In Matsue, capital of the western Japanese prefecture of Shimane, shallow-bottom boats ply the canals encircling the old feudal castle near the city center. The castle, one of the few originals left in Japan, where most donjons are modern concrete reconstructions, is close at hand to the shores of sparkling Lake Shinji. The 7th largest lake in the country, Shinji is home to its famed Seven Delececies (宍道湖七珍); to the east, the city is bounded by another large lake, the brackish Nakaumi, itself the 5th largest in the country. To the north lies the Sea of Japan.
A beautiful regional capital, Matsue is just part of the largely out-of-the-way prefecture, the sort of place so many young people dream of leaving for national hubs like Osaka and Tokyo, and then wax nostalgic upon for years to come. Now, as COVID cases surge in Tokyo, the governor of Shimane is welcoming back those prodigal sons and daughters who are most at risk to the disease.
On July 29th, Shimane Prefectural Governor Maruyama Tatsuya (丸山達也) announced a support structure to assist Shimane natives with underlying health issues living in the Tokyo region to return to their home prefecture. The announcement comes as the Tokyo Metropolitan Area is currently experiencing its worst wave of COVID cases yet; during the week in question, nearly every day saw a record set for the number of new COVID cases. On July 31st, two days after Governor Maruyama’s announcement, Tokyo hit over 4000 new COVID cases for the first time since the pandemic started. This is an increase of nearly four times over the statistics from the previous week.
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ToggleKeeping an Aging Population Safe
Governor Maruyama’s program is aimed at denizens of Tokyo Prefecture or those living in neighboring Saitama, Kanagawa, or Chiba Prefectures; they must have at least one parent registered as a citizen of Shimane, and have an underlying condition such as chronic lung or heart disease. The program offers assistance to those wishing to safely return to Shimane by paying for half the lodging fees for hotel stays of 7 or 14 days. Said hotel stays would allow for a period of quarantine, helping to keep older relatives safe. Indeed, Shimane is the oldest prefecture in the country, making its population uniquely at risk for the disease.
The governor explained the reasoning behind the assistance program during a recent press conference.
We’re currently in the midst of a rapid rise in cases during a declaration of a state of emergency. It can also be foreseen that cases will increase from here on out. Tokyo is telling us to use at-home recuperation in lieu of hospital sick beds. While thet say they’re preparing a system for people to be able to ensure their own health, its natural for us to see this as a collapse of the healthcare system. We want to avoid leaving the relatives of prefectural citizens in situations were their illnesses can worsen and yet they still won’t receive medical care.”

Heralded Prefectural Policy
The announcement, which reinstated a policy first implemented in January to April of this year, has been met with online praise. On August 3rd, Japan time, the phrase 「島根県民近親者の帰省」(Homecoming of Close Relatives of Shimane Prefecture Citizens) was trending on Twitter. Other attendant terms were trending as well; 「医療崩壊と理解」 (Understanding the Collapse of the Healthcare System), as well as 「島根県知事」 (Governor of Shimane Prefecture).
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Governor Maruyama, the first Shimane governor to not have been born in the prefecture since popular elections began, is being singled out for what is seen as compassionate politicking.
Tsubasa Mochida on X (formerly Twitter): “偉すぎる。しかも土着の知事ではなく久留米大附設→東大法卒の官僚出身でここまで県人の心に刺さるのもなかなか凄い。 / “首都圏でのコロナ療養…島根県民近親者の帰省を支援へ 島根県知事「医療崩壊と理解するのが自然」(BSS山陰放送) – Yahoo!ニュース” https://t.co/IJ1MBLQk93 / X”
偉すぎる。しかも土着の知事ではなく久留米大附設→東大法卒の官僚出身でここまで県人の心に刺さるのもなかなか凄い。 / “首都圏でのコロナ療養…島根県民近親者の帰省を支援へ 島根県知事「医療崩壊と理解するのが自然」(BSS山陰放送) – Yahoo!ニュース” https://t.co/IJ1MBLQk93
“How incredibly admirable. Beyond that, it’s pretty amazing that a non-native governor with such bureaucratic origins as the Kurume University High School and the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law could resonate so effectively with the emotions of prefectural locals.”
