Takahashigawa Shijuku: “The Vision for a Local Media Outlet Run by a Blogger with 1 Million Monthly Page Views” ～ “Kurashiki Tocotoco”: Two Years of Operations and Future Prospects

The Takahashi River Shijuku is being held from November 2020 through February 2021.

Students are taking 41 classes in total, divided into three categories: the SDGs Vision Course, the General Education Course, and the Skills Course. There are 22 enrolled students, along with auditors who attend individual sessions.

On Sunday, December 13, 2020, Kengo Toi, Representative Director of Haretoco General Incorporated Association, gave a lecture as part of the Skills Course.

Mr. Toi is also a director of the Takahashi River Basin School.

There were 11 in-person attendees, including young people in their 20s, mothers raising children, and company employees. Eight people participated online via Zoom.

This time, I participated online from home.

Here is a report on the lecture.

Overview of the Takahashi River Shijuku

The Takahashi River Shijuku is a Kurashiki City-commissioned program run by the Takahashi River Basin School, a general incorporated association. Through learning about the history, culture, and industries of the Takahashi River basin, as well as fieldwork, it aims to foster people who will contribute to community development and help create a “sustainable” region, and to inspire them to take action.

There are two course options:

• The “SDGs Inquiry Course,” which includes practical exercises and presentations
• The “Auditor Course,” in which participants attend selected lectures

The opening ceremony was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and 41 classes will be held through the closing ceremony on Sunday, February 14, 2021.

Takahashi River Shijuku opening ceremony — A school where people of different generations learn together across organizational and social boundaries to build a sustainable community

The Takahashi River flows through western Okayama Prefecture, joining with numerous tributaries along the way. Kurashiki is where the waters of the river converge and flow onward. In the autumn of 2020, a “Taka…”

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There are three themes:

▼SDGs Vision Course

A course that helps participants gain a deeper understanding of the Takahashi River basin’s 2030 vision and current efforts to address its challenges through lectures by practitioners and experts, and discover ways to take action.

▼General Education Course

A course for learning about the history, culture, and industries of the Takahashi River basin and gaining the knowledge needed as a foundation for activities.

▼Skills Course

A course for acquiring the skills and know-how needed for inquiry-based learning, including presentations, accounting for nonprofit organizations, data analysis (using RESAS), effective use of IT tools, and using blogs and social media.

For more details, visit the special page for the Takahashi River Shijuku.

Takahashi River Shijuku – Takahashi River Basin School

The Takahashi River Shijuku began after Kurashiki City was selected as an “SDGs Future City.” Hosted by Kurashiki City and run by the Takahashi River Basin School, it is a community-focused program that has had more than 160 participants to date…

Takahashi River Basin School

The vision for a local media outlet run by a blogger with one million monthly page views

Kengo Toi, Representative Director of Haretoco General Incorporated Association, is a former systems engineer.

While working as a company employee, he started a personal blog as a side business.

After running it for about eight years, he had reached a point where he could support himself for the foreseeable future, and in August 2018, he left his job.

Around the same time he left his job, the July 2018 Heavy Rain Disaster struck.

His involvement in running a disaster volunteer center led him to think more deeply about the local community.

He began running the local media outlet Kurashiki Tocotoco in September 2018 and established Haretoco General Incorporated Association in November 2019.

Today, he works in a variety of fields as a freelancer, with information sharing at the core of his work.

The lecture covered the following topics:

1. How Haretoco General Incorporated Association came to be
2. The realities of running the local media outlet Kurashiki Tocotoco
3. Advantages and disadvantages of local media
4. Future business prospects for Haretoco General Incorporated Association
5. Developing a long-term vision that makes use of your strengths

After attending, I’d like to introduce three topics that caught my attention.

Can local media make money? Building a sustainable operating model

First, there was a very interesting discussion about money.

Can local media make money?

The conclusion was that local media does not make money in the short term.

At least three years are a period of endurance, and you need at least around 10 million yen in startup funds.

He described the realities of running Kurashiki Tocotoco.

After two years, the result was a loss of 8 million yen!

Volunteer work cannot continue indefinitely, and it is impossible for one person to keep covering all the operating costs.

From the outset, Mr. Toi worked to build a model that could be sustained as a business.

After two years of running Kurashiki Tocotoco, its profile as a media outlet had grown, it had formed partnerships with major media companies, and its brand strength had improved.

From the third year onward, the media outlet had grown to the point where it could aim to generate revenue for long-term operation.

I learned that running local media requires the capacity to commit to it over the long term.

Advantages and disadvantages of running local media

The greatest benefit Mr. Toi has experienced from running local media is that he has built a strong personal brand.

• ICT expert
• Information-sharing expert
• Local media operator
• Consultations from government offices, tourist facilities, and others
• Appointment as a director of the Takahashi River Basin School
• More work as a lecturer, and more

By actively going out into the field through his work running local media, Mr. Toi created opportunities to communicate with local people.

“New encounters create new opportunities, and my range of activities has expanded into fields I never would have imagined two years ago,” Mr. Toi said.

He has met many people active in various fields in the community, rediscovered the appeal of Kurashiki, the city where he lives, and says he can now proudly say that he loves his hometown.

“There have been many returns that money can’t buy, so perhaps it was worth the investment…”

At the same time, he says that with no revenue coming in, the Representative Director alone has begun attracting attention as an individual, and the organization is facing the difficult situation of its staff and writers becoming disengaged.

Why are you doing this? Develop a long-term vision

According to Mr. Toi, it is difficult to keep running local media with the aim of achieving easily measurable results or making money.

• Why am I running local media?
• What are my strengths?
• How will I contribute?

“Why are you doing it?”

Whatever the field, it is important to face these fundamental questions squarely and begin only after finding answers you can accept.

Mr. Toi has the following strengths:

• Knowledge as a systems engineer
• Management experience in the workplace
• A track record as a personal blogger
• Connections built through running a community

For Mr. Toi, running local media was a way to contribute to the community by making use of his strengths.

He says he is considering the following prospects for the future:

• Use Kurashiki Tocotoco as a model to expand into other regions and create a series
• Let the Tocotoco series act as a catalyst for new interactions and change in local communities
• Become a platform that local people can use to suit their needs

He hopes to develop a long-term vision like this and consider how to expand the business in the future.

From the Writer

During the Q&A session after the lecture, there was a question about Mr. Toi’s approach to work.

Mr. Toi currently works as a freelancer, with his primary role being a stay-at-home father who puts raising his children at the center of his life.

After working as a company employee, he went independent and established a general incorporated association.

Building on his achievements to date, he is steadily expanding the fields in which he works.

Alongside his impressive accomplishments, he has also experienced depression in the past due to overwork. He says he consciously maintains a balance between work and family life, making sure to take time to unwind.

In response to a question from an attendee, “Should I quit my company job and hurry to become independent?” he offered advice grounded in his own experience: “It’s dangerous to rely on just one pillar for anything. Having several pillars is important for peace of mind, too.”

Whether you yourself are enjoying it.

That is the most important thing, whatever you decide to start.

Mr. Toi says that no matter how busy he is, he enjoys the work itself, so the work itself gives him a chance to unwind.

If you can’t say that you enjoy it yourself, you won’t be able to keep going.

“Purpose and a sense of mission” that go beyond money—finding a field where you can work with these.

It was a lecture that left me feeling that “the guide to making a genuine contribution to society lies in deep dialogue with oneself.”

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