by Cornelia Reiher

Although I could not go to Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic, I came across and learned about rural Japan in unexpected places. When interviewing Midori (pseudonym), a Japanese chef in Berlin for my project on Berlin’s Japanese foodscapes in summer 2021, she introduced herself as Yusuhara Future Design Ambassador (Yusuhara mirai taishi) and gave me a name card with her name and that title on one side (in English) and some basic information about Yusuhara, a small town in Kochi Prefecture in Shikoku on the back (in Japanese). The name card also stated that with this meishi I could receive a 500 JPY discount when entering the hot springs in Yusuhara. I was surprised about this coincidence and also because I had never heard about Future Design Ambassadors.

Midori was born in Kochi in Shikoku, but she has never lived in Yusuhara. Her best friend is from Yusuhara and the first time she went there was for her friend’s grandmother’s funeral. She was surprised and moved by the warm welcome and cordial atmosphere at the funeral that was unlike all the other funerals she had attended to this point. Everybody was nice to her although she did not know anyone except her friend. After this event she regularly returned to Yusuhara and got to know many people. She made many friends and was impressed by their kindness and the beautiful nature. After she had moved to Germany, she brought friends from abroad to Yusuhara whenever she returned to Shikoku.

As Yusuhara’s slogan is “Seikai to tsunagarou!” (connect with the world) and because Midori had become acquainted with the mayor, in 2020, the townhall contacted her and asked her if she wanted to promote Yusuhara in Germany as a mirai taishi. She submitted her CV and received the meishi she gave me when we first met. And she is not the only mirai taishi. Many volunteers like her were asked to spread information about Yusuhara in other parts of the world. The activities are not defined and due to the Corona-19 pandemic Midori mainly distributed tourism and information brochures to people interested in Japan. Once a year, Yusuhara’s town hall sends cookies and other small presents, mainly food products, she gives to people interested in Yusuhara. In the future, Midori plans onsite events to introduce Yusuhara to a larger audience and wants to invite young people from Yusuhara to Berlin.

I received a tourist map in English promoting Yusuhara as “the town above the clouds”, postcards with pictures of beautiful scenery and a Japanese brochure for people interested in moving to Yusuhara. This brochure was strikingly similar to others I have picked up in other places in Japan. It showed pictures of happy children and families enjoying outdoor activities in beautiful scenery, images of the four seasons and local festivals. It also introduced U and I turn migrants and their experiences. The brochure also presents support schemes for child rearing, finding housing and for the renovation of vacant houses (akiya). It also promotes the medical infrastructure in Yusuhara. The target groups for in-migration into Yusuhara, according to the information material I received, are young people and families with children. Migrants under the age of 40 receive financial support for building or renovating a house and families receive all sorts of discounts for education, housing and child care.

Yusuhara is known as a rather successful example of rural revitalization and as particularly environmentally friendly [1]. The famous architect Kuma Kengo designed several buildings in the town, including the library, a welfare center, a hotel, a gallery and the town hall. Thus, Yusuhara has become a destination for fans of architecture [2] and an eco-model city that launched a low carbon initiative, uses renewable energies like wind and biomass and stresses the coexistence with the surrounding forests [3]. This does not only become visible in Kuma Kengo’s wood architecture, but also in the promotion of forest therapy. Several therapy roads promise relaxing effects of forests in Yusuhara for “people living in the modern times”. This has not only attracted tourists and newcomers, but also shows how small rural communities in Japan can be innovative, sustainable and transnational, all at the same time.

References

[1]
Beyer, Vicky L. (2020), Yusuhara: the eco-friendly traditional mountain town, https://jigsaw-japan.com/2020/02/12/yusuhara-the-eco-friendly-traditional-mountain-town/

[2]
Presser, Brandon (2019), This Japanese Town Has Become a Secret Destination for Architecture Buffs, https://www.cntraveler.com/story/this-japanese-town-has-become-a-secret-destination-for-architecture-buffs

[3]
Yusuhara-chō (2022), Kankyō e no torikumi, http://www.town.yusuhara.kochi.jp/town/