A connection with Urahoro, forged while studying community development.

Forestry, fishing, dairy farming, and crop farming. Urahoro, a town of about 5,000 people, is rich in industry. Mr. Komatsu moved to Urahoro right after graduating from university in his hometown of Tokushima. What brought him to this town from the distant land of Shikoku?

The streets of Urahoro Town

"When I was choosing a university in my third year of high school, I vaguely wanted to be a civil servant, so I thought it would be good to know about community development and chose a department where I could study it professionally. During my studies, I also did an internship at a company involved in human resource development and community building. It was then that Urahoro took a great interest in a next-generation regional human resource development project that the internship company was conducting in Tokushima. A new project started from the proposal, 'Could we create a pathway for students to get involved in community development while learning in Urahoro?' and I ended up visiting the area myself."

In Urahoro, Mr. Komatsu supported preparations for fieldwork where students would gather, stay overnight, and brainstorm projects to energize the town, as well as arranging meals.

Mr. Komatsu as a student (fourth from the right)

"I first visited Urahoro around September of my third year of university, and I traveled back and forth about four times before graduating. As I spent a long time there during summer vacation and wrote my graduation thesis in Urahoro, the town gradually became more familiar to me."

Wanting to create an inn to serve as a base for young travelers.

As Mr. Komatsu neared graduation, he learned that Urahoro was recruiting for the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad. The mission was tourism business. After the term of service, starting a business in the town was encouraged. For Mr. Komatsu, who had been preparing to eventually start a business in the tourism industry by obtaining a travel industry qualification during his university years, it was a perfectly timed opportunity.

"I wasn't worried about the move itself, but I did have a vague anxiety about what would happen after my term with the Cooperator Squad ended," he recalls.

"I applied for the Cooperator Squad, was accepted, and moved to Urahoro in 2017. From my second year in the position, I began to work seriously on tourism-related activities. At the time, I was in charge of the 'Nohaku' (*) project promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which involved guiding tours in Urahoro that included bird watching, Japanese rose harvesting experiences, and visiting coal mine ruins."

*A type of stay-and-travel experience where visitors stay in agricultural, mountain, or fishing village areas and enjoy meals and activities utilizing the rich local resources.

You can see the red-crowned crane, a special national natural monument.

Coal mine ruins remaining in Urahoro, which was once a coal mining town.

At the same time, he began preparing to start his own business and became independent in his third year with the Cooperator Squad. After starting his business, in addition to guided tours, he also handled arrangements for business trips for town hall staff and junior high school excursions. And another major accomplishment was opening a guesthouse.

A snapshot from March 2020, before the guesthouse was completed, when Chihiro Nazuka (left), who runs the guesthouse "Kokekokko" in Akan Town, was invited for an online broadcast on the theme "A Guesthouse Nurtured with the Town."

"In the business plan required to establish my company, I included an item 'to build a guesthouse.' With the guided tours I had been running, visitors' stays in Urahoro were short. That made it difficult to make it a viable business. Also, there were no inns in Urahoro that easily attracted young travelers, so I thought it would be great to have a guesthouse where such people could use as a base for long-term stays."

Mr. Komatsu purchased a 35-year-old building that used to be a dormitory for single employees and renovated it himself. He had enjoyed DIY since his student days and had done simple renovations in Urahoro, like replacing the flooring in his own home with the help of friends, so he enjoyed renovating the guesthouse with his companions.

A total of 200 local people, mainly town hall staff and Cooperator Squad members, helped with the guesthouse renovation.

Realizing the labor shortage in primary industries through firsthand experience.

And so, in July 2021, "Hahaha Hostel" was born. The name alone makes you feel happy, but as it was a time when the travel industry was struggling due to the spread of COVID-19, he said it was initially unclear how they would attract guests.

Hahaha Hostel exterior

About 70% of guests are tourists, with many others staying for construction work or business trips. University students also stay for long periods for fieldwork.

"Since I was preparing for Hahaha Hostel, I had been working part-time at a dairy farm owned by someone I met through Cooperator Squad training, and I continued to help out even after opening when there were no guests. Talking with them on-site, I keenly felt that they were suffering from a chronic labor shortage."

