Paper Title
Citizens’ View on Depopulation and Its Local Government Policy of Rural Area in Japan

Abstract
Depopulation is a worldwide phenomenon. Japan has been identified as one of the super aging societies and one of the largest low-fertility countries. Japan’s population decline is eminent, and that the shrinking population is concentrated more than ever in Tokyo and its environs. Akita is one of prefectures in Japan facing serious depopulation, and its local government has attempted to return to a growth strategy. This study examines how Akita citizens view the local government policies, such as 1) Industry and Energy, 2) Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 3) Tourism 4) Transportation, 5) Health, Medical, Welfare, 6) Education and their relationships with 7) Depopulationby using data from “Citizens Awareness Survey“ conducted by Akita local government in 2015. Results show that relationships of all policies and depopulation are statistically positive and significant; however, standardized path coefficients between depopulation and transportation or industry/energy indicate “small” effects on depopulation. Index Terms - Depopulation; Local government policies, Structure Equation Model.