauty in daily life, was perhaps the first embodiment of
such linkage (Morris, 1879). A similar movement in Japan focused
on the functional beauty of daily commodities (Yanagi, 1928).
Recently, however, much of the attention to culture has been from
the urban planning perspective, reflecting drastic changes in eco-
nomics, including the decline of once predominant heavy in-
dustries. Even in this context, culture is considered central, being
one of the most important elements of revitalization of former
industrial sites (“brown fields”) in cities and regions (OECD, 2005).
In the 21st century, on-going globalization, digitalization, and
the shift to a service-oriented and knowledge-based economy are
notable trends in all developed countries. In such an economy,
entirely new forms of high-value added industry, which differ from
E-mail address: kakiuchi@grips.ac.jp.
pected to play a critical role. At the same time, the quality of the
workforce for this new form of the economy will greatly differ from
the previous system. In accordance, two approaches e supply side
and demand side e have been proposed, where creativity1 is
regarded as a core concept.
The supply side approach is represented by the UK Department
for Culture, Media & Sport (UK DCMS, 2001), They recognize the
importance of creative industries in economic development, and
define them as those “which have their origin in individual crea-
tivity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job
creation through the generation and exploitation of economic
property.” Their thematic classification for creative industries is as
follows: advertising, architecture, art and antiques, crafts, design,
designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software, mu-
sic, the performing arts, publishing, software and computer
1
There are many different definitions of creativity (Greffe et al., 2015). In this
paper, creativity is used as having the general meaning of problem solving
capability.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2015.11.003
1877-9166/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
102 E. Kakiuchi / City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108
services, television and radio.
On the other hand, the demand-side approach suggests that the
cultural atmosphere of a city, provided mostly by creative in-
dustries, can attract creative people, referred to here as the creative
class, capable of producing high-value-added goods and services.
This creative class e scientific and artistic workers - is expected to
play a decisive role in bringing affluence and development to cities
(Florida, 2002, (Florida, 2005)).
In addition, fundamental functions which bridge the above two
approaches have been discussed (e.g., To €rnqvist, 1983; Hall, 2000):
interacting processes of creativity and local development. Often
referred to as creative milieu or creative atmosphere, this inter-
mediate function is essential for the creative class and creative
industries to succeed. Recent network analysis has indicated that
the concept of a creative atmosphere can be viewed as a phe-
nomenon, where culture factories, the local system of cultural
production, and value-enhancing services are interacting, and the
concentration of these talents and the rate of relationships give rise
to cultural districts or clusters (Santagata, Bertacchini, & Borrione,
2009; Santagata, 2015).
The above arguments concerning the creative city concept,
from different standpoints, can be viewed as a part of the
growing attention being paid to the role of culture in develop-
ment. Culture is regarded in a broad sense as “the set of
distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features
of society or a social group, and that (as encompassing), in
addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together,
value systems, traditions and beliefs” (UNESCO, 2002). The
importance of culture as a key resource is increasingly recognized
in addressing both the economic and social dimensions of
poverty and for sustainable development (e.g., UNDP & UNESCO,
2013). Unlike the conventional model in which economic devel-
opment is seen as the result of the combination of capital and
labor, the endogenous growth model indicates the importance of
the quality of human capital and even the social system and
governance. In accordance, culture is regarded as a source of
ideas for economic sectors (UNCTAD & UNDP, 2010). However, the
role of cultural and creative industries has not yet been verified in
a comprehensive way, nor has this view gained widespread
support (Throsby, 2001; UNDP & UNESCO, 2013).
Even without a concrete theoretical foundation, actual imple-
mentations have been ongoing; UNESCO launched the Creative
Cities Network Project to connect cities that want to share expe-
riences, ideas and best practices regarding cultural, social and
economic development in 2004, and seven creative fields were
designated for the project: Crafts & Folk Art, Design, Film,
Gastronomy, Literature, Music and Media Arts. In Japan, cities such
as Kanazawa (craft), Nagoya (design), Kobe (design), Sapporo
(media art) and Tsuruoka (gastronomy) have joined this UNESCO
network, explicitly adopting the creative city strategy.
