Awards for the 38th Housing Life Month

Housing Life Month is designated every October and features comprehensive public awareness activities to raise housing awareness and realize richer residential lives. As part of these events, the awards recognize individuals and organizations active in various fields who have contributed to raising housing awareness, realizing comfortable residential lives, and improving building quality.

Housing Bureau Director-General Letters of Appreciation are presented to individuals and organizations that have contributed to disaster recovery and reconstruction.

The joint commemorative ceremony at the planned 38th Housing Life Month central event, “Sumai Fes in Kumamoto,” was canceled due to the impact of the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake, which occurred on July 28, 2026. The award ceremony will instead take place in a conference room at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Sanjo’s initiative led to substantial increases in vacant-home consultations and in registrations and completed transactions through the vacant-home bank, contributing to the advancement of housing administration.

The housing development in Ashikita aimed to prevent the outflow of younger residents and attract families with children, contributing to local revitalization, greater disaster-prevention awareness, and the revitalization of the local community.

The award ceremony will be held in Executive Conference Room 1, Executive Area, 4th Floor, Central Government Building No. 3 (2-1-3 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda City, Tokyo). The program consists of opening remarks by the organizers, presentation of certificates, and a commemorative photograph. Attendance and camera photography are permitted for members of the press only, and advance registration is required. Applicants should use Microsoft Forms to provide their company name, name (with phonetic reading), telephone number, email address, and whether they will use a camera, and register by November 4 at 5:00 p.m. Collected information will be managed appropriately and used only for necessary purposes.

To supplement expertise and staffing for vacant-home bank operations and consultations, Sanjo accepted specialist personnel through the Regional Revitalization Enterprise Personnel System and the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad program. The city established consultation services and public awareness events, promoted the operation of exchange hubs and lodging facilities using vacant homes, and facilitated the recirculation of left-behind belongings, in collaboration with the Tsubame-Sanjo Vacant Home Utilization Project.

As part of recovery from the July 2020 heavy rains, Ashikita developed high-quality rental housing for families with children and welcomed residents affected by the disaster as well as prospective tenants from inside and outside the town. The town built housing using timber from municipal forests and installed wood stoves fueled by thinned timber, implemented flood and landslide countermeasures, and reused timber from wooden temporary housing to build a footbath.