I stayed in Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture for three days from September 18th to 20th.
I am a freelance writer who usually works in Tokyo. I interview and write about the theme of "work style," and sometimes when I have the chance, I go to the countryside to talk to people who have interesting work styles.
Last year, I interviewed people working at the Food Hub Project , and the interviews were included in my book, "A company that is serious about making its employees happy." That's how Monosus approached me, and that's how I came to visit Kamiyama.
The theme is "#Work in Residence of the Future"
Monosus is currently creating a space in Kamiyama Town where people can think about new ways of working.
I want to make it a place that welcomes people who normally work in the city, and create programs that will allow them to encounter the land, people, and culture of Kamiyama, and change their ways of thinking, relationships, working styles, and lifestyles.
--That's what I heard in advance, and that this tour was a place to consider the plan and conduct trials.
At that point, the details had barely been decided, but I immediately decided to participate because I thought, "It's Kamiyama, after all. It's bound to be interesting if I go."
A former JA Bank branch is being transformed into a place where people can think about how they work.
"Is there a hashtag or something for this meeting?"
When one of the participants asked on the first day, Monosus' Manabe replied, "Hmm, maybe '#WorkinResidenceToday'." Come to think of it, that phrase was also in the title of the itinerary we received before we departed. Looking back, I think that "WorkinResidenceToday" was a major theme throughout the three days.
From Artist-in-Residence to Work-in-Residence
Work-in-residence is a unique initiative that originated in Kamiyama Town.
On the first day, we were able to hear from Shinya Oonami of the NPO Green Valley, a key person in the project, about how it all started.
Ominami from the NPO Green Valley has been working to connect people inside and outside the town for about 30 years. He is currently busy preparing for the establishment of a private technical college that is scheduled to open in the town in 2023.
This has been written about in many places, so I'll just give a brief summary: the impetus for my work-in-residence was the Kamiyama Artist in Residence program.
This program was started by Ominami and others in 1999, and each year three artists from Japan and abroad are invited to the town, and the local residents support their creative activities. The artists leave their works behind in the town.
Contemporary artists are probably quite unusual to the average person. I often hear that the reason they are accepted in peaceful rural towns is because of the culture of welcoming pilgrims. So the custom of welcoming and supporting people from outside has been around for a long time.
The success of the artist-in-residence program led to an increase in people wanting to move to Kamiyama, which later led to the work-in-residence program. Green Valley provides support for those who want to move, such as introducing vacant houses, but what's unique about it is that the town itself nominates people to move to, thinking about "people with certain professions (work) we would like to come to this house."
As a result, Kamiyama Town has seen a wide variety of people come to open French restaurants and coffee roasteries, as well as designers and filmmakers, and even satellite offices of IT companies from Tokyo have set up here, resulting in an increase in both the number of immigrants and employment.
The difference between work-in-residence and workcation
The work-in-residence program started by Green Valley is aimed at professional people who want to make Kamiyama their permanent base. In contrast, Monosus is aiming to do a short-term work-in-residence program.
There are many words to describe working in a different place than usual, such as nomad work, remote work, satellite work, etc. In particular, workation (a portmanteau of work and vacation), which combines travel and work, is similar to work-in-residence in that "where you spend your time" is important.
Listening to Ominami's story, the differences became clear. Workcation works if you have the person doing it and a place to go, but work-in-residence requires involvement from local people. If you want to put down roots and do business there, or even if you're just staying for a short time, you need the support of people who know Kamiyama well to "discover the land, people, and culture of Kamiyama."
Community of practice and community of style born from work-in-residence
The lecture by one of the participants, Associate Professor Matsushita Keita of Jissen Women's University, also provided important hints.
Mr. Matsushita talked about how mobile and social media are transforming our communication and work styles. In particular, I felt that there was potential in the idea of "communities of practice and communities of style."
