Japan was once an industrial power house like the United States. Now with much of the industrial jobs leaving Japan, as they did in the United States, they are beginning to face the same problems as United States cities such as Youngstown. Youngstown's population peaked around 1930 at about 170,000, and started to decline drastically in the 1970's with the closure of the steel mills. Youngstown now has a population somewhere around 72,000 people. One of the major problems with Youngstown is that it still has the infrastructure and services to provide for a city with twice the population. Providing services to unpopulated areas of the city is costly, and the vacant infrastructure causes negative side effects such as criminal activity.
Having researched Youngstown the Kanagawa Municipality Promotion Association Staff wished to come visit Youngstown and ask Mr. D'Avignon questions regarding Youngstown's infamous shrinking city plan. Questions inquiring about Youngstown's response to its drastic population decline, and what role non-profit organization play in the revitalization of the city. The Youngstown 2010 Plan has become such an inspiration to the staff that it has actually been translated into Japanese.
