In a public opinion survey conducted by the Nishinippon Shimbun ahead of the Fukuoka City mayoral election scheduled for Nov. 2, 66.7% of respondents replied “Don’t know” when asked if they knew about the details of the National Strategic Zone for Creating New Enterprises and Employment. While this suggests that the strategic zone initiatives remain relatively unknown, 43.3% of respondents said they “had expectations” for the zone, as opposed to 24.7% who said they didn’t. Of those who expect results from the zone, 67.7% said they felt “new business and jobs are likely to increase”, 12.3% looked forward to “international tourism promotion”, and 9.2% held hopes for “progressin urban redevelopment.” Of the non-expectant respondents, 51,4% felt there was “no outlook for the creation of new businesses or jobs”, and 18.9% expressed concerns that “workers’ conditions would worsen”. Meanwhile, a total 76% of respondents said they were either “very interested“ or “somewhat interested” in the upcoming mayoral race, and a total of 86% said they would “definitely” or “maybe” go to the polls, a 6.5 point decline from four years ago. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 10/25
Photo provided by the City of Fukuoka.
