Event Report:
What is future urban development that transcends local boundaries?
Part 2

Three years have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have come to understand that online is only a complement to the real world. What is growing in the online realm, such as D2C, is that it already has real customers and has a tangible story. Conversely, we are seeing a phenomenon where people who have only been online until now are starting to create real shops to understand their customers. I think it is important to have places with local passion.

Up until now, most events have been held in Tokyo. I think it's important to have a system where people who are working hard in a "local" environment can support each other, rather than a city-region structure. I hope that this summit will function as such a forum and continue to be held in the future.

The first project we worked on in our "Common Land Creation" project was the "Kame-no-machi Project" in the center of Akita City. We Renovation a row house called "Tanukikoji," which was unpopular at the time.
Starting with the Spanish bar KAMEBAR, as more and more stores opened, the number of people passing by increased and locals said, "The area has become safer." After opening our second store, we found a vacant building called Yamaki Building about 50 meters away and Renovation, which led to changes in the entire area.

When we were trying to create a public space with the concept of a "covered park" by utilizing a warehouse owned by the owner of "Yamaki Building", the owner invested 150 million yen, which was a great idea. I felt that there was a new possibility of the owner investing in urban development himself. This owner said, "This is not an investment, it's a contribution to the community," and I think that it is a good method to operate a business with people like him. Currently, tourism is shifting from something that gives a sense of the extraordinary to something that gives a sense of the everyday life of the place. In Oga City, if we start tourism in the Funakawa area near the shopping district, we can create "tourism that is part of everyday life" by communicating with the people in the shopping district.

I always look at proverbs in the morning. Today's proverb was by Saigo Takamori, and it said, "If you find someone more suitable than you, quit your job at any time." I was very encouraged by seeing everyone working hard at this summit. Oga's strength is that it has many different perspectives. I strongly felt that I wanted to make use of my individuality while interacting with various people, and I hope to learn and create something new.

Mayor, please don't resign (laughs). Whenever I have a problem, I always send a LINE message to the mayor. He always replies right away and says, "I'll get started tomorrow," and actually gets things moving... I owe it all to the mayor.

I was born in another town and I run my business in Akita City, so I didn't have much connection to Oga City until now. However, when I held about 10 seminars and workshops on shopping district revitalization as part of an Akita Prefecture project, Mayor Sugawara was always there. I think that's why I'm here today. It's unique to rural areas that things move forward through close relationships with the government.

The three, all originally from Oga City, returned to their hometown and wanted to bring more excitement to their daily lives, so they started holding regular market events in 2015. As the number of market events increased, there were voices calling for a cafe in the Funakawa area, which didn't have one, so the three of them founded a limited liability company called Funakawa Yamorisha and started Tomosu Cafe.

I will implement all the advice I received today. As I try various things, I think I will come up with solutions that are unique to Oga. These may lead to solutions for problems in Akita, Tohoku, and all of Japan in the future. I declare that I would like to put the hints I received here into shape in my own way and create the "Oga Model" together with you all.