Relocating Government Offices and Its Influence on Face-to-Face Communication: A Case Study

The influence of relocating central government offices on face-to-face communication (FTFC) between the offices and citizenry is studied. To control congestion in the metropolitan area, the most widely supported idea is relocating central government offices to another place. However, this will invariably involve some impact on business actions. One of the biggest impacts anticipated is the influence on communication, especially on FTFC. This is because it is difficult to substitute FTFC for alternate communication modes. Consequently, it is important to project the influence of the relocation on FTFC. To grasp the real state of FTFC, the magnitude and quality of FTFC are surveyed. The analysis according to these surveys provides valuable insight on the distance factor of FTFC. The location factor of enterprises is also examined; i.e., the half-day travel zone is found to be the critical distance. Based on this analysis, the influence of moving central government offices from Tokyo to some hypothetical place is forecasted.