I want to live happily in the place I choose to live. In order to realize this wish, the general incorporated association "Dot Doto" was established in the eastern Hokkaido area of Doto. Since its establishment in 2019, the association has been expanding its business by involving many people, such as holding events inviting players active throughout Japan to Doto, producing a guidebook that raised 3.4 million yen in crowdfunding, and operating a job information media in partnership with local companies and municipalities.

How did Dot Doto come into being, and where is it headed from here? We spoke with founding members Takuro Nakanishi and Kazumori Nozawa on the occasion of the company's fifth anniversary.

Takuro Nakanishi

Born in Kitami, Hokkaido in 1988. Representative director of Dot Doto General Incorporated Association. Returned to Kitami in 2012. Works as a freelancer, managing, editing, and producing local media to connect Eastern Hokkaido. In May 2019, with the vision of "making Eastern Hokkaido a place where dreams can be realized," he founded Dot Doto General Incorporated Association, a social venture based in the eastern and Eastern Hokkaido region of Hokkaido, where he currently serves as president.

Kazumori Nozawa

Born in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture in 1988. After graduating from university, he joined SoftBank Corp. in 2011. Soon after joining the company, he was transferred to Sapporo and started living in Hokkaido, where he worked in corporate sales for IT distribution for five years. In 2016, he changed jobs and moved to Tokachi, where he was responsible for setting up a Hokkaido branch for an agricultural human resources agency, recruitment PR, and relocation support business. After coming to Tokachi, he started a blog, which led to him taking on side jobs such as writing about local information, taking photos and videos, and working as an intern coordinator, and in 2020 he became a full-time employee at Dot Doto.

Dot Doto started with a call for help

--Congratulations on the 5th anniversary of the founding of Dot Doto. This time, I would like to look back on your journey so far and ask you about the changes you have experienced through your activities and your outlook for the future. Thank you.

Nakanishi/Nozawa: Thank you very much.

--First, please tell us about the process leading up to the launch. How did Dot Doto come about?

Nakanishi: The first time I worked with the founding members of Dot Doto was at an event called "Operation Doto Attractions" held in March 2018. At the time, I was making a magazine called "1988" in Kitami, and Tokuya Kakijiro, who was the editor-in-chief of the web media Jimocoro, came to Doto with some acquaintances. From our exchanges on social media, we ended up guiding creators and businesspeople active all over the country.

So it wasn't like, "Let's all plan an event together!", but rather, "Some amazing people are coming! I can't do it alone, so please help me!", and it started with me reaching out to the people around me (laughs).

Scenes from the "Eastern Hokkaido Attraction Strategy" held in March 2018

Nakanishi: At that time, we reached out to people who were active in Kushiro and Tokachi, and we decided to invite guests to the areas that had received the most funding through crowdfunding, including Okhotsk, where I live.

Nozawa: I saw on social media when the crowdfunding campaign started. At the time, I was working on an agricultural job site in Tokachi, and I knew all the members who were planning the event, including Takuro (Nakanishi).

Soon after, I received a call from one of the project members saying, "I want you to help promote Tokachi with crowdfunding." I thought it was an interesting project and wanted to get involved, so I thought "Yes!" and decided to help out.

What attracted you to this project and made you want to be involved?

Nozawa: At the time, I didn't know any of the guests. So I remember very clearly thinking, "Who will they invite?" But when I saw the reactions on social media, I realized they were amazing people. I thought I should get involved (laughs). That's really how it felt at first. From then on, I started going to help out every time Takuro and his friends held an event.

The "Brain Hit School" held in August 2018

Nakanishi: The "Eastern Hokkaido Attraction Strategy" was meant to be a one-off event, but it had quite a big impact, and the planning members were invited to other events and started receiving job offers. However, since it was a gathering of individual business owners, it was difficult to do. After discussing it with the four planning members, we decided to create an organization to serve as a platform. In terms of timing, the idea to start the company came up around November 2018, and we told everyone, including Nozawa, about it in January 2019.

--Nozawa wasn't among those four, was he?

Nozawa: That's right. I often went to help out with events, but I wasn't involved in meetings or anything like that. I thought of myself as about the 4th or 5th member.

Nakanishi: I had a few friends who helped out with each event, so when I was starting up the organization, I asked everyone, "I'm thinking of creating a platform for Eastern Hokkaido and doing all sorts of things. Is there anyone who wants to get involved?" That's when Shige (Nozawa Kazumori) said he wanted to fully commit.

Nozawa: I was the only one (laughs). I was asked, "We're creating a general incorporated association. Is there anyone who wants to be a board member?" and I immediately replied, "Yes, I'll join."

Nakanishi: So, the five of us, including Shige, started up Dot Doto. However, we didn't always have work, so we continued doing our own individual jobs and worked together on the jobs we received at Dot Doto.

Founding board members. From left: Kazumori Nozawa, Chihiro Nazuka, Takuro Nakanishi, Kashiko Sudo, and Asami Jinguji

Nozawa: We didn't have daily meetings or receive a fixed salary, but I worked on projects while working as a company employee. I think it was after we published ".doto" (an unofficial guidebook to Eastern Hokkaido produced by Dot Doto) that I started receiving a proper salary from Dot Doto.