Community Revitalization

Since our founding, we have worked to uncover the resources that local people are proud of as “local treasures” and to turn that pride into energy for the community, an approach we call Japanese-style ecotourism*.

Nature and townscapes, everyday wisdom, festivals and industries, and people. Those who find the treasures are not outside experts but the residents who live there.
We walk alongside residents as they take the lead in discovering, polishing, taking pride in, sharing and developing their treasures into local industry.

Our goal is sustainable community development that grows tourism and the local economy while protecting local resources. We help communities gain fans and people with lasting ties to the region, and help residents take pride in where they live (civic pride).

We add a sixth step, measuring outcomes, to the five steps of treasure hunting and use it to plan the next move. For how we measure, see Measuring Community Outcomes.

• Local resource surveys and treasure hunting (resident workshops, treasure inventories and maps)
• Overall ecotourism plans and tourism plans
• Running promotion councils and committees
• Use of cultural resources such as Japan Heritage, and fostering civic pride
• Tourism demand forecasts and economic impact estimates
• Visitor and consumer needs research (tracking surveys)
• Support for start-ups and new businesses
• Measuring the outcomes of community development (social impact evaluation)

• Gero City, Gifu: projects under the MAFF grant for rural, mountain and fishing village promotion, and others
• Kawauchi Village, Fukushima: regional revitalization project (increasing visitors through sixth-sector industrialization and tourism)
• Ninohe City and Hachimantai City, Iwate: Japan Heritage “Oku-Nanbu Urushi” treasure polishing and pride project for the Appi River basin
• Reconstruction Agency: baseline study for the growth of the Fukushima wine industry

For more, see Selected Projects.

*Japanese-style ecotourism: an approach that treats landscapes and ways of life shaped by people and nature, such as satoyama and historic townscapes, as resources, and seeks to achieve their conservation, tourism promotion and regional development at the same time.