【Summary Report 2019 | Mikurashima】

Many treasures including the vast natural landscape, specialty products, and unique traditions and cultures can be found on the 11 islands of Tokyo. The Tokyo Treasure Islands Project, which began in FY 2018, is an initiative carried out by the inhabitants of the islands that aims to brand the Tokyo Islands region through polishing and widely communicating these treasures.

Following the four islands of Oshima, Kouzushima, Miyakejima, and Hachijojima, which participated in FY 2018, residents from seven islands consisting of Toshima, Niijima, Shikinejima, Mikurashima, Aogashima, Chichijima, and Hahajima participated in FY 2019 and held island meetings to discuss the branding of the islands. The following is a reflection of the initiatives that Mikurashima took in FY 2019.

Contents

Mikurashima's Treasures and Brand Value
Mikurashima's Target Persona
Mikurashima's Brand Concept and Initiative Ideas
Presentation at the Tokyo Treasure Islands Branding Debriefing Session
FY 2019 Mikurashima Initiatives
Participant Feedback

Mikurashima's Treasures and Brand Value

Mikurashima's island meetings began with extracting the island's treasures. Mikurashima is known for having wild dolphins, but it is also home to forest resources like the Japanese box and mulberries, has an abundance of flowing water. With a population of just 300, interpersonal relationships such as the safety, peace of mind, and feeling of everyone being close like family were also listed as treasures in addition to the above.

The importance of creating opportunities to connect with the island was shared. These include making experiences and content that will deepen people's relationships with Mikurashima and events and island festivities that allow people to get acquainted with residents. The brand value of Mikurashima lies in the special experiences that it offers.

Mikurashima's Target Persona

In terms of the people the residents want to call to their island, detailed descriptions such as young people who are flexible both financially and in terms of time, highly sensitive people in their 20's, those between the ages of 30 and 40 who are looking to brush up on their skills, and those who want to live on the island were raised during the discussion.Mikurashima's target persona was set as people who can build the future of the island together.

To find hints on using existing resources in the island to call in the target persona, the participants visited Hamagurihama Project in Miyagi Prefecture's Ishinomaki City, which aims to restores the shores that were damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Fujidana Department, a regional community space, shared kitchen, specialty store, and library in Yokohama, And Saturday, a trial shop and kitchen located in Zushi City that can be rented on a daily basis, and Shibuya University Network, which provides space for anybody to learn. They conducted hearings to find hints on running organizations, from designing concepts used to run regional communities, to detailed financing

Mikurashima's Brand Concept and Initiative Ideas

After the discussions, the brand concept of Mikurashima was set as "an island where everything becomes special and treasures you." Initiative ideas include creating experience-oriented contents that allow individuals to feel special through joining the island lifestyle and experiencing the history, culture and food. Instead of creating something new, the residents are aiming to use existing resources to create sustainable contents so that the visitors can feel a fascination unique to the island. The use of a former settlement called Nango-sanso, which is currently vacant, and the creation of workshops, food and drink events, trial shops, and camping events by the residents to create a space where both the islanders and the visitors can gather is being considered. Ultimately, the goal is to create a business.

Presentation at the Tokyo Treasure Islands Branding Debriefing Session

A debriefing session was held on February 18, 2020 at the Marunouchi vacans. During the session, those that participated in the island meetings presented their brand concept and initiatives for ideas to business operators on the mainland.

After the presentation, opinions were exchanged mostly with companies that sell outdoor gear and camping magazine publishers that were interested in how Nango-sanso could be used, which became an opportunity to realize the initiative ideas later.

FY 2019 Mikurashima Initiatives

June 13, 2019 First Island Meeting | Consideration of the island's treasures
July 8, 2019 Third Tokyo Treasure Islands Meeting (Comprehensive Meeting) | Study tour and talk session on regional brand
July 8, 2019 Second Island Meeting ① | Sharing the initiative idea images
July 9, 2019 Second Island Meeting ② | Consideration of the target persona
October 3, 2019 Third Island Meeting | Consideration of initiative ideas
November 25, 2019 Fourth Tokyo Treasure Islands Meeting (Comprehensive Meeting) | Interim reporting on brand concept and initiative ideas
November 26, 2019 Fourth Island Meeting | Study tour
December 19, 2019 Fifth Island Meeting | Brush-up of initiative ideas
February 18, 2020 Business Matching Event | Presentation

The Tokyo Treasure Islands Project is continuing to polish the treasures of Mikurashima created by its abundant resources and individualistic people so that more people can know about its charms.

Participant Feedback

Thinking about our island with other residents who hold different jobs and going to the capital to participate in study tours to learn were great opportunities. We were able to find many treasures that have yet to be utilized, and at the same time, we noticed many challenges. In FY 2019, we were all able to cooperate and come up with ideas. But FY 2020 is a year for action. The challenge is whether we are able to execute the plan while we handle our ordinary jobs. We hope to secure the cooperation of tourist association and the village office so we can all think about the island's future. (Taketoshi Yamada, Regional Coordinator, Fukumaru Store)