I hated my hometown and longed for the city.

Mr. Natsuka was born and raised in Kushiro City. After living in Kushiro until graduating from high school, he moved to Hakodate when he entered university.

I was a typical type of person who hates his hometown and longs to live in the city," he says with a laugh. I went to Future University Hakodate to study design, which is what I wanted to study. I liked Hakodate, so I thought it was a good fit.

photo by kazuma saki

After graduating from the university, I worked for a company in Tokyo. As a designer, he was involved in the design of social infrastructure systems and the promotion of new businesses. In his third year of employment, when he was able to work a little more, he hit a wall and thought, "Maybe I am not suited for this job," and the desire to do something different began to well up in him.

That's when I launched the " Citizens' Organization CUSRO " (CUSRO).

At the time, there were a lot of new local projects starting up all over the country. I often looked at them during my lunch break at work, but no matter how much I looked, I couldn't find any projects in Kushiro. I was thinking, 'Kushiro is still not good-looking.... I was feeling a bit depressed and thought, "Kushiro is still not good-looking..." I talked about this with a high school friend I met on an out-of-season trip home, and he said, "If you don't have any, why don't you start one by yourself? So I said, 'Let's do it! ' So I started it with my friend."

Bringing more humor to Kusuro!　Image courtesy of Kusuro

For two years after launching Kusuro, Mr. Nazuka lived a life of making a round-trip between Kushiro and Tokyo once a month. However, in his sixth year of employment, a turning point came when he turned 30 years old.

I was wondering whether I should continue working at the company or start something new," he says. At the same time, I felt that I was not able to commit myself to the community because I only returned home once a month and tried to do things in Kushiro, which made me feel like a "customer. I had heard a lot about the lack of young people in Kushiro, so I decided to quit my job and make a U-turn from Tokyo to Kushiro, thinking that I would be more useful to the community at the age of 30 than at 35.

photo by kazuma saki

I want to increase the number of people who choose to live in Kushiro. I want to increase the number of people who choose to live in Kushiro.

We want to make Kushiro a fun place to live and communicate with people in our own unique way, not from a big ambition such as community development or regional revitalization. With this in mind, a citizens' group named "Kusuro" was formed in 2014, combining the words "Kushiro" and "I want to make the town more fun" to make the town interesting with goofiness, puns, and energy. What kind of activities did KUSRO do?

First of all, we created a website, interviewed attractive people in Kushiro, and started sending out information to people outside of the area. At the same time, we also held workshops for local residents on the theme of community development.

The 2nd Kushiro Workshop held in 2014, image courtesy of Kushiro

At the workshop, we asked the participants, 'What kind of Kushiro do you want to make? How do you entertain visitors to Kushiro? What kind of Kushiro do you want to be? We created a place where people could share their thoughts and issues with each other under such themes as "What kind of Kushiro do you want to make?

Mr. Natsuka, who had been away from Kushiro for nearly 10 years at the time, caught up with the current situation of the town at the workshop. He learned about the existence and thoughts of people who were engaged in interesting activities in the town and people who had moved to Kushiro, and rediscovered the interesting people and attractions of Kushiro.

I have since realized that many people live in Kushiro out of reluctance due to transfer or other reasons. I have set my goal to increase the number of people who choose to live in Kushiro. In the end, I think it comes down to the compatibility between people. Kushiro tends to have a gloomy image: foggy in the summer and the area in front of the station looks run-down. Kushiro's activities have helped to create a positive image of Kushiro, such as "I didn't know there were people doing fun things like this! or 'If there are people like this, I'd like to live here.

CUSRO members wearing CUSRO's original goods "946 Cap" and "9464649 T-Shirt" Image courtesy of CUSRO

CUSRO's activities started with interviews and workshops with interesting people in Kushiro. Currently, the group produces and sells original goods by combining "Kushiro's character" and "Khusro's humor.

For example, Kusro 's goofy key chain series was born out of the idea of "making goofy souvenirs in Kushiro. Kushiro's pride and joy are made into rubber key rings.

Muryotsuji, a joke key chain Image courtesy of Chihiro Nazuka

Muryouju," one of the joke key chains, is a well-known product of Kushiro's long-established buckwheat noodle shop, Chikuroen Azumaya Sohonten. It is an irresistibly delicious original dish of cold soba noodles with sesame oil, seaweed, green onion, and egg yolk on top.

Muryouju Soba" at Chikuroen Toke Sohonten, image courtesy of Chihiro Nazuka.

Surprisingly, there are many things that even the locals don't know. I have the opportunity to teach classes at school, and when I ask about it, I find that many of the students have never had Muryotsuju before. They often ask me, 'What other foods are unique to Kushiro? I am currently researching the food culture that has existed in Kushiro for a long time but is not well known yet, like Muryotsu! I am planning to write a book about it this fall.

Please take a look at Kushiro's website. It's very interesting, fun, and cheerful.

We want to create a place that is a gateway to travel and a place where people can stay for a long time.

Two years after starting CUSRO, Mr. Nazuka made a U-turn from Tokyo to Kushiro at the age of 30, and worked as a freelance designer while continuing CUSRO's activities.

After about six months, he decided to open " Guesthouse KOKEKOKKO " in Kushiro to do what he could do since he moved to Kushiro.

