Southwest Japan’s Challenges: Global Wave / Chips Priming Pump, Expanding Kumamoto’s Transportation Links

Yohei Himeno and Ken Nakao / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

2:00 JST, March 9, 2025

During the “three lost decades” that followed the bursting of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, the Japanese economy stagnated while the country’s international influence declined notably. What should Japan do to reinvigorate itself and show its presence once again on the world stage?

This is the first installment of a series that follows the waves of change taking place in Kyushu and nearby Yamaguchi and Okinawa prefectures ahead of 2050.

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KUMAMOTO — Here in a rural district of Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, a vast tract of land just next to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s huge No. 1 fabrication plant in Japan was surrounded by white walls in late January.

Construction of the company’s Kumamoto No. 2 plant is scheduled to begin by spring. The No. 1 plant went into full-scale operation in December.

The total investment to be made here by TSMC — the world’s largest contract semiconductor manufacturer — will be more than ¥3 trillion when the investments in the two plants are combined.

Standing nearby are more than 20 huge cranes. This is the construction site of a new image sensor plant of the Sony Group Corp. Tokyo Electron Ltd., a major semiconductor production equipment maker, is also constructing a new development building in the area.

These moves will transform the area into an industrial center that will draw global attention. It will also become a linchpin for Japan’s economic security.

In the surrounding area, hotels and condominiums are being built one after another while land prices have risen at one of the highest rates in Japan, and the area’s population is also increasing.

The town government plans to redevelop the area near the TSMC plants to bring in a concentration of research institutes and universities, too.

Major companies such as Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui Fudosan Co. will also join in the redevelopment project.

“Kumamoto is the only prefecture in Japan that looks as if it is amid a rapid-growth period as seen from 1950s to ’70s,” said a senior official of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.

A massive amount of money will also be invested in the development of the transportation infrastructure of the area.

The central government is accelerating the construction of Naka-Kyushu Odan Road (trans-mid-Kyushu highway), which will connect the northern part of Kumamoto City with Oita City. The Kumamoto prefectural government, for its part, plans to have the railroad line from Higo-Ozu Station of the JR Hohi Line extended to Kumamoto Airport, located in Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture.

JR Kyushu plans to establish a new station on the same line in Kikuyo sometime in 2029 or later. Discussions are also underway to have the same line changed into a double-track one.

Meanwhile, the Kumamoto municipal government plans to extend the tramcar line in the eastern part of the city. The prefecture and the city of Kumamoto intend to build a new urban expressway that will link the city center to the Kyushu Expressway as well as Kumamoto Airport. The Kumamoto Major Metropolitan Area, which has a population of about 1.1 million and consists of 12 cities, towns and villages, including Kumamoto City and Kikuyo, will change dramatically.

Why did TSMC, which has brought about the waves of major change in Kumamoto, construct a semiconductor fabrication plant in Japan?

Lying behind this question is the changing international situation. Some experts have pointed out that with tension between the United States and China intensifying, Taiwan has began to worry about being invaded by China, prompting the company to disperse its manufacturing facilities by venturing into Japan.

Then, why was Kumamoto chosen? The answer lies in a history from time immemorial.

The ample groundwater that flows in the stratum formed by the volcanic activities of Mt. Aso and others underpins the existing semiconductor industry, which requires large amounts of water, thus laying the groundwork for TSMC’s constructing its manufacturing facility in Japan.

Kumamoto is a city that has been rapidly increasing its presence in recent years. In the prewar period, dating back to the Meiji era (1868-1912), Kumamoto prospered as a key city in Kyushu, with many regional offices of the central government located there.

Currently, the city of Fukuoka, with a population of about 1.6 million, has taken over the status once held by Kumamoto, but the waves of change may alter the present structure in the future.

“There is ample chance for Kumamoto to become a match for Fukuoka on an economic scale,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. “Kyushu, which has the double engines of Fukuoka and Kumamoto, may become a driving force in bailing the Japanese economy out of the three lost decades.”

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