Eastern Hokkaido brings about a strong sense of ownership

-- Starting with event planning, Dot Doto has steadily expanded its business to include guidebook production and work with local governments. The next step was the release of a service called "DOTO-NET." What led you to start this?

Nakanishi: Simply put, I wanted to create a scheme that would generate reinvestment within the region. It was like saying, "We've received blessings from Satoyama, so let's give back to Satoyama." I'm using Satoyama as an example again (laughs).

The concept of "DOTO-NET" is to fully support young people under the age of 29. Older people, companies, and local governments in Eastern Hokkaido provide funds to create a system that allows young people to realize their potential. The organization that implements these measures is Dot Doto.

Overview of "DOTO-NET"

--That's truly a secretariat-like position.

Nakanishi: That's right. The reason we created this service is that if we do nothing, the local population will continue to decline. If that happens, we won't be able to maintain social services and infrastructure unless we increase the number of high-performing people.

The current population of Eastern Hokkaido is about 900,000, but it is estimated that it will fall to 650,000 by 2045. That's a decrease of about 30%. Of course, technological advances will help compensate for some of this, but if you look at the numbers alone, it means that each person will have to work 1.5 times harder to maintain the current standard of living. In other words, Eastern Hokkaido is at risk of collapse unless we develop high-performance people and create an environment where each individual can demonstrate their abilities. With that in mind, wouldn't it be better for the people, companies, and local governments of Eastern Hokkaido to properly invest in the young people who will support the future of this region?

--It was because of this sense of problem that you started this initiative to support young people.

Nakanishi: Until now, there was no such system, so young people who wanted to do something had to do it on their own. But if there is support from the community, it becomes easier for anyone to take on the challenge, and the chances of it taking shape increase.

I think that people who achieve results in this way will not forget the support they received, and will develop a desire to support others. Like, "I've harvested a lot of fruit, so I'll give back to those around me." If that happens, I think we can create an ecosystem where reinvestment continues.

--It's a cycle in which young people who receive support from the community grow and then become the ones providing support themselves.

Nakanishi: Looking at the people participating in DOTO-NET, there are currently more older people and companies supporting them than young people receiving support.

--Amazing! I guess that's because it's an area where there are a lot of people who think of their local area as their own. It's hard to imagine the same thing happening in Tokyo.

Nakanishi: That may be true. I think that if you grow to love your local area, you will naturally feel the need to give back to it. I think that the role of Dot Doto is to foster that feeling and increase the momentum to make it a better area.

Through the activities of Dot Doto, we have seen many cases where the support of others has led to self-actualization. If not only we, but all the local people, could get involved in this as if it were their own problem, more people would be able to support them. I think that would be a hope for areas where the population continues to decline.

"DOTO-NET" release event

Nozawa: For us, "DOTO-NET" is something we've been doing for a long time. Everything that Dot Doto has done is "DOTO-NET". We want to do this together with local people, companies, and local governments, not just ourselves.

I think I was the first person to benefit from Dot Doto's efforts. They pulled me up from a place where I knew nothing. Because of that experience, I want to make it a place where people who want to do something like I did can get involved. If there are young people who have no experience but want to work in creative fields in the future, I'll go with them to the interview site, and if there are people who want to open a shop, I'll introduce them to people who already run shops. That way, if there are people who are even a little bit interested, I want to keep pulling them up.

-Have any projects already taken shape through DOTO-NET?

Nozawa: We have a communication tool that all participants can see, and young people write about what they want to do. There aren't many of them yet, but we want to make as many of the things that are written there a reality as possible.

Recently, someone said, "I want to communicate with the people at DOTO-NET through an asparagus harvesting experience," so we connected them with farmers, recruited participants, and went to harvest asparagus together. After actually trying it, the organizer said, "I realized that what I said could come true," and I was really happy about that.

--It must have been a great success to have been able to achieve what you wanted to do.

Asparagus picking experience made possible through "DOTO-NET"

A dinner party featuring Tokachi ingredients made possible through "DOTO-NET"

Nakanishi: We are opening up features such as news releases to local governments that join and support DOTO-NET. As local governments are also concerned about the issue of population outflow, if we can develop DOTO-NET as an interface to deliver information to young people who are interested in Eastern Hokkaido, I think it will become an irreplaceable service.

There are few universities in Eastern Hokkaido, so many people leave the region after graduating from high school, and that is a large volume zone of population outflow. However, if we can create a situation where everyone can join "DOTO-NET" before leaving Eastern Hokkaido, it will become a contact point when they want to get involved with the local area, and conversely, I think it is important for the local side to be able to access people from the local area. Until now, relationships tended to be severed when people left their hometowns.

--The phrase "becoming a hub" is often used when talking about local initiatives, but Dot Doto is actually breaking it down into detailed administrative tasks and putting it into practice.

Nakanishi: I think that in the end, this kind of initiative has a structure where the only people who can continue to do it are the hubs. However, if only we do it, we won't reach the ideal form we envision. But if more people with the same feelings take action with a sense of ownership in the community, I think the community will steadily change.

Nozawa: When you become a hub, you tend to end up with people who are connected to you. But I think you really need to be aware that the people you're connected to will go through various experiences and graduate. If you do that and people who are working with the same ideas spread beyond your reach, you'll be able to reach your ideals faster.

From a business perspective, letting go of these precious connections may be a negative thing, but we must persevere and create a trend where people and activities that care about eastern Hokkaido can become autonomous and decentralized.

--They create their own fields, and the seedlings that grow there are scattered all over the place, so the number of trees in the satoyama increases.

Nakanishi: There it is, the Satoyama theory (laughs).

Nozawa: The kids who interned at Dot Doto when they were university students have voluntarily started a group in Tokyo called the "Tokyo Doto Club." Young people from Doto who we don't even know about gather together. Recently, it seems that a Doto Club has been established in the Kansai region, and more and more places are being created where people can invite others and feel affection for Doto.

--That's amazing. Truly autonomous and decentralized.

Nakanishi: It's amazing. If there wasn't a broad category like Eastern Hokkaido, the people who gather there would be from different regions, right? I think the distance between them would be something like "We're both from Hokkaido." But if you look at it from the perspective of Eastern Hokkaido, whether you're from Kitami or Kushiro, you can think of them as people from the same region. There are many layers to which we belong. We are global citizens, Japanese, and Eastern Hokkaido residents. The smaller the unit, such as Eastern Hokkaido, Kitami, or the same high school, the stronger the sense of ownership becomes. I think this is reflected in our actions, such as "I want to buy ingredients from Eastern Hokkaido while I'm here" or "Since this is a job in Kitami, I want to ask someone from Kitami to help me."

--In that case, eastern Hokkaido is probably a unit that is neither too big nor too small when it comes to feeling a sense of ownership.

Nakanishi: I'm a little biased, but I think one of our achievements is that more people are now using the term "Doto" as their own. Until now, it was just a division of the region, and people couldn't really empathize with it. I think Dot Doto's activities have helped give the region of Doto a sense of identity.