GRIPS conducted a four-day training program for KPI-DOLA local government executives from April 28 to May 1, 2014. In this program, GRIPS welcomed as participants 45 local government executives including 15 mayors.

During the program, participants attended lectures given by Prof. Kiyotaka Yokomichi (program director of this training program and vice-president of GRIPS), Prof. Masahiro Horie (director of the Executive Development Center for Global Leadership; senior professor at GRIPS), Prof. Hirofumi Takada (GRIPS), and Prof. Shunsuke Kimura (Hitotsubashi University). Through these lectures at GRIPS, the participants learned about the Japanese political system and local government systems, models of leadership and administrative management, and efforts by local governments in Japan concerning administrative management reform and regional revitalization.

Participants had an opportunity to visit Kashiwa City and Nishitōkyō City. In Kashiwa City, they visited the Kashiwa local area medical treatment network center and received a briefing about the city’s integrated medical and welfare policies for elderly people and the long-term care insurance system in Japan.
In Nishitōkyō City, the participants visited the Nishitōkyō City Hall to pay courtesy calls on Mayor Kōichi Maruyama and Vice-Mayor Takashi Ikezawa and receive briefings on the Nishitōkyō’s administration and administrative reform. The participants also visited such facilities as the Komorebi Hall and Sports Center, to which operations have been outsourced as one of the city’s administrative reforms. Lastly, participants attended the completion ceremony, at which each participant received a certificate for this training program from Prof. Yokomichi.