Mission impossible? On the (in)commensurability of mission-oriented industrial policy and balanced regional development in contemporary Japan

This paper critically examines the commensurability of mission-oriented industrial policies (MOIPs) with balanced regional development in Japan. It demonstrates MOIPs’ implementation as premised on policy and regional path dependence. At the policy level, the MOIPs inherit structural biases from earlier strategies that prioritised high-productivity sectors and spatially concentrated investments. At the regional level, entrenched lock-ins, shaped by historical investments, institutions and localised infrastructures, constrain left-behind peripheral regions’ ability to adopt new industrial functions targeted by MOIPs. Consequently, contemporary MOIPs risk reinforcing spatial inequalities. Balanced regional development must become an explicit ‘grand challenge’ if MOIPs are to deliver broad-based, spatially equitable benefits.