Adventures with Mr. Mukusuke Kawakami, Teshikaga Town Community Development Cooperation Volunteer

Local Friends" started as a TV program planned and produced by local people. Then an unexpected friend joined the program. He is a 24-year-old who quit his job as an announcer and jumped into the community. He performs a miracle on Christmas Eve night.

Hello, I am Ryo Osumi, NHK director.
Have you ever had a mixed bathing experience with swans?　In the town of Teshikaga in eastern Hokkaido, there is Lake Kussharo, the largest caldera lake in Japan. Hot water gushes out from the lakeside, and you can bathe within a meter of swans resting their wings on the lake.

I would like to introduce a young friend of mine who taught me how to "be prepared to live in the community" while taking a mixed bath with the swans.
This is a behind-the-scenes look at "Local Friends" broadcast on NHK Hokkaido.
"Nice to meet you!"
He appears on the stage dressed in a suit and tie.
You've made up your mind," I said, pointing to his tie.
This red tie is the tie I wore the first time I read a manuscript in the news. I thought I would start a second time with the same feeling.

Mukusuke Kawakami is 24 years old.
Until two weeks ago, he was a news announcer for UHB Hokkaido Bunka Broadcasting (Fuji affiliate), reading manuscripts at the news site. He was about to start a "different life" from that day on.

It was 9:00 a.m. on October 1, 2020.
He was headed for the Teshikaga Town Hall.

I will be working for two and a half years as a member of the Regional Development Cooperation Volunteers, and will be responsible for the promotion of the town. I look forward to working with you.

Everyone at the town office looked at him as if they were watching a strange creature, even from the next department.

You'll get bored soon."
I heard such voices.
No wonder.
As far as I could tell from my search of past newspaper articles, there were no examples of current announcers changing jobs to become a member of the Japan Community Development Cooperation Volunteers.

I was there when he started his "second life," and it was thanks to Local Friends that I was able to do so.
Local Friends is a program that introduces the community by local people.
The pilot version, the late-night "Doto" version, was broadcast in March 2020, followed by the "Online" version, in which all episodes were shot remotely as a Corona measure, and then the "Hakodate" version was broadcast in July.

Around this time, I began to feel the mysterious power of the word "Friends.
In a word, it means "a continuing relationship.

When one person says they are "friends" with another person, they are not limiting the period of time.
You may say, "Please be my manager until next month," or "I will be your director this year," but you do not say, "Please be my friend until July.
Friendships may come to an end, but they do not have to have an end in mind.
Even if it is a TV program project, it seems to work somehow.

We exchanged information with Local Friends, who produced the Doto and Hakodate editions, and with Mr. Sawanokozuya, who wrote the program proposal, and had them come to meetings with us, and we remained loosely connected even after the program aired.
It was a continuous relationship that I had never experienced in a regular program.

Now, I had the opportunity to appear in a program produced by a network broadcaster.
The town of Tsubetsu, located in the eastern part of Hokkaido, is known for its forestry and woodworking industry.
In this town, local residents are distributing a "variety program" on YouTube and other media.
The name of the program is "Machizukuri Ouen Variety Tsuburainaigatari Hanashi" ("Town Development Support Variety - Tsubetsu Nanai Hanashi").
Yes, it is an online content where three local people who run a farm, a woodworking company, and a restaurant invite guests from inside and outside the town for a light-hearted talk.
It had become a "long-lived program" reaching 50 deliveries in the fall of 2020. And the special guest for the 50th anniversary was Kazuya Sano.

Just the same month, a compilation of Local Friends was scheduled to be broadcast. We were looking for media outlets to promote the program, and one of the compilation's locations was in East Hokkaido.

This was a perfect opportunity for me to be a part of the publicity campaign for the "50th Tsubaranai Hanashi Commemoration.

"Yes, hello~, Tsubenai Hanashi, the 50th Tsubenai Hanashi has begun!
This program is supported by a grant from the town of Tsubetsu, a town development and human resources development grant. Thank you, Tsubetsu Town!
And so began the delivery of content high in both tension and ambition.

My turn.
Why did the director of NHK come all the way to Tsubetsu-cho?
"Because Mr. Kazuya Sasa invited me.
(Laughs.)" I was very confused, but I promoted the program.
(By the way, this broadcast has been viewed more than 3,000 times in two months. Amazing!)

The delivery was amazing, but what followed was an even more amazing experience.

In addition to Mr. Sakanozuya, Mr. Takuro Nakanishi of Local Friends of East Hokkaido Chapter was also at the show, and we were introduced to one local player after another.

A beer brewer rooted in the community and a financier.
A young photographer who came to Doto from Osaka.
I was introduced to more than a dozen people from the community that night.

It was then that I heard a rumor.
I heard that an announcer from a TV station was quitting her job and coming to Teshikaga Town.
What?
I heard that she is going to start working as a member of the Regional Development Cooperation Volunteers on the first of next month.
What a surprise.
This is a move that will create a stir in the media and the local community.

When I returned to Sapporo, I wrote a proposal for a news report.
Then, on September 19, 2020, Mr. Mukusuke Kawakami announced his own career change on his blog. With the plan already approved, I made a phone call to him.
What kind of work do you do in the Japan Regional Development Cooperation Volunteers?"
City promotion. We promote the community through videos and other media.
How long is your term of service?
"If I keep renewing my contract, it will be for a little less than two and a half years, until March 2023.
What will you do after that?
"......"
......"
I see. I see a lot of possibilities."

