2017 Volume 69 Issue 1 Pages 34-49
This research paper describes the details of a community development project integrating regional resources in Daisen City, Akita. The purpose of this research is to clarify the impact of the Kakumagawa Area Reactivation Council on future projects with reference to the questionnaire survey of the international students who participated in the monitor tour.
Increasingly greater numbers of foreigners and international students are visiting Japan for sightseeing and study abroad. Nonetheless, very few foreigners visit Akita Prefecture, and there are few opportunities to hear opinions of foreigners on regional resources of depopulated areas. Therefore, it will become increasingly important for each region to refer to the opinions of international students in Tohoku to develop their towns in future.
Established in 2015, the Kakumagawa Area Reactivation Council was organized as a collaborative body comprised of local residents, members of the Daisen City Hall and the Omagari Chamber of Commerce. This organization invited international students studying at Akita International University and Tohoku Gakuin University to take part in monitor tours from October, 2015 through February, 2016 for the purpose of soliciting their opinions. During this period the organization conducted seven monitor tours.The students toured a fireworks factory, visited traditional Japanese-style houses, experienced tea ceremony, learned how to make rice balls from local housewives during the day and observed a fireworks display at night.
Upon completion of each tour, the organization had participants complete a questionnaire to evaluate their experiences. Results revealed that the fireworks display and the tea ceremony was the most highly evaluated activity of each tour.Conversely, evaluation was divided concerning the visit to traditional Japanese-style houses, fireworks and sushi-making, while the Kakumagawa Bon festival dance experience was the least appreciated. It may have been difficult for international students to understand the history of Akita at the time of their visit to traditional Japanese-style houses, sometimes even with interpretation by translators. Some international visitors also find it hard to palate vinegared food. Furthermore, non-Japanese can find the Bon dance to be difficult to learn, and their teachers were obviously ill-prepared to instruct them.
Hosts have to make sufficient preparations for receiving tour visitors. The Kakumagawa Area Reactivation Council plans to promote future community improvement using the results of these questionnaires. By students who normally live in Tohoku to participate in the monitoring tour, their opinions became a great help in the future of the regional formation. The result of the tour was popular, which was a reference for future business development, and the motivation of the members of the Kakumagawa Area Reactivation Council has greatly improved. It leads to the region activated by the university and the local community is going to cooperate.
