IDEAS FOR GOODMima City, located in Tokushima Prefecture, is known for Udatsu Townscape, which is a symbol of the city’s old days. The main characteristic of the buildings is the presence of “Udatsu,” extensions of the roof that served as protection from the spread of fires. Udatsu were also symbols of fortune and wealth made in Edo-period when this town prospered for its production of Indigo dye.
More than 300 years after the most prosperous era, Mima is gaining attention again for its innovative projects to shape a local model of “Sharing Economy”.
Sharing economy is a new economic activity that people share their unused assets such as spaces, things and skills with others who need them. Mima takes a page out from Sweden’s book, which listed the whole country on Airbnb in 2017. Similarly, Mima is turning unused assets and existing resources throughout the community into places to work, play or stay.
The key person initiating this movement in Mima is Yoshiho Shibata, who runs the Nodokeya guesthouse on Udatsu Street. IDEAS FOR GOOD team talked with Shibata about the changes taking place in Mima City, Tokushima Prefecture.
Intervewee Profile: Yoshiho Shibata
Born in Osaka Prefecture. President and representative director of Udatsu up inc. Representative director of the Hammosurfing Association. Representative of Zero-ichi Sha Co. Ltd. Relocated to Tokushima in 2014 and opened Nodokeya guesthouse. Manages the Landcamp platform that allows people worldwide to list and share private campsites, the Hammosurfing service that offers usage of idle facilities for a fixed price, and the ‘NABEQ’ BBQ and ‘nabe’ stew experience.
The musician who gave Mima a place for people to gather
Shibata started out as a musician. While running a live music space and building subleasing operations in Osaka, as a musician he performed in more than 25 overseas countries. After about 20 years as a musician, he met his wife – a manga artist from Tokushima Prefecture – and found his way to Mima.
Creating a space where a community can gather
When Shibata arrived in the town, there were no guesthouses. There wasn’t even a local bar. There was no place for people to get together. With this in mind, Shibata drew on his experience of running a live music joint and began creating a place where people of all ages and nationalities could congregate. He renovated an old home with an area of almost 200 square meters. In 2014, Nodokeya opened.
He registered Nodokeya on Airbnb, where at the time there were only about 4,000 lodging listings for the whole of Japan. It subsequently drew many foreign tourists to the town. They were attracted not only by the historic beauty of Mima, but also by the nature of their hosts – a musician and a manga artist. These days, Nodokeya is a community house where a diverse group of people congregate, from remote working engineers to artists, creators and street performers.
“Local regions are where necessity and possibility of a sharing economy lies,” says Shibata.
Aware that in regional areas throughout Japan, not just in Tokushima, many empty houses and spaces are being left idle, Shibata next focused on how to create maximum utilization of such assets.
Turning unused spaces into communal leisure spots
The Hammosurfing Association, where Shibata works as the representative director, is a platform that allows vacant homes scattered throughout the region to be rented at a fixed price as a shared holiday home. There is also a monthly membership option, which allows anyone to stay at, or conduct business at, 13 available sites (currently). In addition, there are a total of 21 homes located mainly in Shikoku.
Some Japanese companies have started subscription-based lodging services in recent years. But the Hammosurfing Association were ahead of the game with a head start of more than three years. Furthermore, its goal is not just to provide cheap rental services, but also to have members work together to help solve local issues.
“If it doesn’t exist, let’s make it.” “If there aren’t enough people, let’s invite some.” are just some of the mottos that drive the association to make whatever the region lacks, like a bar or a guesthouse. As such, the local economy is boosted by creating a structure that allows members to “surf” between the various sites in the area.
Shibata is even creating value where locals didn’t realize existed. His Landcamp service matches campers with available outdoor spaces. These spots include large residential gardens and fields, beach sides, islands and the rooftops of buildings.
Areas transformed for play and work
Both Landcamp and Hammosurfing are based on the idea of turning the local community into places to play and work. Members, the local community, companies and local governments are cooperating to transform empty spaces into places to enjoy. Let’s look at some examples!
Satellite office trial space, “So”
This spot is located near the purest river in Japan, Anabukigawa River. It was established through coordination between the community and local administration.
This trial space allows member companies headquartered in the cities to experience life in Mima. It prods the companies to consider setting up satellite offices in the countryside to access Mima’s rich nature, culture and community interaction. The site is already hosting tech companies from the city and multiple other firms.
ADLIV, a renovated co-working space with lodges in an old printing factory.
This used to be the office of a local printing company Nakagawa Advertising. Post-renovation, its first floor now includes a lounge, a kitchen and an Airbnb-registered dormitory. A share office and co-working space is also located on the second floor. You can see traces of the building’s original function as a printing plant in its new form.
Coffee and a virtual casino at community house U.N.S.
Udatsu Networkers Studio (U.N.S) is where the Hammosurfing Association calls home. It is a renovated old house that includes a café, Wataru Coffee. Those who have relocated to the town often gather with locals to enjoy the handmade desserts and Vietnamese coffee.
Currently, a second Networkers Studio is setting up in the renovated warehouse of a vacant home. The plan is to create a “playroom for adults” that includes a space for meetings and for lodgings – somewhere members can work together and relax together.
A camping van and a riverside are shared assets
Landcamp plans to rent out camping vans to long-term visitors to Mima based on the idea that placing one on available land creates a mobile lodging. The van’s outer appearance will be used as a mobile advertisement for the Landcamp service.
Shibata is even turning the riverside into a workspace. Put a table in the river and open your laptop and you can hold meetings as you soak your feet in the water.
As such, unique spots where people can get together are created one after another throughout Mima. The whole area is becoming a distributed sharing economy by making the most of idle assets and encouraging visitors to Mima.
Shibata says it is important for different people to interact, which includes local residents, new residents, remote workers of companies from other regions and freelancers in the spaces he is creating. He believes that new business ideas are born from discussions and interactions between them.
Making a real community in a digital world
Value is created through Shibata’s Hammosurfing and Landcamp service by skillfully managing the assets that the region already owned. His next project, he says, is a new digital platform that connects the real and virtual worlds.
The platform, due for release in March 2019, is a closed-community application using an invitation-only system. It is a space in which to share beneficial information such as business knowledge and events, while emphasizing on connecting users in an atmosphere of trust. It aims to create real life collaboration among users. In addition, it will include travel and event reservations and shopping functions.
Shibata also aims to construct an original token economy through the digital platform and using the virtual currency XPL. The use of a virtual currency enables various virtual contents, such as an XPL casino, to be enjoyed on the platform. It can also be exchanged for things with real value, such as products, services and skills. But since XPL itself cannot be converted into legal currency, it then can’t become a target for investment.
Platform users send out information and by tagging those messages with “like” or “share,” they can give and receive XPL. Through these expressions of thanks, money flows toward trusted people, and a platform to solve various social problems is thus created.
[Reference site] Hammosurfing Connect[Reference site] Landcamp
This article was originally published on IDEAS FOR GOOD.
Translated by Kirsty Kawano.
