To pass on Dot Doto to the next generation

"Little Doto" is an interactive event held in Tokyo, Osaka, and other locations.

--Finally, I'd like to hear about your vision for the future.

Nozawa: Although I have a big vision of "making Eastern Hokkaido a place where dreams can be realized," I also feel that if I don't do the things in front of me, I'll be caught off guard. If everything goes well, I'm sure I'll have more colleagues by then, so I'd like to create an environment where people want to work with me. I want more and more people to get involved.

Personally, I moved from Obihiro to Memuro. As I met people in Eastern Hokkaido who had put down roots in their communities and built their lives, I realized that I couldn't live that kind of life in a big city like Obihiro. Dot Eastern Hokkaido receives consultations from people who have developed relationships with the community, faced various issues, and created budgets. I don't want to just skim the surface without experiencing those hardships. To do that, I needed a similar experience. So I want to move to a small town, face the local people, and create a budget for something new.

Nakanishi: My goal has always been to change the situation where some people think that they can't realize their dreams in Eastern Hokkaido because it's a rural area or there aren't many people there. I call the connections between people and the regional brand that Dot Eastern Hokkaido has created "Eastern Hokkaido Capital." These intangible assets have accumulated, and Eastern Hokkaido, which was previously just a division, has become a subject that the local people can use. It feels like we've all enriched the Satoyama together.

I hope that these resources will help individuals to realize their dreams and give birth to new businesses. By increasing the number of people involved, more people will be able to benefit, so I would like to make Dot Doto more open and get closer to my vision of "making Doto Doto a place where people can realize their dreams."

The Little Doto scene

Nakanishi: Recently, I've been working on business succession for small and medium-sized enterprises and family members, and when I do that, I think, "Life is short." I'm 36 now, and in one more round I'll be 72. I've gained more experience and knowledge, but my active years are over, and there are probably more things I can't do. When I think about it like that, I feel like I don't have much time left.

So I've come to feel the importance of passing on what we do to the next generation. To do that, we need to make it an activity that people want to continue. It's not over when we can no longer move, it's important that it continues after that, so I want to create a cycle for that.

- Are you thinking of passing Dot Doto on to someone else?

Nakanishi: I am very conscious of that. As we go through different stages of life, there are things we can be involved in and things we can't be involved in. Generation gaps arise. In order to move towards the vision of "making Eastern Hokkaido a place where people can realize their dreams," I think it would work better if young people were to take charge of the business. Without that kind of metabolism, we would not be able to make the right choices or take the right measures.

To function as an office, we need a fresh perspective, so I would like to pass on Dot Doto to someone else. In order to make the younger generation want to take over, we need to improve the content of the work and the income, and for me, a big theme is to keep doing our best and make it an open place.

-- Mr. Nakanishi, you seem to be the kind of person who makes the issues you face increasingly personal, like population decline or business succession.

Nakanishi: When it comes to local issues, everyone is actually a stakeholder, but I think people seem to be indifferent to that. If everyone got involved even just a little, things would move forward in a big way. For example, if everyone in eastern Hokkaido gave 100 yen each, we could raise nearly 100 million yen. If we collected that every month, it would amount to 1.2 billion yen in a year. Since only nine people are doing this now, if everyone paid 100 yen every month, the project would have nearly 20 times the impact, which I think would absolutely change the region.

Nozawa: If we had that, we could do so many different things.

Nakanishi: Even if we don't get that far, our challenge is to use "DOTO-NET" to get as close to the target number as possible, whether that be double or ten times.

There are things that are definitely worth doing, but nobody does because they are too much trouble. We are aware that we are doing things that people wish someone would do. Rather than those who take action being at a disadvantage, we want everyone to be involved in things that should be done. That is the kind of future we want to create for Eastern Hokkaido.