Regional Branding in Rural Japan

60 years of regional promotion by special legislation (Feldhoff 2013), administrative decentralization (Rausch 2008) or municipal consolidation (Kohara 2007) have failed to overcome the structural disadvantages of the rural periphery in Japan. Regional branding has recently become a growing trend to promote and revitalize rural areas. In the Aso region, the initiative Zen was designed to have a positive influence on the local community and tourism. However, internal problems and conflicts between the stakeholders have shown negative impact on the initiative that might push revitalization efforts by means of regional branding to its limits.

• How does the initiative work?
• Who are the stakeholders and what are their positions?
• What kinds of internal conflicts can be identified? And what has been done to overcome them?

The initiative Zen, taken from the word shizen meaning “nature” and hinting at the rich nature of the region, was inaugurated by the local government of Aso City in 2013. As a so-called “citizenbrand” (shiminburando), Zen represents the region not only through references to local nature and products but mainly through its inhabitants. The initiative consists of 185 participants (September 2017) and costs approximately 20 mill Yen p.a.

• Field work February and July - September in 2017 in Aso
• Semi-structured interviews with 21 participants of the initiative
• Zen; 1 person, who refused to become a participant; town office representative; consulting firm representative
• Narrative interviews with local inhabitants; staff of Aso design Center; participants at rural revitalization events
• Participant observation

• advertising agency from Tokyo
• 1-year contracts with local government
• planning of meetings & events
• claims “no financial gain –working for the people”

Local Government:

• Economic Department Tourism Section
• goal: Strengthening self-esteem of locals, but mostly to bring more tourists to Aso
• carries the financial costs
• expensive and high expectations -initiative must not fail

Core Participants:

• very active at the beginning
• goal: chance to promote Aso
• blocked by consulter
• negative feelings towards consulter
• cooperation with local government –as long as not concerned with Zen

Participants:

• no real involvement
• goal unclear
• little or no influence on business or social life