There are various definitions of and arguments concerning the
concepts of creativity and creative industries, and the above Japa-
nese cities have different issues and starting points. However, three
feature commons to all is that they are seeking to 1) increase wealth
and create jobs, 2) upgrade city image and attract talent, 3) promote
cultural creativity.
The purposes of this paper are to 1) survey the current
creativity arguments and identify the importance of cultural
creativity in Japan; 2) determine the actual volume of creative
industries; and 3) evaluate, in the case of the city of Kanazawa,
the creative city strategy's usefulness in developing local
creative industries. In the final section, general prospects for
development of cultural creativity are discussed. Although this
paper examines the case of Japan, most findings are applicable to
other countries.
2. Historical overview: the creativity argument in Japan2
2.1. Creativity for economic growth
Japan has been modernizing for the past 150 years. After World
War II (hereafter WW II), Japan's new constitution renounced war
and Japan focused intensively on economic development. The first
wave of that economic development was in the 1950s and 1960s,
with Japan experiencing rapid economic growth, roughly 10% in-
crease of real GDP annually. This growth, sometimes referred to as
Japan's economic miracle, was the result of a complex set of factors,
primarily resources such as the well-educated workforce and active
investment; productivity improvements; efficient corporate man-
agement; development of transportation and technology; govern-
ment policies; and the international political and economic
environment (Patrick & Rosovsky, 1976).
Shimomura (1962), a leading economist who laid out the
theoretical framework for the economic miracle, pointed to a great
surge of creativity in the Japanese people, who had been released
from war-time constraints such as the gold standard and zaibatsu
(financial conglomerates). He observed that every individual has
the potential to engage in economic activity, and one of the driving
forces of the Japanese economic miracle was the creativity of the
general populace. This is one of the earliest statements referring to
the importance of creativity for activating innovation and economic
development in Japan.
2.2. Nurturing creativity through education
After Japan caught up economically with the other industrial-
ized countries, Japanese industry was forced to make its own in-
novations rather than relying on advanced technology from
overseas. The previous educational system, which produced a well-
trained workforce for Japanese society and industry, was criticized
as too uniform (MEXT, 1971), and the importance of nurturing
creativity for innovation through formal and informal education
was discussed mainly as a means of accelerating scientific
innovation.
Since then, more attention has been paid to the creation of
diversified human capital with talent for innovation, though
admittedly creativity is difficult to characterize and measure. Until
now, the number of patents, the number of Nobel Prize winners,
and the number of scientific research papers published in inter-
national journals have been used as measures of creativity. The
Japanese education system, which has developed remarkably,
views creativity as the capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing world
(MEXT, 1983) and promotes self-education by inculcating the
ability to gain knowledge and information, to think, to create, and
to express ideas on one's own initiative.
2.3. Creativity for knowledge creation
On the other hand, in the business sphere, the Total Quality
Control (TQC) circle and kaizen (quality improvement) movements
in Japan were prominent domestically and became well known
internationally in the 1980s. These movements are based on
management techniques for improving performance at every level
of a company by promoting small but ongoing adjustments and
innovations by all employees, ranging from factory workers to
managers. In actual implementation, quality control activities
inevitably require the cooperation of all personnel in a company.
These approaches provided a foundation for knowledge
2
This section is largely based on Kakiuchi et al. (2013).
 E. Kakiuchi / City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108
management, the notion that tacit knowledge be created and
shared by all the members of a company (Nonaka & Takeuchi,
1995). Creativity has long been viewed as an important element
of innovation; it allows Japanese companies to adapt their opera-
tions to an ever-changing business environment by redefining the
value of the goods and services they are offering, adding new value
to their products, and creating new markets and clients.
Despite the arguments mentioned above, the creativity argu-
ment had a relatively low profile in Japan; there were changes in
focus from time to time, but no discussion of the urban context.
However it should be noted that discussion of creativity in Japan
generally pivots around the view that creativity is not a special
talent but rather a potential that anyone can develop.
