How Tsubame City, Niigata, deepens the appeal of its metal manufacturing fame to drive regional revitalization

Text / Hsieh Tzu-han (Visiting Research Fellow, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan)

Japan's regional revitalization strategy has 4 major goals. 1、Create jobs in the regions so people can work with peace of mind. 2. Attract new population to the regions. 3. Realize the marriage, childbirth and child-rearing aspirations of the younger generation. 4. Build secure regional living suited to the new era. However, in every region of Japan, one can hear "100 reasons for leaving the regions," and if these are not faced and resolved one by one, on a small scale and in a customized way, then for Japanese society, regional revitalization is nothing but an empty slogan, and a means for the central government to reach its hand into the regions.

To achieve regional revitalization, what methods should be used to break through each specific predicament? To whom should resources be given? Who can tell us what the regions will look like twenty years from now? Who should cooperate together, and how should subsidies be used to be effective? Although the answers to these questions are sometimes not so easily found, the idea that "securing subsidies is for the regions to earn more sustainable social capital and support and attract more people who want to pursue a one-of-a-kind life in the regions" is gradually coming true in Japan.

Tsubame City, Japan is famous for metal, telling its own industrial appeal

The creation of regional appeal actually comes about through repeated internal and external promotion. Tsubame City and Sanjo City in Niigata Prefecture, Japan are commonly known as "Tsubame-Sanjo," and form Japan's largest concentration of metal processing, gathering metal workshops with superb techniques such as grinding and cutting, and still maintaining the traditional characteristic of small factory scale; from cutlery, pots and lamps to precision metal parts, all are splendid products of Tsubame City, and quite a few are also exported to Taiwan, China.

Through the repeated process of telling others "who I am," "what I am," "what characteristics I have," "who others expect me to be," "whom I want to speak to," and "what my uniquely local DNA is," they are committed to presenting the appeal of the region's main industry before the eyes of the world, and with the Tokyo Olympics as a goal, expanding opportunities for people to step into the production areas; more importantly, this will also bring more opportunities to local people.

(4) Promote "factory production-area tourism" and "industrial tourism settlement self-reliance zone":

Build a multilingual tourism website, constantly emphasizing that it is famous for manufacturing, especially world-famous for metal Western tableware. In addition, the two cities cooperate to promote the concept of an industrial living zone, expanding the holding of the "Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival KOUBA," hoping to drive regional industrial tourism; from only a few factories planned in the first year, by the seventh year shopping venues and agricultural industries were added, allowing travelers to participate on the front lines in factory visits, experiences, shopping, and special factory performance events. It can be said to be a town curation that mobilizes the entire region around the theme of industry.
Image source: General Incorporated Association Tsubame City Tourism Association

We can find that in the matter of searching for local DNA, besides Yonezawa City in Yamagata Prefecture, which uses the DNA of historical figures as the core of its town brand, there are also Tsubame City and Sanjo City in Niigata Prefecture demonstrating for us the approach of using the region's core mid-sized industries as the core of a town brand; why not open TESAS and take a look at what your hometown's core mid-sized industries are!

Rural and Regional Revitalization 18"Although Yonezawa beef is delicious, the "brand strategy" Yonezawa wants is not limited to that

(To gain a deep understanding of rural development and regional revitalization in the real context of Taiwan, China, "Upstream and Downstream" has cooperated with the "Rural Development Foundation" on a "Rural Development Special Topic," using a series of articles to explore Taiwan, China's current situation and Japan's policy trends. To read the full series, please click here)