Hello everyone. I am Tomohiro Nakamichi from Shibecha Town. This is the fourth installment of "Shibecha Biyori," in which I will tell you about the charms of Shibecha Town from my point of view. This is the fourth issue of "Shibecha Biyori," in which I share with you the charms of Shibecha Town from my point of view.

It is now December and the year 2021 is about to end in the blink of an eye. Looking back, 2021 was a year of change for me. The world was hit by an unprecedented virus called "Corona," and with all conventional wisdom being overturned, I feel as if we were being questioned once again about our way of life.

It was under such circumstances that I chose to move from Chiba Prefecture to Hokkaido and live with my dogs in the midst of nature.
I am now working as a member of the Shibecha-machi Regional Development Cooperation Volunteers.

Currently, as a member of Shibecha Town's Regional Development Cooperation Team, I am focusing on disseminating information about the town via Youtube. We have been working on it for six months now, and we have found many issues and problems.

(NHK's interview. We promote Shibecha not only through our own media but also through various other media)

1. Looking at the activities of local governments, it seems that they are all struggling with the lack of "information dissemination ability. It seems that all the local governments are struggling with this problem from beginning to end. There are many wonderful activities and events, so we want more people to know about them, and we want more people to know about our town. We hear many voices like that.

So each municipality has started to disseminate information using SNS and Youtube. Some of them may be successful. However, in today's age of 100 million creators, information continues to flow like a flood every day, and both viewers and transmitters are struggling in the sea of information.

We also started to transmit information on Youtube, but we struggled at first.
That's when I started to rethink the meaning of information dissemination from the very beginning.

(Event held in early winter. I actively go to cover the few events with Corona Disaster)

[/caption To begin with, what is regional development? There is no formula, no clear definition, and what constitutes regional development is vague. One of the most common cases we see in local governments is that they get excited by themselves or a small group of people and leave the target group and the townspeople behind.

I felt that we should be very careful about this. What is the best way to revitalize the community that I felt as a cooperative member during the six months I was there?

It is "to make each and every one of the townspeople feel that they love their town.
I think this is the best way to achieve this.

No matter how much information the cooperative sends out, no matter how many wonderful spots and specialties there are in the town, if the townspeople deny the potential of their town, I believe that true community development will never happen.

So, how can we make the people of a town like their town?
I have thought about that next.

(On a -10 degree morning, I was very impressed by the foggy ice I saw for the first time in my life)

One of the things that surprised me when I first moved here was that even the residents of the town surprisingly did not know what was good about their own town. Not only about the town, but also about what the town office is doing and what they are trying to do.

What kind of people are working in their town and what kind of thoughts they have about their town. I think this is the reason why people do not know what kind of town they are living in. This is the reason why we are trying to make our town more visible through Youtube.

Therefore, we have decided to use Youtube to provide information to the residents of the town and to people outside the town.

For the residents, Youtube is an information board and a place to rediscover their hometown. For people outside of the town, it is a place where they can find out what kind of town Shibecha is. For people outside of the town, it is a place where they can learn what kind of town Shibecha is. We felt that it is necessary to make both of these wheels turn.

However, it is easy to say in words.
It is easy to say in words, "Let people know about the charms of our town. It may sound simple, but as mentioned above, many local governments are struggling to do this. There was a time when I was wondering how I could increase the number of subscribers to my Youtube channel.

But recently, I think I have come to understand what is important.

(The red-crowned crane is a common sight around town. Many people are used to seeing them, but for me, everything is extraordinary)

. It may be a natural thing to say about anything, but I think it is not essential if you are only chasing numbers, seeking external factors or results such as "as a cooperative member" or "to make the community more lively.

What is important is that you, as a resident of the town, fall in love with the region and express that love.
This is what is important.

Instead of turning the vector of your heart outward, turn it inward and genuinely enjoy yourself. I hope that this energy will gradually spread, and that eventually the residents will see the potential of their town.

For me, every day is new, surprising, and inspiring, whether it is the snowy landscape that is commonplace to the townspeople, the deer and red-crowned cranes crossing the road, or the majestic Mount Nishibetsu. I think Hokkaido is the only place in Japan where the scenery changes so dynamically, and especially in the East Hokkaido area, there is a lot of real nature left.

The people living there are warm and friendly, and even though it is normal for people to talk to each other and live together, it was one of the things that made me very happy as I came from the city.

I came to Shibecha by chance, but I really like this town.
It is not only because of the nature, but also because I love the people who live here.

I would like to nurture this feeling more and more in this land.

(My dogs were so happy to see snow for the first time. They enjoy the nature of Shibecha everyday)

. The year 2021 will be over in a flash, and the year 2022 will soon arrive. First of all, we would like to focus on our Youtube activities and aim to have 1,000 registered users by the summer. I think it is very rare for local governments to be seen on Youtube, so I am trying to shoot beautiful videos as a starting point. I hope that the beautiful images will encourage people to try to watch the videos.

I would like to continue to promote the charms of Shibecha Town, keeping in mind that the first thing I want to do is to enjoy myself. Please take a look at the Shibecha-Cho Regional Development Cooperation Team's YouTube page and see what you can see.

I am sure that you will see something about Shibecha that you have never seen before.

Shibecha-Cho Regional Development YouTube Channel