3. The creative city concept: issues
3.1. The impact of globalization
Ongoing globalization since the 1990s and the collapse of the
bubble economy in Japan have had a strong impact on Japan's so-
ciety and economy. Due to deregulation and the increase in gov-
ernment adoption of market-based policies, economic and
commercial functions have become increasingly concentrated3
along the Pacific coast, particularly in the Tokyo metropolitan
area. The economic gap between Tokyo and other Japanese cities
continues to widen. Discussion concerning global cities such as
Tokyo suggests that they serve as incubators for innovation,
developing talent through training in highly specialized services
such as accounting, finance, advertising and telecommunications
(Sassen, 1991). This observation appears to be applicable to some
extent even today.
On the other hand, many regional cities no longer serve as sites
for industrial production, due to the relocation of production sites
to lower-cost countries. As a result those cities have become weaker
in many important functions such as the fostering of local culture,
identity and social coherence. The creative city concept, introduced
in Japan in the 21st century as an urban planning tool (Landry,
2000) and as a hub for the creative class (Florida, 2002), has been
viewed as one way to counteract this weakening.
The creative city concept is perceived by smaller local cities as
one in which innovative economic structure and unique regional
culture are compatible. In view of the high concentration of IT-
related content companies in large cities, a number of regional
cities with rich cultural assets such as traditional craft industries
have incorporated the creative city concept into their urban and
industrial policy, aiming at radical new means of securing jobs for
the local populace and maintaining their economic and social
vitality.
3.2. Cultural creativity in a mature society
Japan has reached a social and economic turning point. Popu-
lation growth ended in 2004, a sharp drop in population is antici-
pated in the coming decades and the GDP is stagnant. Creating a
high value added economy in this rapidly aging society with a
decreasing population is an important issue in Japan's political
agenda. Here we consider the role of values in this challenging
domestic context.
Values are shifting in Japan. In recent years the number of
3
During the period of rapid economic growth, urban concentration was allevi-
ated by a series of government policies, including major public works as well as
investment in rural areas, as the result of which the population influx to metro-
politan areas slowed.
103
people focusing on non-material satisfaction has been increasing
steadily (as of 2014, 63.1% think non-material satisfaction is more
important than material satisfaction: Cabinet Office, 2015). This
national trend has important implications: culture is indispensable
for Quality of Life (QOL), but it is not necessarily reflected in
financial transactions. At the same time, enhanced QOL, increased
happiness, and the development of satisfaction-oriented enter-
prises may facilitate the development of high value added in-
dustries and the creation of jobs for residents.
Recent business management knowledge creation initiatives
point to the importance of using design to differentiate products
and avoid commoditization; there is constant market pressure to
add value for customers. Even typical non-creative industries such
as manufacturing are now looking increasingly to incorporate
cultural creativity in their operations. In the field of automobile
production, for example, design has been one of the most impor-
tant elements almost from the outset (e.g., Sloan, 1963). Accord-
ingly the number of artists in Japan, designers in particular, has
increased noticeably in recent decades (MIC, 2010).
3.3. Current status of culturally creative industries and artists in
Japan4
We now examine the current situation of culturally creative
industries5 and the potential contribution of artists to economic
development. Despite the difficulty of defining culturally creative
industries, a report commissioned by the national government
estimated the sales volume for culturally creative industries in
Japan (Hakuhodo, 2010): 51.5 trillion yen in 1999, and 45.2 trillion
yen in 2004. These estimates applied the UK thematic classifica-
tions of creative industry.6
We made an estimate regarding culturally creative industries in
2011, following the same methodology as used by the government
(as discussed above)7: the sales volume was estimated as 44.0
trillion yen (Kakiuchi & Takeuchi, 2014),8 accounting for approxi-
mately 6.6% of all industries.9 The growth of all industries during
1999e2011 was 7.8% and 22.9% in terms of sales and employees,
while that of culturally creative industries was 14.5% and 14.0%
respectively, with the exception of ‘software and computer service’
for which the respective growth rates were 66.4%, and 74.5%. Even
4
This section is largely based on Kakiuchi and Takeuchi (2014).
5
Defining creative industries is not simple. As discussed above, there are several
widely differing definitions (e.g., UNESCO-UIS (2009; 2012), UK (DCMS, 2001) and
Florida. (2002; 2005). In this paper, largely following the UK classification, which
excludes research and development, we refer to creative industries as culturally
creative industries hereafter.
