Revitalizing Local Economy: A Comparative Study Between Thailand and Japan

This paper examines and compares the ways of local economic revitalization in Nagahama City, Japan, and Don Kha, Thailand. There is an analysis of the causes and driven factors that contribute to the success of local revitalization projects and investigates the impacts of local revitalized projects in selected cases. This study is grounded on a qualitative method that integrates interviews, participatory observations, and documentary research analysis as the central methodology. The results show that noticeable ways of local revitalization in both Nagahama and Don Kha cities are grounded on a partnership-based approach. However, Nagahama\u27s revitalized approach is predominantly a private-led and public collaboration, while the Don Kha method is mainly grounded on a publicled method. This study found the leading causes of local revitalization could be classified into two categories: grand cause – capitalization, aging society, and local cause – local resource crisis, income decline. The driven factors that contribute to the success of local economic revitalization found in this study are grounded on the "5C" notion: "communication" – community\u27s local democratic campaigns to gain collaboration and information diffusion among residents; "common ground for a common goal" – collective awareness on local problems, mutual responsibility, and a shared vision among residents; "cultural and local resources integration" – adapting original abstract and concrete resources into economic activities, "community-based management" – a self-managing approach and community as the central body of holistic revitalization: learner, developer, coordinator, and leader; "contribution from the government" – roles of the public sector in encouraging local development through support programs. This study reveals that the impacts from revitalized projects can be divided into two types: progressive impacts on social cohesion, strengthening self-managing and learning community, income generation and local economic vitality, and unexpected impacts on suburbanization – in Nagahama, and competition among neighboring cities – in Don Kha