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
Ōsemachi, a town near Lake Inawashiro in Fukushima Prefecture, served as the site of this revitalization project carried out in partnership with Koriyama City Hall. The initiative extended over more than a year through a series of community-based activities designed to connect diverse groups and generate new possibilities for the town’s future. The key highlights of this project were the efforts to include migrant workers, especially technical intern trainees, and to bring MBA students from Doshisha University for a two-day program of field-based learning and idea generation for innovation.
Key highlights included:
Intercultural exchange – facilitating dialogue and shared activities between local residents and migrant workers on technical trainee visas.
Educational collaboration – co-organizing a multi-day revitalization workshop with MBA students from Doshisha University, bringing together students, entrepreneurs, and townspeople to co-develop ideas for Ōsemachi.
Networking with other communities – supporting additional events and projects that strengthened networks (from our community projects in other regions), highlighted cultural resources, and introduced new approaches to town-making.
This collaboration showed how intercultural dialogue, academic engagement, and sustained community practice can energize regional revitalization efforts in Japan.
Tags
Regional Revitalization · Intercultural Exchange · Community Engagement