6
The report defines creative industries on the basis of the thematic areas used in
the UK definition: advertising, architecture, art and antiques, crafts, design,
designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software, music, the performing
arts, publishing, software and computer services, television and radio, in addition to
stationery, toys and jewelry industries which are largely based on character goods.
7
The national government (METI) released another estimate of the production
volume of creative industries (6.4 trillion yen) in 2011. Greatly enlarging the scope
of creative industries this estimate included such industries as food and drink,
housing interiors, and tourism, which demonstrates the ambiguity of the definition
of creative industries.
8
The data for 2011 used in this section were estimated by the author based on
previous government estimates and recent official statistics (METI, 2012a; 2012b).
Although “industry refers to the integrated economic activities which are similar in
producing and providing goods and services” (MIC, 2007), governments and other
public entities such as heritage sites, museums and libraries are excluded here, as
the intention of this paper is to show the market impact of creative industries.
9
The statistical data for all industries are taken from the Basic Survey of Japanese
Business Structure and Activities, a survey of Japanese enterprises with 50 or more
employees with paid-up capital or investment funds over 30 million yen. As smaller
establishments are excluded in this survey, the real volume of all industries would
be considerably larger than the estimate.
104 E. Kakiuchi / City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108

in the content sector of creative industries (e.g., text, games, music,

manga, and film) annual sales decreased slightly during that period.
Note, however, that the above data may be skewed by artificially
low prices for sales to overseas subsidiaries resulting from tax
minimization strategies.
Among culturally creative industries, service sectors account for
86.2% of total sales, with ‘software and computer service’ as the
single largest sector (39.0%). Closer examination reveals that
culturally creative industries are polarized: software and computer
service revenues increased substantially, while revenues of the
other sectors (architecture, advertising, publishing, film, music &
video, performing arts, design, and arts) decreased. The same trend
was observed for job creation and value added.
In the software and computer service sector (the largest
culturally creative industry sector and only sector growing) roughly
65% of the workers are specialists and technical workers such as
system engineers and programmers, and the rest are clerical Fig. 1. Kenrokuen garden
This photo, as well as all the others in this paper, courtesy of Kanazawa municipal
workers and (a small number of) designers (MIC, 2010). Most IT- government.
related jobs are located in large cities, particularly Tokyo
(Kakiuchi et al., 2013). It should be noted that software and com-
puter service technical workers such as system consultants, system government, Kaga devoted a significant portion of its resources to
architects, and software development workers are engaged in all culture. As a result, today Kanazawa has a significant
industry divisions now. Development of information and technol- cultural heritage: Noh theater, gold leaf decoration, Kaga maki-e
ogy has been ongoing in Japan as a whole, although there is a dif- lacquer ware, ceramics, and Kaga yuzen decorated silk
ference in degree. kimono. Techniques and know-how dating back to artisan ar-
As for the individual creativity, artists are now working in a morers provide a foundation for dynamic production of tradi-
variety of industries (MIC, 2010). In particular, designers are tional crafts.
working in manufacturing, information and communications, Because Kanazawa experienced no serious urban disasters,
wholesale and retail trade, scientific research, professional, and including damage in WW II, it retains the original historical land-
technical services such as design and advertising. Thus, it may be scape of a castle town: canals, old streets, and natural scenery (see
difficult to make a practical distinction between creative industries Fig. 1). Today Kanazawa is one of the most popular tourist desti-
and non-creative industries, using either industry or professional nations in Japan.
classifications.
Moreover, the proportion of artists and engineers in the popu-
4.1.2. Uniqueness of kanazawa e endogenous development
lation has a strong correlation to the wealth of a city (Kakiuchi,
At the time of the Meiji Restoration in the middle of the 19th
2010): the size of the total workforce and the average personal
century, Kanazawa was one of the largest cities in Japan, with more
income of the city. However there is little evidence that artists raise
than 100,000 inhabitants. However, due to weak industrial funda-
a city's wealth, while the number of artists is highly dependent on
mentals and the disadvantage of remoteness from Tokyo and
the economic wealth of the city. Thus, the proportion of artists in
Osaka, the city lagged behind the pace of Japan's modernization.
the total workforce might be an index of a city's economic vitality,
Kanazawa's industrial development began in the 1890s and soon
but this does not necessarily mean that the artists contribute
thereafter the city became the top location for the production of silk
directly to economic development.
for export, and for power looms (Nakamura, 2002).
