One governor, one mayor, a vision and the future

Recently, we were honoured and delighted to welcome the Governor of Oita Prefecture, Hirose san, and Mayor of Kitsuki, Nagamatsu san, to our quiet corner of Oita in Kitsuki. The culmination of a series of visits by staff from offices of both the Prefecture and City, the Governor and Mayor came to learn first-hand of our activities with locals and how we are providing employment to people relocating to the area. By all accounts the visit was a great success and helped establish our credentials with the bureaucracy - important in almost any country but vital in Japan - and deepen the relationship we have with our immediate neighbours.

Welcoming the Governor of Oita Prefecture (left) as the Mayor of Kitsuki (centre) looks on.

As related previously in this blog and in many reports on Japan, the nation is experiencing rapid decline and the ageing of its population. The situation is acute in most rural areas and as things stand the implications for maintaining a healthily functioning society in the countryside are poor. Walk Japan's Community Project is, in part, about showing, through example, the great opportunities available in Japan's countryside to establish businesses and lead satisfying lives, to be a meaningful part of a local community and help sustain it into the future.

Watanabe san and myself presenting what we are
 doing together and our vision for our local school.

Watanabe san and his colleagues at the local farming co-operative and myself described how we go about our businesses, respectively agriculture and tourism, and how we combine our skills in bringing local experiences of Japan and the Japanese to overseas visitors. We also made the first public announcement of our joint vision for the redevelopment of the disused, local elementary school. Our proposal, which is still in its early stages, is to re-establish the school as a locus of business, housing, local cuisine, education and wider community interaction; a centre of sustainability both of society, economy and environment.

The last students left the school in April 2014.

A school anywhere is an important symbol of the health of any society. Ours closed in 2014 but is just one of the many thousands that have shut their doors for good in recent years throughout Japan. Established over 100 years ago, it was where many of our neighbours including Watanabe san began their education and the school's closure is a poignant symbol of how, leaving things as they are, the underpinnings of our community are disappearing. No longer hearing the sound of the children playing in the school yard directly equates to the reduced vitality and eventually ending of a community; No youngsters to sustain the neighbourhood into the decades ahead. Just perhaps, though, we have found a way to bring life back to the old school, nurture a future for our locality and be an example to others of what is possible.

A few days subsequent to the Governor and Mayor's visit, we met with more civil servants to describe in greater detail our proposals for the school. With the backing of local government, hopefully, we can soon start to realise our vision over the coming months. Please look out for developments in forthcoming posts.

P.S. We currently employ over ten members of staff in our local office in Kunisaki who have moved from other parts of Japan, principally the Kanto region around Tokyo. In addition, we have another four, non-Japanese members of staff hailing from the UK and USA while a fifth will join us soon from Hong Kong. Many of our staff have children.

Feathers in our caps?

A recently sealed agreement with Oita Prefecture marks a pivotal moment in our Community Project. The deal agreed is to revive and maintain prefectural government land in the neighbourhood of our Community Project. The plot is only two tan (approximately one-fifth of a hectare or about half an acre) but the significance of the deal is much larger in Japan, and especially rural Japan, where the bureaucracy has been at the core of society since the Edo Period (1603 - 1868). The significance is all the greater given that the Prefecture made the agreement with a non-Japanese person, myself.

It has been some while since we last made an entry in this blog over eight months ago. However, it was not for lack of things to write about, just a lack of time and a smidgen of procrastination on my part. The agreement mentioned above was only the latest development in our Project. Since our last post we have: made good progress in rebuilding a farmhouse as family accommodation;

Are developing a relationship with a local farming co-operative to pool our resources and assist each other in farming land that we both own; have been bringing more schools to Kunisaki to explore the peninsula and work on the Project; obtained another run-down house - one that featured in a past blog - for development as a secondary office and residential space;

In early discussions for the redevelopment of the site of a redundant local school as a facility combining small businesses, educational spaces and accommodation; brought in our first harvest of rice and planted winter wheat;

Have successfully brought our first group of Japanese, including top architects and designers, from Tokyo to visit Kunisaki and the Project; made a significant contribution to the labours of local farmers in coppicing Japanese oak trees and processing them for shiitake mushroom production;

Completed an extension to Koumori-tei and, in our office’s grounds, the final stone retaining wall is beginning to take shape.

We have also been receiving enquiries from individuals who wish to participate in the Project. If you would like to join in please contact us.

We will also try make posts on a more regular basis!