EXCLUSIVE: Prefectures to Be Empowered to Coordinate Landscape Protection

Tokyo, Dec. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s land ministry is considering giving prefectures the authority to coordinate efforts to preserve beautiful landscapes that span municipal boundaries, informed sources told Jiji Press. Regarding scenic spots involving multiple municipalities, such as large mountains, for which regulations sometimes differ between municipalities, prefectural governments will be able to establish meetings of related municipal officials for discussions to coordinate preservation measures. For the move, the ministry plans to submit a bill to revise the landscape law to next year’s ordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, the sources said. Major cities such as ordinance-designated cities, as well as desiring municipalities, have been allowed to draw up their original preservation plans as “landscape administrative organizations,” setting their own rules on the height and color of buildings, for example. Other municipalities follow the regulations of landscape plans drawn up by prefectures. As of the end of March, the number of landscape administrative organizations stood at 783, accounting for some 45 pct of Japan’s municipalities. But there are cases in which such organizations formulate plans with different regulations for the same landscapes. In an actual case, a city government designated a mountain in a neighboring city as an important scenic spot and restricted the installation of anything that would obstruct its view. Meanwhile, the neighboring city had no such rules, and solar panels were installed near the mountain. Currently, the neighboring city is not obliged to respond to a request for consultation and the prefecture is not authorized to call for consultation between the two cities. The planned bill therefore will call for giving prefectures additional authority to coordinate municipalities’ landscape protection efforts by setting up meetings to allow related municipal officials to have discussions. It will seek to oblige municipalities to comply with prefectural coordination requests. Progress in discussions between municipalities is expected to make it easier to align regulations and curb the construction of new facilities that may spoil landscapes. Furthermore, the bill will call for allowing prefectures to set wide-area landscape policies covering their entire jurisdictions, including municipalities designated as landscape administrative organizations. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]