6 | The Japan Times | Monday, January 25, 2021 ESG promotional content susainable japan produced by The Japan Times Cube Living hisory: You could send a night in a casle ing the important cultural property. But tem — and Value Management is taking Satoyama~Authentic the castle stay can serve as a high-profle that responsibility.” icon of the city,” he said, explaining that it In 2020, Value Management faced a Japan has attracted a lot of domestic and inter- major risk. Total sales were expected to MAIKO MURAOKA national media attention. drop by more than 40% from the previous CONTRIBUTING WRITER year due to the coronavirus pandemic, The town, not just its castle Tarikino said. Although castles are one of Japan’s most Using the castle stay as an eye-catching Although the Go To Travel campaign, popular tourist destinations, not many feature of the rural city, with a population which started in late July, helped improve people know you can actually spend a of about 42,000 people, Value Manage- sales to some extent, according to night in a 400-year-old castle. ment worked on the community devel- Tarikino, losses were too big to cover. “We Jun Tarikino, CEO of Value Manage- opment of the city to make it attractive lost most of the MICE-related opportuni- ment Co., is the person who made stay- to tourists. “The idea was to monetize the ties” — on meetings, incentives, confer- ing at Ozu Castle possible, along with the whole city not by scraping what is already ences and exhibitions — “and corporate combined eforts of various stakeholders there and building something new, but by events have been canceled, impacting our in the city of Ozu, in Ehime Prefecture. utilizing existing assets,” Tarikino said. While staying at Ozu Castle, you can even sales seriously,” he said. Value Management specializes in revital- Garyu Sanso villa is another historic You can become a lord of the Ozu-jo Castle, the become a samurai. This special attraction will The guest rooms are renovated in a modern Despite the difcult circumstances, izing communities and historic facilities building in Ozu that is designated as an frst castle in Japan where you can stay in. make you feel like you are playing a part in way while retaining the texture of historical Value Management continues to pursue by preserving and monetizing them. important cultural property. Value Man- VALUE MANAGEMENT history. VALUE MANAGEMENT buildings. VALUE MANAGEMENT its vision of promoting and sustaining “There are many castles used as hotels agement has turned it into a breakfast Japanese culture. “Culture is a valuable in the world, but there was nothing like venue for guests who stay at Ozu Castle. the town and its economy. commercial purposes and are spacious, it to diferent cities and towns in Japan element of humanity that is needed that in Japan,” said Tarikino in an online This way, the villa can remain open to making them easier to use now in various with adjustments as appropriate, saying throughout the ages. We are dealing with talk session called Satoyama Cafe hosted the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., like most Money troubles on all sides ways, while those in the countryside are that starting from scratch in each location something that will not come back for by the Japan Times Satoyama Consor- other publicly owned important cultural Tarikino stressed that revitalizing the typically smaller, ofering limited capacity. would lower the success rate. “If we use a good if it is lost, something that we need tium on Nov. 30. Satoyama Cafe is a series properties. whole community is the key to preserve “But a townscape consists of a suc- diferent method for each city, every time to hand down to the next generations,” of events that feature various rural revital- Value Management has transformed the area’s historic properties, especially cession of buildings, so what if we can will be a new challenge and we will never Tarikino said. ization eforts. various other old buildings in the city into outside the town itself. Maintaining commercialize a whole town — 10 build- know if we will succeed or not,” he said. “Actually, we cannot make much accommodations. “We intend to preserve cultural assets is costly, but fnancial ings in a district instead of just one? We “Even if the business model is the same, money from this service alone because the townscape and create accommoda- resources are shrinking regardless of who can increase proftability that way,” said each city has a diferent appearance and the castle can be used as accommodation tions that allow guests to experience the owns a particular property. Tarikino Tarikino. culture, which we can use as they are to only during the spring and autumn. Air- town itself,” Tarikino said. Since each explained that most tangible assets are To do this, Value Management created create values unique to that particular conditioning and heating equipment are building is