Utsunomiya City Brand Strategy

古池 弘隆
2020 THE JOURNAL OF UTSUNOMIYA KYOWA UNIVERSITY  
Japanese population decline began in 2008, and about 31 million people, or onequarter of the current population, will disappear from Japan in the next half-century. From now on, we will enter an era of inter-city competition in which prefectures and municipalities throughout Japan try to slow down population decrease and compete to sustain and develop regions and cities. To that end, it is crucial to increase the number of tourists and visitors, and to increase residents and to attract
more » ... s. The critical issue here is the formation of an attractive city image. The spread of international transportation, the global investment environment, and the proliferation of the Internet have intensified competition among cities worldwide. In Japan, many local governments are now promoting city brands to create more favorable city images. Utsunomiya City is pioneering nationwide in the creation of city brands to enhance its image. The project started a decade ago, and the results have begun to appear. This paper reviews the basic concept of the Utsunomiya City brand strategy and its efforts to date and looks at future directions.
doi:10.24629/citylife.21.0_86 fatcat:fmghp37xtve6po42jo2es7gxxq