Since the 1960s, public cultural facilities have been built all over Japan based on Japanese cultural policies. However, administrations were myopic about cultural activities: i.e., they thought that citizens’ cultural activities in a region would be enriched if they established basic facilities for regional culture. As a result, many of the existing facilities that were built and maintained from the 1960s to the 1990s are criticized. In light of these trends, more facilities have been established recently based on a citizen-participation method, in which the citizens are involved in the facility planning and its management in the early stages of discussing its basic concept, basic design, and cultural programs. This study reveals the challenges and prospects of citizen participation in civil projects and activities, which has entered the mainstream in facility planning and management. The study objects were the Chino Cultural Complex (Nagano Prefecture, 1999–) and Anforet (Aichi Prefecture, 2015–) where facilities have been established based on the citizen-participation method. The citizens involved in the facility planning and management were surveyed based on literature and information materials about these facilities. In these two cases, this study identified a need for positive citizen participation in the areas of “regionality,” “civil wishes,” and “moderate regulation,” in the planning of facilities and management.