Although the physical labor was tough, Mr. Komatsu also found dairy farming enjoyable. One day, he asked the dairy farmer, "For example, if a young person wanted to stay in Urahoro for a month and work part-time, would you be able to accept them?" The answer was, "Sure."

"There are many people working on farm stays in Hokkaido, and some farms receive over 100 applications a year. And there are actually quite a few young people who want to experience dairy farming in Hokkaido. So, I thought if they could use Hahaha Hostel as their accommodation for a farm stay, it would be beneficial for the hostel, help the farmers, and create a good cycle."

With the dairy farmer he works for

Through this process, Mr. Komatsu gradually began to think about what he could do to increase the number of young people living here. When moving to the countryside, the first things you need are a place to live and a job. And Urahoro has plenty of job openings.

"Just as I was thinking, 'Then I'll use the hostel's website to recruit people who want to try working, mainly in primary industries like dairy farming,' Urahoro Town approached me about participating in a new project. That project was the portal site 'Tsutsu Uraura,' which disseminates job information for Urahoro and also handles job matching."

The job site "Tsutsu Uraura" also delivers information about life in the town.

Job sites specializing in a specific field, like "agriculture only," have existed before. But those are only seen by people who have already decided to work in agriculture. Moreover, trying to get them to choose Urahoro, located on the far west of Tokachi, within the framework of "agricultural jobs" is quite a high hurdle. Instead, why not have them come to Urahoro more casually, experience life here, get to know the people, and try various work experiences without being tied to a specific field, to learn about the town? "Tsutsu Uraura" was born from the attempt to give shape to this concept.

The originator of the idea was Mr. Ogawa (far back) from the Urahoro Town Hall Industrial Division.

Mr. Komatsu's job is to recruit businesses that want to post job openings and to coordinate for people who visit Urahoro through "Tsutsu Uraura." Currently, about 20 listings, including both jobs and work experiences, are posted. The site also features a section called "About Urahoro," where you can read realistic accounts of life and work in Urahoro written by people who have actually stayed there, which is another attraction. It also functions as a portal site with regularly updated information.

"I had a rough idea of how producers would react, but I couldn't predict the response from commerce and industry, so I was a bit nervous when I approached them. But more than 10 companies accepted, and they were more flexible than I expected, so I was relieved."

Shichikyo Suisan Co., Ltd., which operates a salmon fixed-net fishery.

Urahoro Mokutan Co., Ltd., which inherited the 100-year-old "Urahoro Charcoal" technology in 2021. They use Mizunara oak from Tokachi.

Urahoro is a town that supports the challenges of young newcomers.

It's been five years since he moved to Urahoro. As a senior relocator himself, how does Mr. Komatsu see this town now? And what is the reason he continues to live in Urahoro?

"Urahoro is filled with an atmosphere that encourages the challenges of the younger generation. If you consult or ask for something, they will at least listen. Just the other day, a 20-year-old young man took over a long-established soba noodle shop, and when he had a pre-opening in the winter of 2021, members of the Chamber of Commerce came to eat soba about once every two days. I thought, 'That's what support is all about.'"

A young relocator who connected with Hahaha Hostel through a friend living in Urahoro. Through Mr. Komatsu's introduction, he got a job at a ranch and is now working hard at a restaurant in town.

When you think that there are people who will support you if you take action, Mr. Komatsu says his own anxiety and fear of failure naturally disappeared. Even if the hostel business doesn't go well, he can find a new path while working in dairy farming. Living in a town with rich industries seems to provide that sense of security.

"In the future, I want to be able to help young people who want to live in Urahoro when they want to do something, or provide a place for them. Also, to prevent those who move here through 'Tsutsu Uraura' from becoming isolated without connections or peers, I hope to organize events like a welcome party for new employees in the region."

And now, what Mr. Komatsu is newly preparing is a share house where young relocators can interact. As a relocator himself, he knows the anxiety and loneliness of the early days, which is why he wants to alleviate it as much as possible. He is filled with the desire to support young people, just as the townspeople once helped him.

With Kenta Mori (right), a former member of the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad who moved from Mie Prefecture and now plans and sells "rosa rugosa" cosmetics made from the Japanese rose that blooms in Urahoro.

If you have a long vacation, why not visit Urahoro as a tourist? If there's a job that piques your interest even a little, feel free to try working there. You might feel the energy of the young people and the warm gaze of those who have lived here for a long time.