It seemed as if Mr. Kawakami did not intend to stay in Teshikaga Town forever.
Rather, to my surprise, he said he has only been to Teshikaga Town once so far.
I wondered how he made the decision to quit his job as an announcer.

He is 24 years old and from Miyagi Prefecture.
She became the announcer of her dreams, but resigned after two and a half years.
Why on earth?
With these questions in my mind, I headed for Teshikaga Town.

If Tsubetsu Town is a town of forests, Teshikaga Town is a town of lakes.
Lake Kussharo and Lake Mashu offer dynamic scenery.

I accompanied Mr. Kawakami, who has become a member of the Regional Development Cooperation Volunteers, in his activities.

Why did you start your store?"
Mr. Kawakami is filming the interview with his own camera. He has been entrusted with managing the official YouTube channel of the town of Teshikaga, and he is trying to make a video for it.

However, he frequently mumbles, "It is difficult to listen while the camera is rolling.
He had never been in charge of filming when he was an announcer.

Then, a visitor arrived.

The townspeople said, "Hey, is Mr. Kawakami from the town hall?"
Kawakami: "I am a member of the Regional Development Cooperation Volunteers. I worked in Sapporo and was an announcer at UHB for a long time. I used to read the news, but I thought I would read the news about Teshikaga next time."
Townspeople "No, because he's a nice guy. What a waste.

What a waste.
The "You'll get tired of him soon" at the town hall and the "What a waste" at the bakery.
Mr. Kawakami, who jumped into the community from the mass media, seemed a little uncomfortable from my point of view.

What's more.
"Oh, so you started from scratch to edit?
Yes.
He had no experience not only in filming but also in editing, and he was learning from the ground up.
It sounds like quite a challenge.
When I visited Teshikaga again the following month, I found Mr. Kawakami at a yakiniku restaurant with members of the Youth Club of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It seems that he has blended in well with the local community.

While grilling meat, he sometimes took out a small camera to take pictures.
He said, "Heh, when did you decide to do fireworks?" Sizzling.
What kind of people do you want to reach? "Ju."
He is very dexterous.

Mr. Kawakami was aware of a movement to organize a fireworks display in town and painstakingly covered the event.

The town of Teshikaga had hardly been able to hold any events due to the Corona disaster.
It had been a long time since the town had held a fireworks display, and it was long awaited by the people of Teshikaga.

In fact, supporting a community that is trying to recover from the Corona disaster is what Mr. Kawakami wanted to do most. That is why he quit his job at the TV station.

During this period, Mr. Kawakami told us, "I was worried about what I would have to do to make a living tomorrow.

As a TV reporter, I didn't feel any different from usual," he said. We just picked up what was happening in front of us and told them that we were in such a critical situation right now. If you ask me if that is the end of the story, I feel more and more strongly that it is not.

Rather than reporting on local activities from a bird's eye view, I wanted to accompany them.
It was with this determination that Mr. Kawakami changed jobs and relocated.

"Right now, fireworks are going off in Teshikaga Town!

December 24, 2020, Christmas Eve night.
Mr. Kawakami broadcast the town's fireworks display live on YouTube. During the broadcast, a VTR that he had been covering for the past two months was also shown. He planned, interviewed, filmed, edited, and narrated the VTR by himself.

On YouTube, 300 viewers simultaneously watched the fireworks that Kawakami-san delivered. Passionate messages came in one after another from townspeople who were unable to go out for work and from locals in faraway places.

Miracle on Christmas Eve night.
He has created a local media outlet in just less than 3 months in town.

How can just one media person dive into a community and make it this far?
As I watched him, I could not hold back my tears.

He said, "Wow, this is amazing. I am sure this will probably be the climax of the event. Let's meet again in 2021. Goodbye! Thank you all for your hard work. It was beautiful. Thank you for your hard work!

Mr. Kawakami, who had just finished the live broadcast, wiped away another tear and said, "Teshikaga is a wonderful town.

Teshikaga is a wonderful town.
"Naked director~!
Hi!"
and I took the camera to the lake where Kawakami-san and the swan were waiting.
Hot, hot!
Osumi-san, you have to be patient!
Hot!

Swans are singing.

Swans are heavy, so they have to run. They run in the lake.
"Wow, you know a lot about swans.
An old man who lives there is good friends with the swans and told me about them. He feeds them and plays music for them. By the way, it is officially recognized by the town.
But still, the view is amazing.
What makes life so rich?
What?

<Can the media quit being on the sidelines and become a companion to the community? > >
Mr. Kawakami posed a big question to us, the NHK Hokkaido production team.

After that, we ,
▼The "Local Friends Residency," in which a director stays for a month and relays a weekly report on local treasures, and
Friends News," in which Local Friends will continuously report on the local community.
and "Friends News," in which Local Friends will continue to report on the local community.

And Mr. Mukusuke Kawakami applied for Local Friends with a full heart.
With the addition of enthusiastic friends, the project has moved on to the next stage.
The adventure continues in the next issue.
Photo by Kantaro Yoshida and Kazuma Saki Illustration by Nao Sakamoto

＜Click here to see past articles in this series.
Adventures in Local and Media
(1) Using Television to Build Local Communities: Introduction
( 2) One proposal that challenged NHK's resolve
( 3) "I want to make my small voice heard": A 37-year-old office worker's application