To facilitate the restoration of the function of shopping districts which serve as the center of communities in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency (SMEA) will support projects that aim to remove or repair severely damaged facilities and therefore require a substantial period of time.

1. In order to quickly get recovery efforts in the earthquake-affected areas on track, it is essential to support the reconstruction of shopping districts, which play key roles in regional commerce and further serve as important elements of local communities. Recovery of shopping districts will lead to reconstruction of local communities, and therefore close cooperation with neighbors, which will help the recovery of neighboring communities. It is important to facilitate this chain of recovery.
2. With the goal of assisting the restoration of shopping districts, SMEA has already launched the “Shopping District Promotion Project” (post-disaster recovery project) under the FY 2010 and FY 2011 budgets, and the project assists efforts to speedily restore the function of affected shopping districts.
3. In addition to this, SMEA has started to accept applications for the “Shopping District Practical Activities Project” (post-disaster recovery and arcade roof removal in shopping districts), which aims to extend sufficient assistance to recovery projects that require substantial time, such as the removal of damaged arcade roofs and the repair of extensively damaged facilities (see Appendix (PDF:193KB)).
4. It is expected that as many affected communities as possible will take advantage of this project to accelerate their recovery efforts.

May 9, 2011

Retail and Wholesale Commerce Division, Business Support Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency

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