A community of practice is a community that shares common interests and issues, and deepens its skills and knowledge through ongoing interaction. The participants in the work-in-residence programs so far could be said to be a community of practice that shares the common theme of "how to live and work in Kamiyama."
A style community is a temporary or provisional community that shares a common work style or lifestyle.
The people who are staying in Kamiyama for a short period of time, based on the idea of Monosus as a place to think about how to work, each have different interests and goals, so they are unlikely to suddenly become a community of practice when they meet.
However, since they are here under the pretext of "Work in Residence in Kamiyama," they must have some curiosity about the town and the expectation that they will gain something from it. By meeting and interacting on the spot, a loose style community is likely to be born. Those who are inspired by this and want to continue to be involved with the town will also join the community of practice.
What work-in-residence programs have that study trips don't
Kamiyama, which is attracting attention as a pioneering area for regional revitalization, receives many visitors every day. I myself have visited Kamiyama four times in the past for interviews and inspections. However, inspections and interviews are different from work-in-residence. Although there were elements of work, there were almost no elements of a residence.
What are the elements of a residency? In this tour, they were "playing" and "thinking about life."
What was really interesting this time was that on the second day, there was plenty of time with no pre-determined schedule, with the motto "Do what you like. Monosus and Kamiyama members will support you."
Even if you are told to "do what you like," if you don't know what you can do, you can't make a choice. On the first day, while listening to everyone's conversations and Ominami's talk, I kept thinking about what I would like to see and experience for myself among the things that caught my attention.
As a result, we all went on a "swamp climbing" trip in the afternoon of the second day. We couldn't finish everything we wanted to do on the second day, so we added activities like "walking the horses" and "going to see the DIY sauna" on the morning of the third day (both the horses and the sauna belong to Ikuko Saito, who moved to Kamiyama as part of a work-in-residence program and opened the bistro "Cafe Oniva").
If each participant had different goals they could have split into groups or acted independently, but all participants acted together.
It was the enthusiasm of Tsukagoshi, a student at Harappa University, who invited us by saying, "The rivers in Kamiyama are fun. Let's go mountain climbing!", and the charm of Ikuko, who told us happily, "My dream has come true and I've started keeping a horse!", and we improvised the decision on the spot.
I spread out a map of the town and consider which river to go up.
This is how things are decided somehow between people and the relationships between them, and the feeling of accepting this as "that's fine" is something that doesn't often happen within the framework of "work" and it was truly "play."
In Kamiyama, there are people who "manage" their town and their lives.
Looking back on our stay in Kamiyama, we can say, "We had a great time!" However, it wasn't just fun; I believe each participant gained a lot from the experience.
In my case, one thing was that I was reminded, for the first time in a long time, of the fun of playing in nature.
Climbing the stream was quite hard, and I managed to keep up with the others by concentrating on each step, trying not to slip on the wet rocks or get stuck in the deep parts of the river. But it was fun and refreshing to be able to clear my mind like that! I felt like my stiff body and brain were being massaged.
We started climbing the stream. We kept climbing upstream, took a break around the campfire, and then came back down.
Another great benefit was that I had the time to think deeply about "work" and "life."
When you work in a city, it's natural to choose the same ways as those around you when it comes to housing, child-rearing, transportation, and other aspects of daily life, and it seems like many people try to establish their own identity in the workplace.
But in reality, I felt that it would be great if I could reflect my own personality and thoughts in my entire daily life.
Ominami and Ikuko have their own ideals, such as "I want Kamiyama to be like this town" and "I want to live like this," and have devised unique ways of doing things that no one else can. Listening to their stories, it makes you think that there must be many more ways to live and work.
If people who are always thinking about what they should do or what kind of breakthrough they can find within the scope of their company or the work they are responsible for spend time in Kamiyama, they might be able to think more broadly and freely about their work and lifestyle. I think it would be interesting if the availability of such work-in-residence programs became recognized as a new attraction of Kamiyama.