Introduction: Quiet anxiety begins at the base of daily life

Festivals or tourism don’t create everyday safety.
What does are the basics: safe water, working toilets, ways to get around, electricity, hospitals, places to shop, and a system that answers when we call for help.
In Yabu City, the signs that these basics could fail at the same time are getting harder to ignore.

This essay looks at the problem from the view of people who carry some kind of fragility — disability or illness, child-rearing, caregiving, living alone. With numbers and on-the-ground reality, I ask: What is happening now? What will we choose to do? I’ll use everyday words, not jargon.


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1 | What the numbers say about “now”

First, the quiet facts. Yabu City has a population of around 21,000. The elderly rate is over 40% (as of March 2025). The city’s own slides show these figures.

On the finance side, the current balance ratio is 97.4% (FY2023). In plain language: almost all general revenues are already tied up in fixed costs (personnel, social assistance, transfers, debt service). That means there is very little room for new investments that shape the future. Hyogo Prefecture’s materials list Yabu at 97.4%.

> Fewer people. More older residents. Fixed costs rise.
So “investing in the future” becomes harder.
This isn’t about effort at city hall; it’s a structural issue.




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2 | The same-age problem: many assets wear out together

Across Japan, many infrastructures are getting old at once.
National data show that by 2040, about 75% of road bridges will be 50+ years old. Water pipes and sewer pipes will also see large shares crossing 50 years by around 2040. In short, we are entering a phase where a lot of things get old together.

Here’s the key point: “It hasn’t broken yet” is not safety. Preventive maintenance — fixing before failure — saves money over time and avoids disasters: long water outages, road closures, sewage accidents. But money and skilled staff are limited. If we postpone, one day a huge bill arrives — for many assets at once.


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3 | Water and sewer: fewer users, heavier costs

Yabu City’s FY2023 Sewerage “Management Comparative Analysis” says:

With population decline, facility utilization is falling.

In the future, consolidation and closures may be necessary.

Aging countermeasures and consolidation could temporarily raise debt ratios, so right-sizing investments is crucial.


What does this mean in daily life?
“Fewer users” → a higher per-person cost to keep the system running.
“Aging assets” → more money needed for renewals and seismic upgrades.
So we cannot avoid redesigning to reduce the footprint while keeping quality.

A common misunderstanding is “raising rates = bad.” Price revisions are hard, yes. But unless we do price + renewal/consolidation + leak & failure reduction together, we risk waking up one day to “a long water cut” or “toilets that don’t work.” For medical and care households, for people with disabilities, and for businesses, that can be the line between coping and crisis.


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4 | Mobility is freedom — and right now it’s a tightrope

With aging, depopulation, and driver shortages, how do we protect the right to move? Yabu has started to act with demand-responsive transport (“Yabukuru”) and autonomous bus pilots.

Yabukuru: call by phone to book rides within set zones — a practical community “foot.”

Autonomous bus (pilot): FY2024–FY2025, between JR Yoka Station and the roadside station “Tajima-no-Kura,” Level-2 with a safety driver, free during the test. The aim is to learn what a sustainable service could look like.


These are groundwork, not the finish line.
We need to fix clunky booking, bad transfers, and improve phone + web/app access. We should tie transport to hospital, pharmacy, and shopping appointment times. These details determine the “range of motion” in people’s lives.


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5 | From an at-risk person’s view: where life “checkmates”

Daily movement, clinic visits, groceries, toileting, bathing, taking meds — if any one of these stops, life can fail fast. For example:

Sewage can’t drain: this hits home care, ostomy, catheter use — basic hygiene is a lifeline.

Long water outage: dialysis, tube feeding, meds, baby formula, and the routines of children with sensory needs all suffer.

No way to travel: then clinics, groceries, paperwork, and also work and learning fall apart.


This is why water/sewer and public transport are themselves “welfare.” Unless city planning, finance, welfare, education, and disaster response are aligned on one line, caregivers burn out while users become isolated — at the same time.


