Projects - Regional Japan
Projects - Regional Japan
Regional Revitalization
Fieldwork and community projects in rural Japan.
Regional Revitalization Fieldwork and community projects in rural Japan.
In Japan, genkai shūraku refers to marginal villages at risk of disappearance, where depopulation and aging have left only a small number of residents, often elderly. My projects in Fukushima and Yamagata engage with these communities through fieldwork, cultural documentation, and collaborative initiatives. Rather than treating them solely as sites of decline, the work examines how local traditions, everyday practices, and small-scale innovations can be understood as resources for resilience and as frameworks for rethinking rural sustainability.
Regional Revitalization in Nakatsugawa: Community-Based Initiatives
While working with Fulford Enterprises on Regional Revitalization, I lived for six months in Nakatsugawa, a mountain village of 200 elderly residents in Iide Town, Yamagata. The project combined food innovation, local business experiments, hospitality, and cultural exchange initiatives.
2020-2022
Revitalization Initatives
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Regional Revitalization in Nakatsugawa: Community-Based Initiatives
While working with Fulford Enterprises on Regional Revitalization, I lived for six months in Nakatsugawa, a mountain village of 200 elderly residents in Iide Town, Yamagata. The project combined food innovation, local business experiments, hospitality, and cultural exchange initiatives.
2020-2022
Revitalization Initatives
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Ōsemachi Revitalization Project: Migrant Inclusion and Community Innovation
While working with Fulford Enterprises, I collaborated with Koriyama City Hall on a long-term revitalization project in Ōsemachi. Highlights included cultural exchange between local residents and migrant technical trainees, and a multi-day workshop with MBA students from Doshisha University, alongside other community initiatives.
2021-2022
Revitalization Initatives
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Ōsemachi Revitalization Project: Migrant Inclusion and Community Innovation
While working with Fulford Enterprises, I collaborated with Koriyama City Hall on a long-term revitalization project in Ōsemachi. Highlights included cultural exchange between local residents and migrant technical trainees, and a multi-day workshop with MBA students from Doshisha University, alongside other community initiatives.
2021-2022
Revitalization Initatives
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UTokyo Field Study – Takahata Town
As part of the University of Tokyo Field Study Program (2022–23), collaborated with Takahata Town Hall on a community event promoting local women-run businesses and inspiring children to see future opportunities in their hometown.
2022-23
Revitalization Initiatives
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UTokyo Field Study – Takahata Town
As part of the University of Tokyo Field Study Program (2022–23), collaborated with Takahata Town Hall on a community event promoting local women-run businesses and inspiring children to see future opportunities in their hometown.
2022-23
Revitalization Initiatives
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Reviving Rural Memory: The Nakatsugawa Photographic Archive
The Nakatsugawa Village Photographic Archive Project preserves and reinterprets early 20th-century photographs taken by Ito Jintarō, documenting everyday rural life in Yamagata during the Taishō period. Rediscovered by chance and digitally restored, the images are contextualized through oral histories with local elders and shared via postcard series and online media, transforming a near-forgotten attic collection into a living community archive.
2020-2022
Heritage Documentation
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Reviving Rural Memory: The Nakatsugawa Photographic Archive
The Nakatsugawa Village Photographic Archive Project preserves and reinterprets early 20th-century photographs taken by Ito Jintarō, documenting everyday rural life in Yamagata during the Taishō period. Rediscovered by chance and digitally restored, the images are contextualized through oral histories with local elders and shared via postcard series and online media, transforming a near-forgotten attic collection into a living community archive.
2020-2022
Heritage Documentation
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Living with Nature: Cultural Heritage and Regional Revitalization in Iide, Yamagata
Over several months of fieldwork in Nakatsugawa, Iide Town, Yamagata, I documented local culture, history, and everyday practices as part of regional revitalization efforts—recording landscapes, food traditions, and governance systems that form the foundation of community identity.
2020-2022
Archiving Cultural Heritage
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Living with Nature: Cultural Heritage and Regional Revitalization in Iide, Yamagata
Over several months of fieldwork in Nakatsugawa, Iide Town, Yamagata, I documented local culture, history, and everyday practices as part of regional revitalization efforts—recording landscapes, food traditions, and governance systems that form the foundation of community identity.
2020-2022
Archiving Cultural Heritage
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