{"id":96323,"date":"2024-12-11T18:41:51","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T09:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/papersky.jp\/?p=96323"},"modified":"2025-05-22T16:49:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T07:49:21","slug":"shiga-future-project-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/papersky.jp\/en\/shiga-future-project-03\/","title":{"rendered":"Takashima: Connecting the dots and creating an experimental city for the future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Takashima City lies along the western shore of Lake Biwa and boasts the largest municipal area in Shiga Prefecture. Takashima flourished as a hub of transportation between the Kansai and Hokuriku regions, and has been populated for so long that the name appears in the Nihon Shoki<\/em> (Chronicles of Japan) completed in the 8th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This city steeped in history is now in danger of vanishing. It has been designated a \u201cmunicipality at risk of extinction\u201d by the Population Strategy Council based on the results of its analysis of data on future population trends (released April 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The road flanked with dawn redwood trees makes Makino Highland a major tourist spot of Takashima City.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The risk may be undeniable from the viewpoint of population trends alone, but from actually taking a trip to Takashima and spending some time there, this writer would never have guessed it. Everyone I met was working with a passion, their sights set on the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlenty of people are doing unique things at the individual level. It\u2019s just a matter of connecting the dots and presenting the big picture of Takashima,\u201d says Wataru Kitagawa, the founder of TSC, a nonprofit organization operating a sports club and free school. Wataru is an optimistic, forward-looking native of Takashima working to make his home city better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wataru takes advantage of his personal network to engage in community development activities. \u201cI hope to share my vision and present Takashima as an experimental city of the future. Quite a few people here are already taking future-oriented action, so there is plenty of potential.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On average, the number of businesses per population in a city is 1\/100. A city with a population of 100,000, for example, would have about 1,000 companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTakashima City has a population of 45,000 and as many as 660 businesses. That\u2019s by far the highest rate in Shiga Prefecture. We have an especially large number of family-run businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four residents that Wataru introduced to me this time all worked in the agricultural industry, but each took a unique approach to shaping the future of Takashima.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ko Umemura, from Green Toei in the Adogawacho area, took over the regenerative agriculture business started by his father, and from there, branched out to processing his own produce for sale and running a caf\u00e9 offering those products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ko had always loved the creative process. He worked at an apparel manufacturer in Tokyo until just before he turned 30 years old, and then returned to his family\u2019s home without any special plans. Helping his family with the agricultural work, and completing the cycle from rice planting to harvest to making the processed products opened his eyes to the ultimate process of creation. \u201cI was a typical cog in the wheel until I joined my family business. Now we do everything ourselves, from growing the ingredients to processing to selling. The sense of accomplishment is tremendous. I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Regenerative agriculture seeks to protect and moreover rehabilitate the environment. The practice is popular today, but Green Toei was a far earlier adopter. The farmland is transected by a \u201cfish path\u201d where Carassius<\/em> and common carps come to lay their eggs each year. \u201cI grew up in this beautiful rural landscape, and I want to preserve it for the future,\u201d says Ko Umemura.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Asato Fukui lives in Makinocho Arihara, a hamlet with 38 residents in 19 households. Asato worked in an architectural firm in Osaka before migrating here 21 years ago. During the first seven years, he lived in a tent while renovating a traditional Japanese house. It took so long because his start line was harvesting the materials for the thatched roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the time I was making architectural drawings at my desk in the Osaka office, I began dreaming about building my own house. My first thought was to set up a practice of my own. But on second thought, what if I ran out of work? If I grew my own food too, at least I would stay alive. So I decided to move to the countryside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Asato works as a rice farmer and middle school teacher while also giving lessons on home renovation to potential migrants\u2014he has published a book titled Akiya kaishu no kyokasho <\/em>(Vacant House Renovation 101\u2014repurposing a closed-down school annex, and experimenting with community hydroelectric power generation using the water flowing in the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI imagine the local government wants us to come down [from this remote hamlet in the mountains] and join the larger population. But if we can make something on our own, I\u2019d like to pursue the possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Having built his own house and grown his own food, Asato Fukui\u2019s sights are now set on the local community. Among other things, he is exploring hydroelectric power generation in the river flowing through the hamlet of Makinocho Arihara.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Daisuke Ishizu, from Nonki Farm in Shin-Asahicho Harie, originally had no interest in being a rice farmer like his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAround high school, you reach a point where being cool is all that matters. You just want is to be popular with the girls, you know. At that time, I didn\u2019t think working in the mud wearing rubber boots was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daisuke enrolled in fashion school in Osaka and later opened a vintage clothing shop, traveling abroad to do his buying and catching glimpses of the various lifestyles around the world. That life was fun, but it was contrary to his upbringing and made him give thought to his idea of happiness and the human way of life. Around that time, he happened to visit his family and finally saw that his father\u2019s work was the root of human occupations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided I wanted to be able to make my own food too. I asked my father to teach me agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daisuke has practiced people- and environment-friendly agriculture ever since. Recently, he is also working on activities other than farming, such as renovating the community\u2019s increasing number of vacant houses and warehouses, and offering them to migrants or converting them to lodging facilities; and interviewing the community\u2019s senior members and recording their words of wisdom. Daisuke is seeking out the values of Harie and exploring ways to use them for the benefit of Harie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cLight up your corner of the world\u2014I love these words by the Buddhist monk Saicho. I may not be able to do something very big, but this says it\u2019s okay to be Harie-centric. Right now, I\u2019m