Hello everyone, my name is Ezo-maru Kinuhari. I moved to Kamikawa Town in 2019 as a member of the Community-Revitalization Cooperator program. Believing that "to continue living and doing business in this town, we need to think about the entire community and take action," my friends and I founded Earth Friends Camp (EFC) Inc. in 2021. Since then, we've been working on community development projects based at our "Community & Coworking Space PORTO," a facility designed to connect people with each other and the community to create a shared life, based on the concept of being "a port in this town without a sea."

This time, I'd like to introduce you to Kamikawa Town, where we live, and the "ANSHINDO Project" we are undertaking here.

Kamikawa Town: A Tourist Destination Aiming to be a "Northern Mountain Resort"

Kamikawa Town, located almost in the center of Hokkaido, is a tourist town home to Daisetsuzan National Park, where you can enjoy hiking and skiing, and Sounkyo Onsen, one of Hokkaido's leading hot spring resorts. The town also boasts many other attractive features, such as the "Daisetsu Mori-no Garden," a tourist garden, the famous "Kamikawa Ramen," and a sake brewery called "Kamikawa Taisetsu Shuzo."

Furthermore, the town center, where about 90% of the population lives, is very livable, with shops, banks, a post office, schools, and hospitals all compactly located. Since 2018, it has also gained attention for its regional revitalization initiative, the "KAMIKAWORK PROJECT," and in recent years, there has been an increase in young people moving to the town, including members of the Community-Revitalization Cooperator program, as well as new businesses opening.

The town's concept, which combines tourism and daily life, is to be a "Northern Mountain Resort." Community development is underway with the aim of closely integrating local residents, tourists, and the great outdoors. With a town atmosphere that actively supports new initiatives and numerous partnership agreements with companies, it is now one of the most dynamic and注目-worthy towns in Hokkaido.

Connecting Daily Life and Tourism to Revitalize the Town Center

Despite being such a vibrant town, Kamikawa has a long-standing challenge: the tourist area and the residential area are separated by more than 20 km (about a 25-minute drive). This makes it difficult for the people who live and work in the town center to benefit from tourism.

To address this, the "ANSHINDO Project" was launched with the goal of revitalizing the town center by creating a new hub that connects daily life and tourism and becomes a destination for visitors. We are renovating a three-story building, a former pharmacy that has been vacant for many years in the heart of the town, into a multi-purpose complex with the concept of being a "lighthouse that illuminates and connects the town."

The "ANSHINDO Project": Connecting with the Community Through Staying, Gathering, and Working

By creating a complex that combines functions such as shops, restaurants, accommodations, and workspaces, we offer more than just leisure tourism. A key feature is enabling "lifestyle tourism," where visitors can experience the local way of life, as well as stays combined with work, such as workations and corporate training. Through ANSHINDO, we aim to increase the flow of people involved with Kamikawa Town and tourists visiting the town center, thereby boosting tourism throughout Kamikawa, not just in Sounkyo, and promoting the development of the local economy.

Now, let me introduce the features of each floor of ANSHINDO!

3rd Floor: Shared Office

The third floor will house a shared office. It will feature a free-address coworking room that can be used by corporate and individual members as well as hotel guests, and two private rooms that can be used as rental offices or meeting rooms. We plan to utilize it as a base for workations, corporate training, and support for local startups.

2nd Floor: Micro-hotel

The second floor is a small inn where you can blend into the town's daily life and stay as if you were living there. We plan to have a total of four guest rooms with a maximum capacity of 10 people. Guests will also have access to the shared office on the third floor. Through interaction with the staff of the first-floor tenants and the local residents who visit, we will provide local information and a stay experience that you won't find in guidebooks.

1st Floor: Seeking Tenants!

We wanted to have a retail shop and a restaurant on the first floor, but the renovations for the second and third floors were too expensive, and we couldn't afford to build out the first floor ourselves... (Of course, as the property owner, we plan to do the minimum necessary work, like plumbing...!) To become the "lighthouse that illuminates and connects the town," we absolutely need to open a shop on the first floor...

The first-floor retail space is quite large, so it can accommodate various types of businesses. For example, a bar where you can enjoy craft beers from the Northern Hokkaido region including Kamikawa, a restaurant serving local game meat dishes, or a workshop and shop that makes processed goods using local agricultural products. We also welcome inquiries based on ideas like, "I'm thinking of opening this kind of shop." If there are any companies or individuals who would like to create ANSHINDO with us at EFC in Kamikawa Town, please contact us.