5th Island Meeting Held on Aogashima
Considering action ideas that use drones to make use of sceneries unique to Aogashima
In the Tokyo Treasure Islands project, residents of the island hold meetings and take initiative to discuss and polish what the island has to offer in an effort to brand the islands. This report covers the fifth Aogashima island meeting held on January 17.
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Thinking of the island's safety first
The fifth island meeting began by reflecting on the fourth Tokyo Treasure Islands meeting and the fourth island meeting's study tour. Aogashima has been considering a drone-only photoshoot session as its primary action idea over the past meetings.
In the final island meeting of the year, the participants will discuss the detailed contents of the idea.
Aogashima has seen a rise in the number of tourists bringing in drones, and an increase in the number of drone crashes. Before the discussion began, the participants agreed that the action idea would not be to call in visitors who blindly fly drones, but to invite well-mannered people who follow the rules and can fly drones skillfully.
To ensure that, it would be ideal to hold limited photoshoot sessions with restrictions. The participants then discussed the conditions for such events. First, the visitors will have to participate in a safety lecture as well as events in Tokyo that deepen the understanding of the island. They will then have to meet participation requirements such as submitting a drone flight plan. Next, the participants said that they would need to set no fly zones for drones and create maps, etc. The ideas were coming together.
Cherishing the island's interactions with people
Furthermore, opinions on how to spend time when visiting were shared. Ideas such as having islanders lead the shooting session to introduce not only scenic spots, but also the island's culture, history, and lifestyle, as well as holding a viewing event of completed works in the island to create opportunities for islanders to interact with visitors were raised, reinforcing the notion that what's important is the connection that is created in the process of the shooting session, and not the final product, and how this is what makes fans stay connected after their visit.
Furthermore, it is expected that this will be a good opportunity to learn creative things. Some said that they would like to make their children participate in the shooting session.
There's more after the visitors leave the island.
A framework was considered that would allow fans of Aogashima to gather in the capital to ensure continued connections even if actually visiting is difficult. There was also an idea of planning an Aogashima drone shooting session and creating a space where the person who shot the footage can share it with people they would like to take to the island so they can look at each other's footage.
The meeting ended with the resolution of further discussion ahead of substantiating the action plan within the fiscal year.
Yuki Sasaki, who participated in the meeting for the first time said, "It was a new challenge for me, so I thought it was fun. The meetings are a good opportunity to understand the thoughts of islanders you normally don't know. I think it's important that it doesn't end here and continues to expand." Satoshi Arai, who participated in all five sessions talked about his thoughts for next year: "There were no places in Aogashima to talk, so being able to talk thoroughly with the participants through all of the sessions was the greatest achievement. Though realizing it will actually be harder, I think it's important to continue creating opportunities for meetings next year so that I can align my understanding with those of the participants."