ようすけ on X (formerly Twitter): “最高。頭良すぎだし心もある。この丸山知事って人が総理大臣だったらいいのに。島根県民になりたいです。首都圏でのコロナ療養…島根県民近親者の帰省を支援へ 島根県知事「医療崩壊と理解するのが自然」(BSS山陰放送) – Yahoo!ニュース https://t.co/fTPVl22zsr / X”
最高。頭良すぎだし心もある。この丸山知事って人が総理大臣だったらいいのに。島根県民になりたいです。首都圏でのコロナ療養…島根県民近親者の帰省を支援へ 島根県知事「医療崩壊と理解するのが自然」(BSS山陰放送) – Yahoo!ニュース https://t.co/fTPVl22zsr
“Amazing.
So intelligent, and he has a heart, too.
If only this Governor Maruyama guy could have been our prime minister.
I want to move to Shimane Prefecture.”
Critic of Tokyo
Another element to Maruyama’s current popularity is hinted at in another tweet:
Takei on X (formerly Twitter): “島根県知事は素晴らしいな首都圏在住の島根県に親族のいる基礎疾患をもつ人の島根県はの帰省、療養を支援するとのこと。4月にまず最初に聖火リレーを拒否したのもこの知事だったなhttps://t.co/eqrFRS21Jg / X”
島根県知事は素晴らしいな首都圏在住の島根県に親族のいる基礎疾患をもつ人の島根県はの帰省、療養を支援するとのこと。4月にまず最初に聖火リレーを拒否したのもこの知事だったなhttps://t.co/eqrFRS21Jg
“The governor of Shimane Prefecture sure is wonderful.
He’s supporting the relatives of Shimane natives with preexisting conditions who live in the capital area. Helping them come home, and receive medical care.
And it was also this governor who first rejected the Olympic torch relay back in April.”
Indeed, Maruyama has been notably critical of the central government’s handling of the pandemic in the lead-in to the Olympics. In February, he vocally chastised Prime Minister Suga’s pandemic response, threatening to cancel the legs of the Olympic relay that were to wind through his prefecture. He also laid blame on the policies of Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko.
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Just days before his announcement of the prefectural homecoming policy, Maruyama again leveled criticism at the Olympics. Tokyo, he said, “should bear the burden making up for the red ink generated by the Olympics.”
The Power of Locality
Maruyama is able to back up his disapproval of the central government thanks to his prefecture’s admirable COVID statistics. Shimane has only seen 166 cases of the infectious disease in the past 11 days; Tokyo saw nearly 32,000 in the same period. Of course, Shimane benefits from its small population – a mere 665,000. (2nd smallest in Japan, behind only the similarly diminutive population of neighboring Tottori.) Shimane is also exceptionally out-of-the-way; its location, hidden behind the San’in Mountains in the far west of Honshu, has played its historical part in keeping the population low and limiting visitors. No shinkansen bullet train links to Shimane; the occasion of the opening of the prefecture’s first Starbucks in 2013 was a cause for local celebration.

Maruyama won election as governor of Shimane in 2019; like many politicians hoping to gain favor in regional Japanese localities, he ran unaffiliated with any political party. Indeed, those hoping to become governors often present themselves as “above politics.” In the words of Dr. Ioan Trifu, “the typical image of a Japanese governor… is that of a highly competent but rarely charismatic former bureaucrat.”
Yet Maruyama is also bucking the former trend of quiet, moderate governors. Not only does he make his displeasure of central government leaders known; he also criticizes foreign governments. In February of 2020, Maruyama attacked the government of South Korea for “strengthening movements to make the occupation of Takeshima an established fact.” The critique referred to the disputed Lioncourt Rocks, known as Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean. Within Japanese jurisdiction, the meagerly populated islets fall within the territory of Shimane Prefecture.
Governors on the Rise
Maruyama is just one of many local politicians to make their voices known nationally during the pandemic; in 2020, we also reported on Fukushima Prefecture’s Governor Uchibori and his critique of rising racism during the early periods of the COVID crisis. Maruyama also represents a growing trend of charismatic populism within regional government; since the mid-1990s, local governors have increasingly shown resistance to central government policies and demands, emerging from local politics to become national figures.
For those hoping to leave an increasingly dangerous Tokyo, however, political trends matter little. Active policies benefiting local populations are popular for a reason. One can only hope this homecoming policy lends assistance to those who most need it – both those with preexisting conditions fleeing COVID surges, and the families welcoming them home.
Main Sources:
BSS山陰放送。(7/29/21.)首都圏でのコロナ療養…島根県民近親者の帰省を支援へ 島根県知事「医療崩壊と理解するのが自然」。Yahoo! Japan.
Trifu, I. (2013.) Prefectural Governors and Populism in Japan (1990s-2010s). Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia, Vol. 26, pp. 7-29