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6 | “If we don’t choose, a choice will be made for us”

The biggest problem isn’t technology; it’s building agreement. We already know much of what to do, yet postponement is the most expensive path.

Make it visible: maps of old pipes, leak-prone areas, bridges needing work; which routes truly help.

Set priorities: first life-or-death links, then fast recovery links, then economic backbones.

Be fair: avoid regressive impacts (where the weakest pay the most) in rates and service design.

Explain clearly: “Why now?” “What tradeoffs?” “What improves?” — with numbers and stories.


Only after this groundwork can we ask for price changes, route/asset consolidation, or new operating models (private partners or wider-area utilities) with real consent.


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7 | Reasons for hope already exist

It’s not all bleak. Yabu is good at using national frameworks. Through the National Strategic Special Zone for agriculture, we cut red tape, brought in firms, and tried sixth-sector (farm-to-value-add) models. In short, we try things. Let’s bring that breakthrough DNA to daily-life infrastructure too.


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8 | Five concrete moves — start building the ecosystem tomorrow

1) Radical visibility for infrastructure renewal

Open maps and dashboards for pipes/facilities, inspections, and renewal priority to the public.

Create a single, anonymous channel to report near-misses (leaks, sinkholes, icy danger spots).

Rebrand preventive maintenance as the smart way to save money.


2) Prices and support designed as a “whole surface”

Consider step pricing with precise relief for low-income, disability, child-rearing, and caregiving households.

Tie investments in leak reduction, smart metering, pressure management, pinhole repairs to smaller price hikes — explain them as one package.

Update wider-area cooperation / consolidation analyses every year, and design “escape lanes” so we can pivot if evidence changes.


3) Make the last mile actually usable

Improve Yabukuru’s phone + web/app booking so anyone can use it.

Pilot timetable coordination with hospitals, pharmacies, and supermarkets — plan around destinations, not just vehicles.

Treat the autonomous bus as a feeder to backbones, and connect it to welfare and disaster plans (e.g., evacuation access).


4) Cross-support between infrastructure and welfare

When water/sewer/transport are reorganized, provide targeted coupons/support to cover clinic, rehab, care, and work access.

Link community group buys / shared delivery with business groups, welfare, and schools to grow small local logistics.


5) Build participation into the rules

Archive and summarize public comments and briefings.

Make diagrams, short videos, and text-to-speech standard.

Welcome “opposition with alternatives” in a standing online forum.



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9 | Three things I ask you to do

1. Get informed: skim the city’s FY2023 finance overview at least once. Even if the tables look strange, you’ll see heavy fixed costs and large transfers.


2. Speak up: join surveys and briefings on water/sewer and transport. Say exactly what will hurt and what workaround would help.


3. Use it, to keep it: try Yabukuru, the pilot services, and core routes. Only services that are used survive.




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10 | I still want to live here

If the base of daily life breaks first and is fixed later, people and the local economy are deeply hurt. So we fix before it breaks.
That takes some price increases and the pain of reorganization — but we design it so the weakest aren’t pushed out.
Cities that do this let children, elders, disabled people, and workers live with dignity.

> If we don’t choose, a choice will be made for us.
In this era, “delay” is the most expensive decision.



As one resident who wants to keep living here, I’ll keep talking about this in everyday words.
I hope this piece turns empathy into action.


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References & sources (main data, in plain words)

Yabu City official materials (population, elderly rate as of 2025; finance indicators including FY2023 current balance ratio).

Hyogo Prefecture materials listing Yabu’s FY2023 current balance ratio at 97.4%.

National (MLIT) publications on aging infrastructure and the benefits/timing of preventive maintenance.

Yabu City Sewerage Management Comparative Analysis (FY2023): notes on lower utilization from population decline and the need to study consolidation.

Hyogo/Tajima regional public-transport documents: outline of the autonomous-bus pilot (JR Yoka ↔ roadside station, Level-2, free during pilot, implementation structure).

Yabukuru user guides describing phone booking and service zones.