My name is Tanaka, and I am a director/coder at the Coding Factory. I usually live and work alone in Tokyo. On October 21st and 22nd, I participated in an inspection tour of Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture, also known as "Kamiyama Valley," where our satellite office is located.
What I was thinking before going to Kamiyama. The surprises and changes I experienced when I went to Kamiyama. What I am thinking now, in this place. I would like to write as much as I can.
On to Kamiyama
Monosus has had a satellite office in Kamiyama Town for some time now. The coding factory department where I work will be opening a vocational training school called "Monosusu Juku" to teach HTML coding, and will be participating in the Kamiyama inspection tour in October.
So I raised my hand and said, "I want to go to Kamiyama!" However, at the time, I was just thinking, "What kind of place is a satellite office in Kamiyama? A business trip by plane! Sounds interesting! Let's just go!" and didn't know anything about the essential "regional revitalization," so to be honest, I didn't have such a positive impression of it.
"Is it some kind of town revitalization project? I wonder if it's going well...?"
The day of the inspection arrived just as we were.
Take a plane from Tokyo and then a bus from Tokushima Awaodori Airport to Kamiyama.
The natural scenery is visible from the bus window.
Green mountains as far as the eye can see, it's quiet without noise, you can hear the birds singing, and the air is fresh!
Kamiyama Town Rural Environment Improvement Center
We head to the Kamiyama Town Rural Environment Improvement Center to hear from Ominami Shinya, chairman of the NPO Green Valley.
And that's when I got a big shock.
The power of the action of not denying.
Listening to Shinya Ominami's talk
Monosus employees reading materials before the lecture, with Ominami in the back
Ominami-san explained to us about the long-running activities of Green Valley and Kamiyama Town spanning 25 years (!).
What made the biggest impression on me was a phrase that was introduced as representing Kamiyama Town.
"Why not just do it?"
Green Valley, led by Ominami, and the people of Kamiyama, when someone says they want to do something in Kamiyama, they say "why not just do it?" and give it a go.
"If you try it and it works, you can keep doing it, and if it doesn't, you can just stop," says Ominami.
Eh, is that okay!?
In addition, in the face of numerous opposing opinions - idea killers such as "there is no precedent," "What if it fails?" and "What will change as a result," Ominami has responded by saying, "Instead of thinking about why it can't be done, let's think about how it can be done," and by following the spirit of "Just Do It!", and has carried out many plans to date.
I was truly surprised, as I had thought, "Even if you come up with a perfect plan that would not be opposed by the local people or the government, it still takes a long time to execute...that seems like a difficult thing to do."
Kamiyama Town is now said to be a model for "regional revitalization."
The power of just one word. The strength of will to continue to act on that word.
The success of Kamiyama Town may have been due to the strong power of "action" - "not denying what others or oneself want to do."
When I realized this, something inside me began to change.
Do what you want to do as a job,
People who are a part of our lives
After leaving the improvement center, we went to Yusan Pizza for lunch, a stone oven pizza restaurant that uses local ingredients including pesticide-free organic vegetables.
The couple who run this shop, Mr. and Mrs. Shiota, also moved to Kamiyama Town and opened their business there.
The Shioda couple run "Yusan Pizza," a pizza restaurant that uses local ingredients such as pesticide-free organic vegetables.
In addition to this, we had many other delicious dishes such as salads and pastas that made the most of the ingredients' flavors.
After getting our fill, we headed off to visit some of the companies that have operations or satellite offices in Kamiyama Town.
Sansan Inc.'s satellite office "Kamiyama Lab." It is reusing a 70-year-old traditional Japanese house. In the courtyard, futons are hung out to dry, there is a field, and even a hammock that looks very comfortable to sleep in! Our coder, who was touring with us, looked on in envy.
The office of the nonprofit organization Satoyama Mirai. The large desks and tasteful wooden stools were originally used in elementary and junior high schools. They are engaged in various activities to create new value in Satoyama. Monosus employees were also given a lot of seasonal sudachi citrus, a Kamiyama specialty.
