JOURNAL
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Operator Bankruptcy Response in PFI and Designated Manager Projects — Municipal Risk Management
When a PFI operator or designated manager goes bankrupt, the municipality must simultaneously ensure service continuity and minimize impact on residents. This article systematically covers response procedures by bankruptcy type (financial deterioration, sudden insolvency, voluntary withdrawal), direct management reversion procedures, contractual risk hedging, and monitoring structures for recurrence prevention.
Resident Lawsuits and Injunction Cases in PPP/PFI Projects — Legal Risks and Prevention
A systematic analysis of cases where PPP/PFI projects became targets of resident lawsuits and injunction requests. Covers the pattern from resident audit requests to lawsuits, the requirements for granting injunctions, and risk management strategies for both municipalities and operators — providing a framework for preventive legal risk management.
Optimal PPP/PFI Method Selection by Municipality Size — From Under 50,000 to Designated Cities
The optimal PPP/PFI method varies by municipality population, fiscal capacity, and organizational resources. This article presents a framework for realistic method selection across five population tiers — from municipalities under 50,000 to designated cities — analyzing success requirements and considerations for each stage.
PFI Act Amendment Trends — Key Points of the 2024 Revision and Impact on Municipalities
A comprehensive analysis of recent PFI Act amendments: the 2022 amendment (effective 2023) expanding eligible facilities to include sports and assembly venues, strengthening concession-designated manager system coordination, and the 2024 Action Plan revision with updated priority areas and upward-revised project targets.
PPP/PFI FAQ for Private Sector Operators — Entry, Procedures, and Risk Questions Answered
A systematic compilation of 30 practical questions for private sector operators considering entry into PPP/PFI projects. Covers sounding survey participation, proposal writing, risk allocation concepts, and local business entry barriers — with detailed answers to the 10 most critical questions.
Public Asset Management FAQ for Municipal Officials — 30 Essential Questions Answered
A systematic compilation of 30 practical questions that municipal facility management and planning staff frequently face — from comprehensive management plan formulation to PPP/PFI method selection and resident consensus building — with detailed answers to the 10 most critical questions.
Comparing Closed School Reuse by Use: Survey Counts, Contract Forms in the 47 Casebook Cases, and the Building Standards Act by Use
A side-by-side look at closed school uses: the counts by use in MEXT's survey (school buildings and gymnasiums, and differences from the previous survey), the contract forms (lease, transfer, conversion) by use across the 47 cases in MEXT's casebook, and which uses need change-of-use confirmation when converted from a school and which may be built in category 1 low-rise exclusive residential zones, checked against the survey, the casebook and the Building Standards Act.
Three Types of Sounding — Market, Pre, and Trial: How to Use Each【2026 Edition】
A guide to the three types of sounding (market sounding, pre-sounding, and trial sounding) used in public-private partnership projects: purpose, timing, procedures, and deliverables. An introductory guide for municipal officials.
Abandoned School Mixed-Use Development — The Best Pattern Combining Welfare, Education, and Café [2026 Edition]
A guide to activating abandoned schools not as a single-purpose facility but as a mixed-use model combining welfare, education, café, and community exchange functions. Covers the mechanisms behind risk diversification, financial viability, and community synergy; floor layout examples; a comparison of tenant-type and consortium-type operations; and success cases — 2026 edition.
Selling or Leasing a Closed School Under the Statutes: Administrative and Ordinary Property, Council Resolutions, Choosing the Counterparty, Termination, and Lease Terms
How the procedure changes depending on whether a closed school is sold or leased, compared against the Local Autonomy Act, its Enforcement Order, the Act on Land and Building Leases, the Civil Code and MEXT documents. It covers why administrative property cannot be sold, the council resolutions needed when disposing free of charge or below fair consideration and when selling above a set amount, competitive bidding and negotiated contracts, when the municipality can terminate after contracting, and how fixed-term land leaseholds, business-use fixed-term land leaseholds, fixed-term building leases and loans for use differ.
Closed School Rents and Sale Prices: Amounts Municipalities State for Schools on Offer, Free or Reduced Terms, and the Articles That Set Usage Fees and Lease Fees
Closed school rents and sale prices, checked against MEXT's list of closed school facilities currently seeking new uses. Of 455 listings, we set out all 16 that state a lease fee, rent or sale price and all 32 that offer free or reduced terms, together with the articles of the Local Autonomy Act that govern usage fees for administrative property and lease fees for ordinary property, and the documents MEXT requires to show how the amount was calculated when a subsidized building is transferred or leased for a charge.
PFI Act vs Park-PFI — Comparing Legal Basis, SPCs, and Project Terms【2026 Edition】
A thorough comparison of the PFI Act and Park-PFI, covering legal basis, SPC requirements, project terms, financing structures, and applicable scenarios. An intermediate-level guide for public facility management professionals.
READING GUIDE
Choose a starting point.
Follow a short route through the basics, examples and practical steps. Community groups, researchers and students are welcome.
ROUTE 01
For municipal planning
Start with the basics, then move through cases, process and dialogue design.
- What Is Public Facility Management? Challenges, Concepts, and Next Steps
- Sapporo Yurigahara Park Park-PFI LiLiLi — Sapporo's First Case, Community-Led SPV Park Operation
- The Complete Park-PFI Process — A Four-Year Roadmap from Concept to Opening [2026 Edition]
- Market Sounding for PPP: 8-Item Question Template and Step-by-Step Guide
ROUTE 02
For prospective operators
Understand the system, test viability and prepare a proposal.
- What Is a Small Concession? A Complete Guide for Local Government Officials [2026 Edition]
- Higashi Yuenchi URBAN PICNIC — Kobe Sannomiya Redevelopment and Park-PFI After 8 Years of Citizen-Led Social Experiments
- How to Build a Park-PFI Revenue Plan — With Simulation Template [2026 Edition]
- How to Write a Park-PFI Proposal — Working Backward from the Scoring Criteria [2026 Edition]
ROUTE 03
Learn from setbacks
See how projects stall and which conditions to avoid.
- Abandoned School Reuse Failures — Why Repurposed Schools Become Idle Again: Structural Causes of Withdrawal and Business Collapse
- 5 Patterns of Park-PFI Project Failure — Structural Analysis of Contract Termination, Financial Deterioration, and Resident Opposition
- The Zero-Response Sounding Problem — 5 Reasons Private Operators Don't Participate and How to Fix It