3rd Island Meeting Held on Mikurashima

A massive tree on Mikurashima that measures over 5m in circumference

The Tokyo Treasure Islands Project is a project which aims to refine the Tokyo's islands brands through "Shima-Kaigi" (Island Meetings) with residents. This report covers the third island meeting held on Mikurashima on October 3.

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Discussing Mikurashima's action ideas using three themes

In the third island meeting, the concept of providing a special experience that was discussed in the previous meeting, and the two personas of the existing visitors and the new targets consisting of those in their 20's to 40's who are sensitive and want to use their skills to get involved with the island were used to discuss detailed action ideas.

First, the facilitator asked the participants to come up with fields that can produce action ideas under three themes: mountains, villages and oceans, and a free theme. The participants were split into groups for each theme and proceeded to complete their ideas for the presentation.

What should be done to make use of what is in Mikurashima?

In the groupwork that lasted over an hour, the key phrase of "using what is in Mikurashima" popped up several times in each group. The discussions focused on using what already exists instead of forcibly developing new tourism resources to maximize the depth of communication with the visitors.

During the presentations that followed, the group presenting on mountains proposed to first create an area that the residents can enjoy as a place for interactions by using facilities in the village. If the residents have fun, that will transfer to the tourists, which may lead to business operators considering doing new business.

The group presenting on villages and oceans came up with a village guide walk that can be done easily in bad weather or when tourists have free time. They talked about the possibility of residents and visitors developing new relationships by making a variety of residents that aren't involved in tourism guide the visitors from their own perspectives through providing opportunities for each other to communicate and interact, such as flowing noodles and finding residents with specific features, instead of just limiting the activities to just touring historic sites.

The group presenting on free themes proposed using the hometown tax donation program's thank-you gifts. In addition, ideas that focused on long-term stays in the winter season such as mountain guides, dolphin watching, fishing, and arts were raised.

With new perspectives, the next step in realizing the action plans

In reflection, Hidemi Inoue, who has been participating since the first island meeting, said, "People who participated in the meeting for the first time actively participated and added new perspectives, making it meaningful." Mitsuko Nishikawa, a housewife, talked about her expectations and said, "During the study tour, I want to learn about how to make the skills of the island residents coexist with the visitors."

The participants will look forward to the study tour next time in order to find hints on realizing the ideas raised this session.