I wanted to change people's impression of Kushiro and introduce interesting people I met in Kushiro to visitors. To achieve this, I wanted to create a guesthouse that is a gateway to travel and a place where people can stay for a long time. I came up with the name "KOKEKOKKO" because I thought it would be unforgettable once you hear it, and also because I thought it would express the beginning of a day and a new guesthouse that is being built.

Living room of Guest House KOKEKOKKO Image courtesy of Chihiro Nazuka

Guesthouse Kokekokko is located in Akan-cho, Kushiro City. The reason for choosing this location was the size of the town, the nature, and the accepting environment.

I wanted to try something new in a small community. I was looking for a town in the Kushiro area that still had the natural beauty and good climate typical of Hokkaido, and I came across Akan-cho. When I told the people I met there that I wanted to open a guesthouse, they all said, "I don't know what a guesthouse is, but I would be happy if you could do something in Akan anyway. I thought we could do it in this town, and that was the deciding factor.

Guesthouse Kokekokko image courtesy of Chihiro Nazuka

Guesthouse Kokekokko was the first new guesthouse to open in Akan in more than 10 years. Five years have passed since its opening, and new changes have begun to take place in the town.

I don't know if it's because of all the guests who have come to stay here, but in the past five years, six new restaurants have opened in Akan Town. I am happy to think that we have inspired people who want to start something.
I also feel that the people of the town are guiding us. When we had many foreign visitors, store owners in the area studied English so that they could communicate with us at least as much as possible. I was happy to feel that the people in the town were becoming more and more welcoming.

photo by kazuma saki

If you stay at Guesthouse Kokekokko, you don't have to decide what to do the next day. Mr. Nazuka will be able to recommend spots and scenic routes for you. Please ask him.

What you cannot do alone, you can achieve with these friends.

With a sense of challenge and desire, Ms. Nazuka has been involved in the activities of "Citizen's Group Kusuro" and "Guest House Kokekokko" in Kushiro City. In 2018, Mr. Nazuka reached his next turning point.

I knew that there were young people in Kitami and Tokachi who had a media business similar to Khusro's, so I actually met with them and asked them about it. I found out that they had the same problems and sense of challenges. So we decided to do something together. I genuinely thought it sounded like fun, so I joined."

At that time, the project was called "Operation Attract Doto," in which members running local media in the Doto region asked people who had traveled around the country and seen various local examples to judge the charms of the Doto region that were not yet well known but that they were eager to convey.

This project, which brought together people with completely different areas of expertise, grew in a direction I could not have imagined, and it turned out to be a great success. It was here that I realized the potential of working on a project with people of different types. When we decided to form the "General Incorporated Association Dot Doto" and create the unofficial guidebook of Doto, ".doto" (crowdfunding page / note), I was hopeful that I could do something new with my colleagues that I could not do myself, so I agreed to work with them. So I decided to do it with them.

The crowdfunding campaign in 2019 raised over 330% of its goal, and the unofficial guidebook ".doto" will be completed in 2020. This guidebook has had a huge impact on Doto, with more and more people traveling to Doto with the guidebook in hand, and even more people moving to Doto as a result of the book.

Mr. Nazuka is in charge of design, direction, and occasionally works as a photographer for the general incorporated association Dot Doto. He is expanding the scope of his activities to include planning, producing, and disseminating information rooted in Dot Doto, as well as managing job information media. We asked him about what is important to him at Dot Doto.

Through the ".doto" and other activities, we found that there are many people who are potentially interested in getting involved in Doto Doto. Therefore, any project always requires us to find a way to connect with such people. We are always trying to increase the number of people who are involved in our projects, such as by asking photographers and designers from East Hokkaido to work with us, and by actively using hashtags in our Twitter campaigns.

Image courtesy of Chihiro Nazuka

Kushiro is 'a childhood friend who is perfect for marriage, but not quite decisive enough.

Before turning 30, Ms. Nazuka chose to return to Kushiro, a place she had longed to leave until her high school days, and has been energetically working to make Kushiro and Doto more interesting. How has Mr. Nazuka's impression of Kushiro changed?

Well, I have always felt that I cannot abandon Kushiro. But if you ask me if I like Kushiro very much, I don't like it as if I think, 'This is the best town and the best place to live.

Kashiko's ex-boyfriend and the future. I feel like I've been asked very much about why we do what we do with this group since the talk of Kusuro's breakup.
By the way, for me, "the childhood friend who is the best person to marry but not quite decisive".

Kusuro and my ex-boyfriend｜kashiko sudo @nomore_more_｜note (note) https://t.co/rWgSWd4KuN

- Chihiro Nazuka | Kusuro and Dot Doto and Cockerel (@nazoo815) February 1, 2019

"If I had to compare him to someone, I'd say 'my childhood friend who's perfect for marriage but not quite decisive enough' (laughs). He's probably a nice guy, we talk, we have the same interests, and I'm sure we'd be happy if we got married, but he's kind of unrefined and sloppy, and I'm not sure if he's the right person for me...I'm like.... But he's my childhood friend, so I can't abandon him, and I'll always be interested in him.

We are sure that Mr. Nazuka will continue to be involved in Kushiro in interesting ways, so be sure to check out his activities in the future.