small, guests tend to go outside owned either by the public sector, citi- a framework for community develop- city.” not installed, for the purpose of preserv- and enjoy walking around, rejuvenating zens, or temples and shrines, each with ment based on the utilization of existing That is how Value Management has fnancial difculties. The public sector is resources and assets. The framework con- monetized and revitalized not only 48 For more information, please visit: facing a shortage of tax revenues due to sists of all the steps necessary for turning buildings in Japan but also several entire https://www.vmc.co.jp/ depopulation, and private owners have a community into an attractive tourist towns, including Ozu. But Tarikino noted issues of succession and property tax, destination, including marketing, plan- that the application of this community This section, “Sustainable Japan,” fea- while temples and shrines are sufering ning, formulating a business strategy and development framework requires the tures issues related to the environment from a decreasing number of parishioners a fnancial framework, repairing and reno- engagement of all stakeholders of a town and a sustainable society. It highlights who support them fnancially. vating buildings, developing tourism fea- — including the local government, fnan- the satoyama activities of companies and Under these circumstances, the only tures, creating an organizational structure cial institutions, companies and residents other organizations and also introduces way to preserve historic properties is to and providing operational support. — from the beginning. “We need to start municipalities and local companies pro- monetize them to cover maintenance from working together to create an entire moting the beauty and excellence of the costs. Making enough proft from one Building on successful plans picture of how we want the commu- real Japan. such property seems difcult, especially Tarikino emphasized the importance of nity to be, and then divide roles. It does For more information, see in rural areas with small populations. making such a framework incorporate not work well the other way around,” https://sustainable.japantimes.com/ Value Management Co., CEO Jun Tarikino (lef) and Satoyama Consortium secretariat chief Yuto Tarikino also pointed out that many of practices that have already proved suc- Tarikino said. “Finally, someone has to satoyama and Yoshida at the Satoyama Cafe online session held on Nov. 30 THE JAPAN TIMES the historic urban buildings were built for cessful in one or more areas and applying take the risk of operating the whole sys- https://sustainable.japantimes.com/esg Evonne Yiu, U.N. researcher and champion of foress and sea and satoumi (coastal seas). As a researcher Once maintained by communities through ESG / SDGs with the U.N.-afliated International Part- logging, hunting and foraging, now up to 77 TIMOTHY SCHULTZ nership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), percent of shiyū rin land is abandoned or in CONTRIBUTING WRITER she is dedicated to a distinctly Japanese need of maintenance due to depopulation. approach to conservation and biodiversity. Millions of hectares are choked with dead- The early morning sea of Ishikawa Prefec- Yiu speaks passionately about her orga- falls and overgrown with evergreen trees ture was gentle, the fsherman sitting casu- nization’s Japanese origins. “The terms like cedar and cyprus. As wildlife encroaches ally at the boat’s bow. They were idling just ‘satoyama’ and ‘satoumi’ mean ‘forest’ or ‘sea,’ and landslide-prone hillsides become over- inside a breakwater, an artifcial reef made of but not as unspoiled, untouched places. The burdened, the consequences are ofen massive concrete blocks. He pointed at the two terms also imply productivity and use- deadly and self-reinforcing. The Ministry of water and spoke in a local Japanese dialect fulness to humans. There are modern Eng- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has put to his passenger, a polite female academic lish terms that do this now, like ‘ecosystem’ the damage caused by birds and beasts in who had been asking questions around his or ‘sustainable development,’ but the Japa- 2018 at about 15.8 billion yen ($150 million), fshing village. For some reason, he trusted Evonne Yiu nese language included such ideas long ago.” with 157 people hurt and two deaths from her. Unfortunately, the satoyama and satoumi animal attacks. This makes the communi- “Go ahead. Feel it.” The woman put her each telling her the same story: These break- are facing a crisis of multiple causes. “When ties near satoyama less productive, lead- hand in the water. Warm to the touch, waters were hurting their sea. I frst lived in Japan and drove by the forests, ing to even more rural abandonment and Breakwaters lining Noto Island, Ishikawa Prefecture facing the tranquil Toyama Bay EVONNE YIU almost like a lake.