exploring the fabric of human relationships and the residents\u2019 sense of values in Harie,\u201d says Daisuke Ishizu. His home town of Shin-Asahicho Harie is a celebrated for its unique water culture centering around kabata<\/em>, a water supply system of collecting spring water in basins in each home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though different from Daisuke, another farmer who adopts environment-friendly practices is Satoshi Uneno, from Uneno Farm in the Imazucho area. Satoshi studied agricultural management in the United States before joining his family business. He took on plots of farmland from the neighbors who were getting on in age and giving up farming, and today, grows rice and soybeans on a whopping 76 hectares of land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the beginning, I couldn\u2019t help getting emotional about farmland being abandoned\u2014if I don\u2019t save it, who will? Also, because I got to know the American style of agriculture before the Japanese, I believed it was possible to practice efficient large-scale farming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality was different. Japan is not an easy place to practice large-scale farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnlike the US, in Japan, plots of farmland are owned by individual farmers. Because of problems with boundaries and ownership rights, the plots owned by different farmers can\u2019t be consolidated, and the fields can\u2019t be expanded. It\u2019s no use buying large equipment for each small field, so efficiency never improves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Municipal, prefectural, and even national rezoning needs to be done taking into account information and communication technology, inflation, automation, and streamlining. Land restoration cannot be tackled at the private level with the limited human resources. At this rate, Japan will only see an increase in abandoned farmland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to make major fundamental changes.\u201d While working in his fields every day, Satoshi is observing the issues of not only local farming but also Japanese agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Imazucho area has about 700 hectares of farmland, of which over a tenth is cultivated by Uneno Farm. Satoshi Uneno\u2019s home is transected by a stream flowing to Lake Biwa and has a basin that is part of a water supply system called kawato<\/em> (aka kabata<\/em> in Harie).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These four farmers plus Wataru organized a community meeting this summer around the key phrase \u201cwater centric experimental city.\u201d The objective was to explore future lifestyles that are not human centric but in harmony with and enhanced by the rich water resources of Takashima City and Lake Biwa, aka the Mother Lake. From their unique positions and perspectives, the participants pitched and critiqued one another\u2019s ideas on renewable energy and the ideal local government of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Owners and managers in the farming, restaurant, travel, and fuel industries gathered to explore the future of Takashima. The meeting was organized on a closing day of Toei Honten + Caf\u00e9, run by Ko Umemura. The kitchen window looks out on Ko\u2019s fields.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The individual participants were already undertaking experimental projects of their own. They wanted to present that collectively as a new social experiment of Takashima.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTourism is an important source of income. That\u2019s why I hope Takashima can attract visitors interested in seeing an experimental city with its sights set on the future,\u201d said Wataru. \u201cIf we could steer the city to reach out to people in Japan and abroad, I believe we could increase our \u2018temporary population.\u2019 It has been ten years since Japan launched efforts in regional revitalization, and while individual and corporate projects and government-run cases have seen success, there are not yet many model cases of regional revitalization. I want to make Takashima the first success story of a citywide project. The participants today are making a perfectly decent living on their own. None of them is in trouble or needs any help at the individual level. But they\u2019re looking at the bigger picture, and they\u2019re willing to put in the extra effort for the city as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect the dots and present the big picture\u2014Takashima is set to transform from a \u201cmunicipality at risk of extinction\u201d to a future-forward city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Korian was named by the author Shusaku Endo, who loved Takashima and the local cuisine. The inn by the Kaizu Port serves dishes made with ingredients from the mountain and the lake including funazushi<\/em>, a fermented sushi made with Carassius<\/em> carp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cogito is a favorite with professional baristas. The simple act of drinking coffee is transformed into a special experience here. The shop also offers a selection of wine and cheese.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Paloma is a caf\u00e9 popular with Takashima locals. It\u2019s busy around the clock not only because of its convenient location facing Omi-Imazu Station but also for its signature \u201cNapolitan spaghetti\u201d topped with sausage and egg, and served on a sizzling platter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Daiyo, founded over a century ago, is Shiga Prefecture\u2019s only remaining studio making warosoku<\/em>. Japanese candles crafted with local natural plant wax create a soft stable flame that attracts fans from in and outside Japan. Daiyo candles are handcrafted using haze<\/em> (sumac), pictured, and rice bran.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shiga future design project<\/strong>
https:\/\/note.com\/shiga_mirai\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Efforts to revitalize local economies could be filled with promise and hope by focusing on throwing fresh light on the rich, unique climate and discovering new, unrecognized value\u2014that was the starting point of Shiga Future Design Project. The project for exploring Shiga Prefecture\u2019s tomorrow with data is a three-way collaboration between Shiga University, the first institution of its kind in Japan to establish a faculty of data science; Ars Electronica Futurelab, an Austria-based cultural organization specializing in media art; and Toyota Coniq Alpha, Inc. (*integrated into Toyota Conic Pro, Inc. in April 2025.), a company that uses data to shape the future. The local university will serve as a hub and work with the local residents and corporate partners to use the local data and create local happiness. To this end, the first step is to visit the people based in the local community who are already taking action for the future. PAPERSKY joins the journey to explore Shiga\u2019s multiple potential futures, and presents our findings in a series of five stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,117],"tags":[6700,2820,8303,8732],"place":[236],"writer":[],"class_list":["post-96323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-guides-en","category-culture-en","tag-agriculture","tag-shiga","tag-shiga-future-design-project","tag-takashima","place-shiga-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTakashima: Connecting the dots and creating an experimental city for the future - PAPERSKY<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Efforts to revitalize local economies could be filled with promise and hope by focusing on throwing fresh light on the rich, unique climate and discovering new, unrecognized value\u2014that was the starting point of Shiga Future Design Project. 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