12 Memories of the Tourism Association: Mr. Nobuhiro Yamada, former Secretary General of Sunflower Tourism Association

What is "eminent domain law?"

Nobuhiro Yamada, Former Secretary General of Sunflower Tourism Association

From April 1991 to March 1998, he was in charge of the Commerce, Industry, and Tourism Section Chief and devoted himself to the development of the Sunflower Village parking lot and tourist center. He made efforts to develop Himawari no Sato as a tourist attraction. From October 2008 to March 2011, he served as Director of the Industry Division and worked on tourism promotion as Secretary General of the Tourism Association.
　
　
For seven years, from April 1991 to March 1998, he was involved in tourism administration as head of the Commerce, Industry, and Tourism Section.

Since 1990, when the town began to be established as a transit-type destination, 130,000 people visited Himawari no Sato during the Himawari Festival. Due to inadequate capacity, the ground of the adjacent Hokuryu Junior High School was used as a temporary parking lot as an emergency evacuation.

However, the number of vehicles far exceeded our expectations, and the baseball team was forced to move to the infield during summer vacation practice.

I recall that the ground was very distressing because of the bumpy tire tracks.

The crowds continued to increase with each passing year, and this temporary response reached its limits.

In 1994, the number of visitors exceeded 200,000, and in the fall of 1995, a discussion was held regarding the construction of a parking lot.

The surrounding land was agricultural land, but it was adjacent to the site, so the decision was made to use it. The boss said, "Mr. Yamada, let's apply the Eminent Domain Law to acquire the land.

What the heck is eminent domain law?" I immediately looked it up, being ignorant of the law. It is a law that allows for the expropriation of land from its owner for projects of a public nature. We were to apply for the project as a non-park parking lot. I colored in a large cadastral map, prepared many application documents including the purpose of the expropriation, the effects of the expropriation, etc., and went to the road expropriation committee several times. I remember how difficult it was to go through the hearings without fully understanding the expropriation law, but we managed to obtain permission and the large parking lot was completed.

The hard work pays off when you still see this parking lot full of vehicles during the Sunflower Festival.