Evaluating the Validity of Cultural Infrastructure Investment in a Depopulating Society: A Multi-dimensional Analysis of the 64.6 Billion JPY Sendai Music Hall Project through Full-Cost Accounting, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Field Surveys, and Moral Validity

This study provides a rigorous economic and ethical evaluation of the proposed 64.6 billion JPY Sendai Music Hall and Earthquake Memorial complex in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Utilizing Full-Cost Accounting (FCA) and Social Cost-Benefit Analysis (SCBA), standardized according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) guidelines, the research quantifies the project's long-term fiscal impact. Furthermore, the study incorporates a moral validity assessment based on Rawlsian distributive justice and Sen’s capability approach to address the structural conflict between luxury cultural investment and the reality of 18,081 non-completers of compulsory education in the region. Empirical data from field surveys of existing facilities corroborate a significant mismatch between high-specification supply and local demand. The analysis reveals a projected 24-year cumulative deficit of 77 billion JPY, suggesting that the project constitutes a substantial misallocation of social capital and a violation of intergenerational equity.