If the above observations are accurate, why are some cities
Silk textile manufacturing and the loom machinery industry
adopting the creative city strategy? To explore that question, the
continue to be the prime components of the economy of Kanazawa.
following section examines the case of the city of Kanazawa, which
Endogenous development was achieved by carefully selecting
is employing the creative city strategy.
niche markets, and the production system was established within
Kanazawa, overcoming the disadvantage of Kanazawa's distance
4. Case study of Kanazawa10
from the Pacific coast (Kobayashi, 1986; Nishimura, 1999). However
this industrial focus did not result in large capital accumulation.
4.1. Overview of the city of kanazawa

4.1.1. History 4.1.3. General industrial trends: Japan and Kanazawa

Located on the north coast of the island of Honshu, facing the
Sea of Japan, the city of Kanazawa (hereafter referred to as Kana-
zawa) is an economic and cultural hub in the Hokuriku (Japanese for
northern land) region.
Kanazawa began as a temple town in the 16th century, and
the city was constructed in the 17th century by the Kaga clan, one
of the largest and wealthiest in the Edo Period. Due to its wealth
and power, Kaga had a relatively tense relationship with the
central government. In order to demonstrate that it did
not intend to build military capacity independent of the central
10
This section is based on Kakiuchi et al. (2015).
The industrial structure of Japan has shifted from light industry
to heavy chemical industry, value-added assembly production, and
now, in the 21st century, to high-value-added, high-tech produc-
tion. In contrast to these national trends, many companies in
Kanazawa have remained in their original specialized areas and
have survived as small but unique niche companies. This diversi-
fication has proven to be Kanazawa's strength.
It might be said that the critical period of Kanazawa's industrial
development was the 1960s, often referred to as the time of Japan's
economic miracle. At that time many other cities were selected as
key sites for the development of a national industrial structure.
Kanazawa made efforts to be designated as an industrial develop-
ment site, but was not selected by the national government as a site
 E. Kakiuchi / City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108 105

for a major industrial park. Furthermore, when the national system

for protection of historic towns (the Law for Protection of Ancient
Capitals) was introduced in 1966, ancient capitals including Kyoto,
Nara and Kamakura were listed for national protection. However,
Kanazawa, which had never been a capital city of Japan, was not
covered by this law.
Thus, Kanazawa had to develop its own strategy to harmonize
its traditions and development. The municipal government
increasingly concentrated its efforts on culture, with two main
components: a series of measures to protect the historic landscape,
and capacity building and educational opportunities for artists,
artisans and ordinary citizens. Such measures are unusual for a
Japanese city with such a small population and limited financial
resources.11 The city committed further to the art aspect of its
strategy by investing considerable resources in the establishment
of a number of art museums.

4.2. Securing the uniqueness of history and culture

Fig. 2. Streetscape of old samurai district.
4.2.1. Preservation of the townscape
The most influential and distinctive policy of Kanazawa has
been the preservation of the historic landscape. Starting with the
1968 Historical Environmental Preservation Ordinance, the
municipal government introduced zoning and other measures to
protect its historic urban environment. Aiming to “create original
and beautiful scenery and pass it on to the next generation, by
protecting and developing the traditional environment and
creating a modern townscape” (article 1 of the ordinance), this
ordinance was a pioneering effort: it was the first case of a Japanese
regional city enacting regulations for the protection of private
houses and the landscape (Nishimura, 2004).
