The booklet "Mirushiru Shihoro Book," which introduces the stores in the shopping district in Shihoro Town, Tokachi, was distributed to every household in Shihoro Town. The stores featured in the book are packed with the charm of the Shihoro Town shopping district, which is closely tied to the local community, including restaurants, barber shops, beauty salons, unique dry cleaners, photo studios, bookstores, and hardware stores.

This time, we spoke to Nozawa Kazumori of Dot Doto General Incorporated Association, who was involved in the production, and Sato Sota, who was involved in the production as an intern, about how the project came to be!

--How did the "Milsil Shihoro Book" come about?

Nozawa: Going back quite a bit, the idea originally came from the idea of distributing shop cards introducing restaurants and other businesses in Shihoro Town at the roadside station "Pier 21 Shihoro," and the project started in 2020.

Roadside station "Pier 21 Shihoro"

After much discussion, in 2020, Pier 21 Shihoro and us at Dot Doto recruited interns (you can see what they were up to here ), and together with the interns who applied, we started the "Shihoro Shopping Street Visualization Project." As part of the project, we interviewed the shops in the shopping street and released the "Shihoro Wandering? Map" based on the content of the interviews.

Shihoro Town has always had a variety of interesting shops, but with the times, we have heard quite a few people say, "I've never used the shops in the town's shopping arcade." This booklet was created at the request of the Shihoro Town Chamber of Commerce with the goal of "getting the people of the town to use the shops in the town."

By the way, the original concept of the shop cards was to encourage people from outside to use restaurants and other establishments, but the shops introduced in this "Milsil Shihoro Book" are local bookstores, hardware stores, and other shops that are closely related to daily life. We aimed to target the readers at local residents rather than people from outside.

--There are certainly many stores near where I live that I pass by all the time but have never been inside.

Nozawa-san: It's hard to go in, isn't it? I thought it would be easier to go in if people could just find out what kind of people are running the store, what they have, and what the atmosphere of the store is, so I created this booklet to provide that opportunity.

--Now let's talk to Mr. Sato, who participated as an intern. When did you visit Shihoro Town?

Sato-san: The first time was from October 2020 to March 2021, when I was involved in the "Shihoro Shopping District Visualization Project" and the "Shihoro Yotteku? Map" initiatives. I then stayed in Shihoro Town again from September 2021 to February 2022, and produced this booklet during my second stay.

--What kind of role did you play?

Sato-san: I interviewed nearly 60 shops and was in charge of the text to be published on their shop cards and the articles for the guidebook. I also used the shops many times during my stay, and while interacting with the local people, I was able to help them understand the project itself and raise awareness.

--So your role was to connect the region.

Sato-san: Yes. During my internship, I had many opportunities to do things like producing booklets and helping out at the store, but by interviewing people from Dot Doto and being close to Mr. Hotta (CEO of atLOCAL Inc., which runs the roadside station "Pier 21 Shihoro"), I was able to get a real feel for what it means to "work locally and live locally."

(In the middle is Yuuki Hotta, CEO of atLOCAL Inc. On the right is Asahi Ushiro, an intern like Sato)

-- Before you did your internship, were you interested in working locally?

Sato-san: Actually, I wasn't that interested in it from the beginning. I read ".doto" and thought "I want to go to Eastern Hokkaido!" It all started when I read about it. There was a paper inside that looked like it was for a job, and when I registered on it, I found information about this internship and applied.

Why did you visit twice?

Sato-san: My hometown is in Eniwa City, but I learned more about Shihoro Town than I did in the town I live in during my first four and a half months there, and the more I learned, the richer the everyday life of the town seemed to become. That's why I went back the second time, thinking, "I want to go back and see that for myself."

--Please tell us about anything that impressed you during your stay.

Sato-san: As I mentioned at the beginning of the booklet, we held an event called "Shihoro Mini Shopping Street Market" at "Pier 21 Shihoro." We approached the shops with the concept of "Let's gather the shopping street at the roadside station and create an opportunity for many people to know about it." At first, there wasn't much enthusiasm, but as the event drew closer, I was happy to see them actively participate.

I remember being surprised when I told one of the participating shops, "Harao Bookstore," to "select about 20 books for the event," but before I knew it, they had prepared nearly 60 books. It was a great impression on me to be able to work enthusiastically with the local people at this event.

--I had spoken to you before, and you always said, "For the people of Shihoro Town." I felt that this project was a perfect embodiment of that.

Sato-san: Mr. Hotta's goal is to make the roadside station "the most necessary for the townspeople in Japan," and I thought I was able to shape it in my own way by learning from that. The content of the event was created by five interns, including me, and I think one of the interesting parts was that we came up with our own way of introducing the town.

Nozawa: The interns were staying at different times, and some were not there during the event, but it was the interns who voiced their opinions, saying, "We want to hold an event! We want to include that content in the booklet!" When we asked various people what they thought of the booklet, many of them said that they felt the passion of the townspeople in the event pictured at the beginning.

Thank you, Nozawa-san and Sato-san! We often seek enjoyment "outside the town" through travel and sightseeing, but we often don't know the charms of the town we actually live in. The "Mirushiru Shihoro Book," which vividly conveys the charms of Shihoro Town's shops and people, is likely to become an indispensable guidebook for every household in the town.