This is the Kamiyama satellite office of Kinetoscope, the organizer of the "Kamiyama Shizuku Project" to protect the mountains and waters of Kamiyama Town. The tumblers are made of cedar wood and are surprisingly light and thin enough to let light through!
We had the opportunity to tour the Engawa Office of Engawa Co., Ltd. and speak with the company's representative, Toru Sumida.
It was an eye-opener to me to think of the Engawa office as "part of a company in Tokyo" rather than a "branch of the Tokyo headquarters." I was also very impressed to hear how a company from Tokyo actually works with a satellite office in Kamiyama.
Engawa Office. Children were playing on the spacious grounds.
Mr. Sumida spoke to us in the tatami-floored second floor of the Engawa office.
At the Kamiyama Valley Satellite Office Complex, located right in front of our accommodation, WEEK Kamiyama, we met with freelance 3D car modeler Terada Takashi, programmer Motohashi Daisuke, and other people there.
Freelance 3D car modeler Tenshi Terada. He explained the interior design of his house to the contractor verbally, but was worried that it might not have been conveyed, so he quickly created a 3D image of it, which is also on display.
What each person said was common was the idea of "working in your own style, doing what you want to do."
What surprised me again was that even though they were simply "doing what they wanted, the way they wanted," this was being given back to the local community and to society.
Programmer Daisuke Motohashi in a workshop with computers and experimental equipment. At the time, he was experimenting with a device that simulates the hearing of animals such as rabbits and bats.
For example, the aforementioned Terada-san, in addition to his main job, models the feet of people with disabilities and the elderly, outputs them with a 3D printer, and creates foot impressions that can be used at a custom-made shoe store in the same Kamiyama town. Motohashi-san runs electronic craft classes and activity competitions, including drones.
I had always thought that if it was going to be about revitalizing a local community, then one must put aside what one wants to do and think first about what is good for the community, so this sight was a shock to me and left a lasting impression on me.
"To work is to give up"
My childhood,
The image I see of my father working from now on
Dinner at "WEEK Kamiyama." Everything here is handmade by a local woman (pictured top right)! Guests, staff, and locals all gather around the same table to enjoy the meal.
Ever since I was very young, working meant giving up what I wanted to do and making ends meet in order to make a living.
My father gave up his beloved music to protect my mother and me when I was just born. He was always early in the morning and late at night. He was always tired and slept all day on his days off.
"I guess it'll be like this until you're a grandfather."
I enjoy playing, studying, and doing what I want to do. I thought that my days were built on the sacrifices of my father, who worked every day and moved away from the things he loved.
I always felt guilty and had little hope for working, but now that I've been to Kamiyama and experienced it, I'm truly grateful to my father.
What I felt from Ominami and the people I met in Kamiyama was that their words and actions were not "I'll do something for Kamiyama," but rather "I'll do it because I want to do something for Kamiyama/in Kamiyama."
I don't think my father just gave up and put up with it. I think he had a greater sense of purpose in his work than that.
After all, he was so happy on the phone when I got the job offer from this company and when the first page he delivered was published.
Right now, in this place,
How do I work?
This hinoki cutting board I bought at a roadside station was only 130 yen! I use it every day and can't live without it.
That's how my father worked. So how should I work and live here?
You don't have to give up on what you want to do.
Until now, my inner idea killer had been getting in the way, telling me things like I'd never done it before or worrying about what would happen if I failed, and so on, and so on.
Even if something seems useless now, it will lead to something somewhere down the line.
Why not give it a try?
There must be a way to do it.
And I'm sure that this will not only be for me, but also for the company I work for, Monosus, and for our customers.
The biggest benefit of participating in the Kamiyama inspection tour was that I was now able to think this way.
I still haven't found a clear answer, and I'm faced with a mountain of problems that are of my own making, but I believe it's thanks to everything I've encountered in Kamiyama that I've been able to find the strength to approach the work in front of me in a positive and single-minded manner.
Thank you to everyone in Kamiyama Town.
I would also like to thank the Monosus staff for giving me this opportunity.
I will continue to work harder and grow so that I can give something back.
And to everyone reading this.
Seeing is believing, so please come to Kamiyama and see, hear and experience it for yourself!
TANAKA Natsumi