Since that time, the landscape policies of Kanazawa have been
extended to include the protection and rehabilitation of distinctive
landscape elements such as old buildings, canals and steep sloping
woodlands. Today the city is divided into two areas: a traditional
environment preservation zone and a modern townscape zone, all
with the goal of protecting the historic landscape while allowing Fig. 3. Chaya-machi.
harmonious development of a modern townscape. Detailed land-
scape formation standards, including limits on the height of
Workshop, established in 1989, to commemorate the 100th anni-
buildings and other elements, were established, accompanied by a
versary of the foundation of the modern city of Kanazawa. This
system of financial incentives. Those standards apply to the local
workshop, with galleries and studios, offers training courses and
townscape, waterways, steep slope wooded-land, landscape sur-
financial assistance for craftspeople and artisans. In the first two
rounding temples and shrines, night views and street scenery. This
decades after its foundation, the workshop graduated more than
townscape strategy has received recognition nationwide and the
historic sector of Kanazawa was designated an Important Cultural
Landscape under the national law enacted in 2010 (Figs. 2e5).

4.2.2. Capacity building

The city has been making substantial efforts at capacity building
for more than a half century. The first important new institution,
Kanazawa College of Art, was established in 1946, immediately
after the end of WW II. In response to requests by artists and citi-
zens to support the continuation of traditional crafts, the municipal
government committed to supporting the development of creative
talent in fine arts, despite hyperinflation and resource scarcity at
that time. Since then, the college has contributed substantially to
the development of art and culture in Kanazawa, and has attracted
numerous talented young artists. One key to this contribution is the
college's close linkage with its graduates.
The instance of capacity building was the Utatsuyama Craft

11
Kanazawa has a population of about 465,000 as of 2015, with a financial
capability indicator (three year average of basic financial revenues divided by basic
fiscal demand) of 0.78 (as of 2012). http://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/11018/. Fig. 4. Komachinami.
106 E. Kakiuchi / City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108
Fig. 5. Canal.
200 trainees; more than half of the graduates are working in artistic
production in Kanazawa.12
In addition to nurturing artists, the city also provides a unique
venue for citizens to develop their artistic side. The red brick
buildings of a former spinning mill were purchased by the city
government and converted to a multi-purpose art center in 1996.
The center is operated by the citizens themselves, and is open 24 h
a day, 365 days a year. Another important training facility, the
Kanazawa College of Craftsmen, is located on the same grounds.
Young artisans are trained in specialties related to conservation of
historic houses and traditional townscape.
4.2.3. Museum clusters
There are more than 20 private and public museums in Kana-
zawa, which is unusual for a city of only 500,000 inhabitants. The
museums are varied: the Gold Leaf Museum will serve as a labo-
ratory for production development; the Noh Museum introduces
traditional theatrical Noh performances.
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, located in the
center of Kanazawa, was established in 2004, aiming at generating
new culture and supporting community revitalization. It has
guiding concepts of casualness, enjoyment, and accessibility.
Designed by internationally renowned architects SANAA (Kazuyo
Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa), with a construction cost of 11 billion
yen, the museum has a distinctive exterior: a round building with a
circular glass corridor and an open terrace (Fig. 6).
With its excellent exhibitions of contemporary arts and its va-
riety of workshops and seminars, the museum affords visitors an
experience of the world's foremost contemporary art. It should be
noted that through cooperative engagement with the citizenry and
industry, the museum is expected to serve as a laboratory for
exploring ways of sustaining Kanazawa's distinctive cultural tra-
ditions. There is planning for growth as well: the museum focuses
on programs for children: as the children grow, the museum too
will grow and continue to evolve for the generations to come,
creating a bridge from the traditions of the city to the future.
4.3. Challenges: linking culture and industry13
4.3.1. Traditional craft industries
Unique and endogenous manufacturing production, which
12
Data are provided by the municipal government of Kanazawa.
13
This section is largely based on Kakiuchi et al. (2015).
Fig. 6. 21st Century museum of contemporary art.
worked well in the past, has recently declined in terms of both
production and number of workers. Traditional craft industries are
even more at risk.14 In 2010 some 3000 people (roughly 6% of the
total workforce) were engaged in various traditional craft in-
dustries, mainly textiles, in 900 establishments (roughly 20% of
total enterprise) in Kanazawa, generating roughly 11 billion yen in
sales.15 The traditional craft industries, however, have significance
beyond the indications of the statistics. Traditional crafts are the
basis of the city's brand image of cultural creativity, a valuable asset
for tourism and a potential foundation for innovation.
