Mayor of Nagareyama City, Yoshiharu Izaki

2025.12.18

A city where people want to continue living by realizing a high-quality living environment and a comfortable urban environment

■ Profile
Born in Suginami Ward, Tokyo in 1954. Graduated from the Department of Geography at Rissho University and completed a Master's degree at San Francisco State University (majoring in Geography). Engaged in regional planning, transportation planning, and environmental assessment in the United States. Returning to Japan in 1989, he became a resident of Nagareyama. After working as an urban planning consultant, he became Mayor of Nagareyama in 2003. He is currently in his sixth term. He has previously served as Vice President of the National Association of Mayors, President of Chiba Prefecture Mayors, and Chairman of the Japan Chapter of the Alliance for Healthy Cities. He has written numerous books, including "The Day Japan Becomes Nagareyama."

Nagareyama City in Chiba Prefecture has the catchphrase "The forest town closest to the city center." The city boasts one of the highest population growth rates in the country, and is undertaking unique urban development, including being the first local government to establish a marketing department. We spoke to Mayor Izaki about Nagareyama City's child-rearing policies, branding strategy, and future prospects.　

Ever since I was a child, I've been interested in the appearance of cities and how they change, so I studied urban geography at university. I wanted to go to graduate school and study further, but I thought that if I continued studying urban geography in Japan and graduated, I wouldn't be able to do the urban development work that I wanted to do, so I decided to go to graduate school in the United States. My time in graduate school was the period when I studied the hardest of my life. I entered a state university, and students from outside the state would be expelled if they didn't get good grades, so I studied really hard. It was a tough environment, but I got a real sense of what it means to study. There were a lot of things that happened, but I had a lot of interesting experiences in the United States.

■Return to Japan and become mayor of Nagareyama.

Since I had obtained permanent residency, I intended to continue living here as an American. However, with the birth of our first daughter and my wife's wishes, we decided to return to Japan. Deciding where to live after returning to Japan would affect my reputation as someone with a background in urban and regional planning, so I thoroughly researched it. In the United States, there are large social and economic disparities between regions, and the quality of education varies considerably, so location was particularly important. I knew this wasn't the case in Japan, but I was very particular about where I wanted to live. I ultimately chose Nagareyama, a city with plenty of greenery and hills, like San Francisco, but with gentle slopes that I felt I could climb even as I got older. I moved to Nagareyama because of its beautiful environment and potential, but unfortunately, there were some unfortunate developments. Despite its wonderful environment, the city was experiencing rampant development that diminished the added value of the surrounding area due to simplistic urban planning that squashed the city's potential.
It would be very sad if the charm of a town full of potential could not be brought out. The job of mayor came about as an extension of my thoughts on how to bring out and shape the potential of Nagareyama. I didn't originally aim to become mayor or a politician. I became mayor simply as a means to shape the potential of Nagareyama. That's why I see myself as a "local government manager" rather than a politician.

■From marketing to branding

As a local government manager, I have also focused on marketing. While an increasing number of local governments across the country have established marketing and city sales departments, this does not mean that they are all working well. Marketing is a business strategy. It requires a differentiated mission and the strategies and tactics required to achieve it. Without a fundamental awareness of the problem and a vision for solving it at the top of the organization, even if a marketing department is established, it will not function if it is simply left to the employees. To prevent this from happening, I have been meeting monthly with marketing department staff in Nagareyama City to share my vision and strategy and develop tactics for realizing it. In particular, the land readjustment project along the Tsukuba Express line, which was planned under the Housing and Railway Law to cover approximately 1% of the city's area, was creating a critical financial situation. If the large amount of newly supplied residential land remained unsold, the city would incur a large financial deficit. At the time, Nagareyama City itself was not well known, so a major challenge was how to increase awareness and appeal to homebuyers. However, thanks to their efforts, the land readjustment project has now been almost completely sold, and their goal going forward is to ensure that the number of people who are attracted to Nagareyama and want to live there will always exceed the number of properties moving out. This will prevent vacant houses and will lead to sustainable development of the local community and economy. In order to create such a structure, the stage is changing from the previous "marketing to sell houses" to "branding the town as one worth continuing to live in."

Childcare support is not a price competition

Nagareyama City is also focusing on child-rearing policies, but recently, many other municipalities have also implemented various other initiatives. Unfortunately, however, there is a situation where limited tax revenue is used to compete for cheap, for example, by making medical expenses, childcare fees, and school lunch fees free. However, Nagareyama City does not focus on this. Instead, we are focusing on improving the social environment and infrastructure to create an environment where people can raise children while working. Thanks to the effectiveness of these policies, the birth rate has remained at around 1% of the population for the past seven to eight years. With the number of elementary and junior high school students increasing, the population will reach its peak in the future. Until now, we have focused on ensuring quantity by building new nurseries and elementary and junior high schools, but from now on, we plan to further improve the quality of education. Ultimately, this will also lead to city branding. Specifically, we are implementing the Canadian method "Classroom Without Answers" and "Classroom of the Future" in collaboration with private companies such as IT companies, to create an environment where children and students can learn independently and with a sense of ownership. Another current challenge is accepting children with disabilities. We are currently working to expand inclusive education so that children and students with disabilities can be smoothly accepted at local schools and can live their school lives with peace of mind. We plan to introduce this at model schools and then expand it to all schools. By providing such detailed civic services and carrying out development that enhances the value of the city in accordance with strict regulations, we hope to achieve both a high-quality living environment and a comfortable urban environment, making Nagareyama a city that is worth continuing to live in.

■Message to university students

I hope you don't limit your own potential. It may feel like society is putting limits on you, but it's you who can break through them. We're heading towards an era where conventional wisdom is crumbling and anything goes, so you never know where your potential will open up. I hope you'll try many different things and work hard so that you can build a solid foundation for great growth in the future and have a wide range of horizons.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on October 3, 2025 by Shimada Takakazu, third-year student at Hosei University