카와사키의 산업구조 전환과 지역산업정책

It is the research based on local level analysis that real social impact brought forth by the transformation of industrial strucure can be seen clearly. The case study about Kawasaki, urban industrial district mainly composed of typical heavy and chemical industries, can show changing features of Japanese society in the midst of globalization, which has promoted overseas production by Japanese manufacturing firms. In Kawasaki, large factories had converted into R&D facilities, while small and medium industries, in the field of knowledge intensive new economy utilizing advanced science and technology, had flourished. It can be a part of industrial restructuring proceeded in the metropolitan Tokyo including Yokohama, called Keihin industrial area. Globalization had precipitated the concentration of core organizations, including management, financing and R&D sections, in large city such as metropolitan Tokyo. We can see the merit of urban industrial area, where shaping and exchange of information via face to face social contact had been available. At the beginning of 1980s, Kawasaki local government, facing industrial restructuring, had operated organizations for designing and practicing industrial policy. Kawasaki local government has acted as a coordinator to facilitate cooperation between industry, university and government authorities. It had redeveloped urban area and provided pleasant living conditions for workers in knowledge intensive industries, to promote culture and service industry. The concept of local innovation system can be applied for the understanding of changes and transformation occurred in Kawasaki.