In general, these labor-intensive industries produce crafts in an
original manner inherited from previous generations. Despite na-
tional efforts in Japan to retain cultural assets, these industries have
seen a steady decline in the face of lifestyle changes and inexpen-
sive commodity imports (METI, 2011). Kanazawa is no exception.
In order to revitalize the once-strong textile industry, the
municipal government, along with business associations, has taken
several measures: combining pre-existing textile-related industries
and design; converting traditional houses to incubator offices for
SOHO (small office/home office) entrepreneurs; establishing
research institutions for silk product development and sales; and
organizing fashion trade fairs e in short mobilizing all of the cul-
tural assets mentioned above. However these efforts have not yet
halted the decline.16
4.3.2. Creative craft city
In 2009, Kanazawa joined the UNESCO creative city network.
This affiliation was viewed by the city as a seal of approval for all the
earlier efforts made by the city to preserve its traditional crafts, and
as a precious opportunity to acquire direct connections to inter-
national markets. To take advantage of this opportunity, the
municipal government launched a series of programs, based on
three basic principles: linkage between culture and business,
fostering of creators, and attracting the world.
In terms of conventional market analysis, however, it is not clear
14
Clusters of traditional craft industries have been designated for protection by
the national government since 1974. Despite these efforts, they have seen a steady
decline in general.
15
Data for traditional craft industries were provided by the municipal govern-
ment of Kanazawa. Since the peak of those traditional craft industries in 1990, the
number of employees decreased by half, and the sales to a quarter by 2010.
16
The number of employees was 6200 in 1990 and decreased to 1400 in 2010. The
production was estimated at 90 billion yen in 1990 and decreased to 17 billion in
2010 (Kakiuchi et al., 2015).
 E. Kakiuchi / City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108
that these efforts by the city have had a significant impact on the
long-term and nation-wide trend of decline in textile related in-
dustries. Conventional economic theory holds that jobs and pro-
duction depend on market size: this is germane to the case of
Kanazawa.
One important policy measure for promoting traditional craft
industries is human capacity development, namely, training of
successors in skills including design development. The municipal
government has undertaken a series of capacity building measures,
with design as the core of policy. A key indicator for the evaluation
of the impact of these efforts is the number of artists (visual arts
and design). The proportion of artists in the total workforce of
Kanazawa has for some time been increasing in comparison to the
national average, but in the 21st century it has decreased slightly
(MIC, 2010). Thus, there is no clear indication that long-term ca-
pacity building efforts aimed at developing more artists have been
successful. It is not easy for a single city to resist a nationwide trend.
4.3.3. New developments
The potential significance of cultural creativity can be observed
in the adaptation of the know-how and skills of traditional in-
dustries to new forms of production; this could preserve traditional
skills and stimulate market-based growth at the same time. A case
in point is Katani Sangyo Co., Ltd., established in 1899. Working
from the basis of traditional skills (gold leaf coating methods), it has
developed a hot stamping foil applicable to electric components,
cosmetic containers, leather, crafts and graphic design.
Also, using synthetic films and technology based on vacuum
vaporization and coating methods, the company has expanded its
product range to include metallic yarns. At the same time, this
company maintains its original skills and gold leaf products, though
these now occupy only a small part of total sales. Although this
phenomenon may be difficult to replicate, it is an instance of cre-
ation of new values and markets on the basis of traditional
methods.
On the other hand, cultural creativity certainly enhances the
appeal of the city. More than 8 million people visited Kanazawa and
the surrounding areas in2011,17 an increase of more than 40% over
two decades. Roughly 1.5 million people visited Kenrokuen garden
(a historic landmark of Kanazawa) and the newly constructed 21st
Century Museum of Contemporary Art, respectively. The former
castle site, samurai residence and temples also attract more than
100,000 visitors each year.
A detailed tourist survey conducted by the city of Kanazawa18
revealed that cultural assets play a vital role in attracting tourists.
