Think the Earth

It has been 10 years since Iinan-cho in Shimane Prefecture established the "Shimane Prefecture Mountainous Region Research Center". Its research results are now well known to the entire nation because it went onsite and listened to the voices of its people, and diligently continued its activities in the face of shrinking population in settlements in the mountainous districts.

Although people may tend to become pessimistic when it comes to depopulation issues, this approach attempts to give it a positive spin, by reenergizing the region through reexamination of regional resources such as the abundant biomass and directly managed local stores for selling agricultural produce.

The center has been summarizing information covering a wide range of genres such as citizens' regional activities, forest information, wildlife measures, water environment, and traffic, onto a map since 2002; the information is also available on the website. Everyone can share the information and if you register, you can even post messages on the map. If you look at the map, you'll realize that resources in the region will become vibrant and energized more so if these become connected to one another, and this is also true for regions as well. In the 2 settlements that are on the verge of becoming non existent, exchange with metropolises have been actively promoted since the last fiscal year, so that the settlements may be reenergized. Here, the "people" play an important role. Some people from NPOs, etc., have gone to the region to attempt to act as a bridge between the settlements and the outside world, to perform a "cohesive function." And to promote human resource development, a collaborative structure will be set up between the University of Shimane and partner graduate schools.

This center is the only one of its kind in the whole nation that researches and attempts to manage depopulation. I hope that the deep-rooted activities undertaken by this unique municipality will continue to help to revitalize the rural areas in Japan.