31/01/2011
The story of Paro the robot seal (who made his UK debut at our LGA conference stall two years ago) is now well-known here, but as the Daily Yomiuri reports, local governments in Japan are finding ever more innovative ways to keep their elderly populations mentally stimulated and alert: An increasing number of social welfare […]
21/01/2011
Yamanashi Prefecture brings Koshu Wines to London
Yamanashi Prefectural Government accompanied 14 wineries to London this week in support of efforts to market Japanese “Koshu” white wine, using the UK as a base for entry into the European market. This follows a very successful event last year where industry professionals were introduced to the region for the first time at events promoting the wine varieties as […]
19/01/2011
Anglo-Japanese Local Governance Study Visits
All staff of JLGC were fortunate to attend two days of lectures this week at the Institute of Local Government Studies of the University of Birmingham. Monday’s session, led by Professor Tony Bovaird, covered ‘From Performance Management in local government and its legacy to new forms of council management and service provision’, while on Tuesday […]
14/01/2011
Visits to Brighton and Southend-on-Sea
Assistant Director Yoshihisa Ogawa and Research Manager Andrew Stevens visited Brighton and Hove City Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council this week for a CLAIR report on local authority policies for tourism promotion as part of local economic development. In Brighton they heard about the council’s use of social media to reach out to new visitor […]
10/01/2011
JLGC takes part in the Efficiency Exchange
Coming soon, the ‘Japanese Experience’… for the week commencing 17th January 2011 the Japan Local Government Centre in London and colleagues in Japan will be participating in a week-long warmseat to highlight the experiences of local government in Japan during a crisis period. Communities of Practice for Public Service, a community platform run by Local […]
06/01/2011
The ‘Big Society’ is by now an embedded and accepted feature of the policy landscape in the UK, as the Coalition government’s narrative and guiding approach to public service reform and decentralisation. Within Japan however, efforts are proceeding among the new administration of the Democratic Party of Japan under Prime Minister Naoto Kan towards an […]
04/01/2011
Administrative Reform in Japanese Local Governments
The Institute for Comparative Studies in Local Governance (COSLOG) was established within the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) of Japan in 2006 and is associated with our parent body, the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR). Each year the Project on Comparative Studies in Local Governance disseminates information on research results […]
20/12/2010
The Japan Local Government Centre will be closed from Tuesday 21 December 2010 to Tuesday 4 January 2011. We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Don’t forget to sign up to our e-newsletter in our absence, and get updates straight to your phone or PC via our […]
20/12/2010
Tokyo Assembly Members to try out Boris Bikes
Members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly will visit Transport for London this week to learn first hand about the operation of the Mayor of London’s Cycle Hire scheme. The six-strong delegation will hear from TfL officials about the fundamentals and operation of the scheme, and how it benefits London’s sense of place and aims of […]
20/12/2010
Lessons from Japan: Local Government Efficiency
In the New Year, Japan Local Government Centre is honoured to be the latest participant in the Local Government Improvement and Development Efficiency Exchange international learning programme. From 17 January, we will be participating in a week-long ‘warmseat’ (as opposed to hotseat, because of the time difference) to set out to and receive questions from […]