The most attractive tourist sites of Kanazawa are historic sites,
followed in significance by the city's historic townscape, local
cuisine and culture aspects such as traditional crafts and visual arts.
Kanazawa was connected to Tokyo by bullet train in 2015,
reducing travel time by rail to the capital to just two and a half
hours, and greatly improving access to the city, which will certainly
give more opportunity to exploit cultural tourism in the future.
5. Discussion
5.1. Upgrading city image
As has been shown in the case of Kanazawa, culturally creative
industries and capacity-building measures can contribute to
17
Tourism Statistics, Ishikawa Prefecture (2010), http://toukei.pref.ishikawa.jp/dl/
2331/kankoutoukei22.pdf.
18
Tourism Statistics, the municipal government of Kanazawa (2011), http://www.
kanazawa-kankoukyoukai.gr.jp/images/kankouchousa-2011.pdf.
107
increasing the attractiveness of a city. In order to preserve and
repair historic sites and buildings, artisans with skills in special
traditional techniques are necessary. While efforts to preserve the
townscape can be viewed as costly for the city, a renewed town-
scape attracts tourists, thereby benefiting the city socially and
economically.
Existence of craft artists and museums also greatly appeals to
visitors but they need public support to continue their activities.
Here again, supporting them is costly but benefits the city in the
end.
Creative city strategies can improve a city's image. For regional
cities, which have difficulty attracting internationally competitive
industries and factories, tourism-related industries are an option
worthy of consideration. Cultural assets in a broad sense e the
scenic beauty of the town, traditional craft industries, and even
local cuisine e have great potential to contribute to sustainable
enterprise. At the same time, creative city policy can enhance and
diversify these cultural assets.
5.2. Japanese context
In Japan, facing on-going depopulation and a downsizing
economy, tourism is a realistic direction for growth in many
regional cities, where depopulation has eroded urban functionality.
Tourism can contribute to maintaining the present level of services
in such cities. Furthermore, some visitors may be attracted to the
city and move there as residents. Tourism, then, is important not
only for economic reasons but also for sustaining urban
functionality.
The creative city concept can thus be viewed as a valuable
component of a shift from growth models heavily dependent on
manufacturing and production to more balanced service oriented
development strategies.
5.3. Economic impact of culturally creative industries
Despite government efforts and expectations for growth, except
for the software and computer service sector, creative industries in
Japan (using the UK definition) are not growing in terms of sales or
value added, number of employees, or number of establishments.
In some sectors, relocation of production sites and increasing im-
ports of less expensive goods are greatly reducing sales, and life-
style changes have led to sales problems.
As seen in the case study, traditional craft industries, being
largely dependent on non-automated production, are particularly
at risk, while there are some examples of successful application of
the skills and the know-how of culturally creative industries.
On the other hand, digitalization, which is on-going in all in-
dustries from agriculture to manufacturing to services, now inevi-
tably makes every sector of industry employ creative workers such
as system consultants, system architects, and software developers.
It can be said that cultural creativity is a necessity in all industries,
at least in terms of digitalization.
5.4. Prospect of cultural creativity
If we accept that cultural creativity and a culturally creative
atmosphere can include the way ordinary life is conducted, they are
certainly increasingly more important for economic development.
Emphasis on design and comfort, in life-style goods and services
has long been an area where cultural creativity makes a difference
(e.g., Sloan, 1963).
If so, it may be very difficult and not particularly meaningful to
draw a sharp line between creative industries and non-creative
industries. This points to a fertile question: how to systematically
108 E. Kakiuchi / City, Culture and Society 7 (2016) 101e108
actualize cultural creativity in the new economy? There will be no
absolute answer to this question, but our experience suggests one
possibility e collective creativity e that will be actualized by
everyone who makes efforts for innovation within their capacity.
Also the in-depth analysis indicated that economic growth in
Japan was attained not only by material supply but also various
cultural elements such as the legal system, management, and
commercial transaction rules based on mutual trust, in addition to
well trained workforce, all of which are related to the cultural
creativity of the society.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by GRIPS Policy Research Center
Research Project (2012-2013), and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number
26380292. I thank the municipal government of Kanazawa for
providing information.
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