Overview of Tokushima Prefecture
Tokushima Prefecture is accessible by a one-hour flight from Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of approximately 700,000 and is a temperate region blessed with the natural beauty of mountains, oceans and rivers. It is an attractive tourist destination, where one of Japan’s most famous events, the Awa Odori dance festival held in summer, attracts more than one million visitors during the festival period. Spectators can watch the Awa Odori dance and enjoy dancing along with it. The western part of the prefecture, known as Nishi Awa, is also a tourist destination where visitors can get a deep sense of Japanese culture. Here, agriculture has continued on the steep slopes. The mountain village landscapes, often described as the historical landscape of Japan and the preservation of food culture and traditional events related to farming have deep value as representative of indigenous Japanese culture, and the ‘Nishi-Awa slope farming system’ has been recognised as a World Agricultural Heritage Site by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).
About the Tokushima Satellite Office Project
Tokushima Prefecture has attracted attention after featuring in a national magazine recognising it as a prefecture well-known for advanced SDG policies taking action on sustainability. It has been successful in attracting large companies to set up ‘satellite offices’, establishing bases away from Japan’s great metropolises.
In recent years, the advance of communication technology and IT has enabled people to choose diverse work styles and ways of living. In Japan, local government promotes reforms in working styles and work-life balance, and work environments are increasingly diverse. In 2012, Tokushima Prefecture formed the Tokushima Satellite Office Promotion Team as a joint venture of government, companies and NPOs to promote the area for satellite offices. Using old Minka-style houses (usually previously abandoned or without tenants for long periods), the team highlights the appeal of satellite offices to the market outside the prefecture, which are not restricted by time or location, in an environment with optical broadband and a rich natural environment. Among the project’s achievements are companies establishing a presence locally to become local leaders and creating new opportunities with local businesses and residents.
Some specific recent initiatives include the following:
Attracting new companies to the area.
Tokushima Prefecture and the municipalities in the southern part of the prefecture have jointly established a council to support the attraction and establishment of satellite offices over a wide area. One type of support is the implementation of tailor-made inspection tours. Companies considering opening a satellite office in Tokushima Prefecture consult with a concierge assigned by the prefecture and the council’s staff who liaise locally on areas of interest to the company. These consultations form the basis for site tours to explore the possibilities of setting up a satellite office.
Interaction with the local community
Companies with satellite offices held information sessions at local schools explaining intern programmes. At the briefing, students learned which satellite offices opened in the local area where they can obtain new skills and experience work that they would otherwise have to go to the cities for. In addition, company staff also gave the students ideas of what to think when considering their future career path.
Cooperation with the local community
Satellite office companies organise regular meetings with other satellite offices to get together and exchange opinions on their technology and what they want to work on in the future. For example, the theme of a local talk was “Deep investigation of the challenges of local authorities and satellite offices for these challenges”.
