Hokkaido International Symbiotic Zone — A Plan for Hokkaido Revitalization (Redevelopment & Regional Vitalization)
1. Project Name
Asia 6th Industry Sousei Academy Hokkaido Training Center (Agricultural Production Corporation & School Corporation, “Island School”); Hokkaido Human Resource Revitalization Project (symbiotic farms and entrepreneurship support center); Establishment of an International Village.
2. Purpose
To create a labor-practice and learning community to cultivate the next generation of agricultural pioneers from around the world. Through this project, we will develop groups of farming professionals and act as catalysts for attracting successors to Hokkaido agriculture, where the average age of farmers is 70. The project is constructed online, leveraging the functions of a web-based business support center.
3. Concept (Vision)
- Symbiosis — Building an ideal community where people live together beyond the boundaries of human-nature, person-person, person-thing, region, nation, ethnicity, and race.
- Internationalism, scientific rigor, and applied practice — A new scientific-practice organization based in environmentally rich Hokkaido International Entrepreneurship Village, within the global village and the Asian village. “Cultivate when fine, study when it rains” — farming on clear days, online business when it rains.
- Cultivating leaders (entrepreneurs) of the future 6th industry (primary + secondary + tertiary). Producing future information-industry creators (knowledge producers) with strong IT capability.
4. Organizational Form
Build a new organization that walks with the times. Starting from an agricultural production corporation, it adopts modes such as “day-farm-night-study”, “fine-day-farm-rainy-day-read”, and “summer-farm-winter-read” (night school). Partnering with existing organizations and schools, it conducts foundational holistic education (“cultivating the heart”) that is independent of academic credentials. Emphasis is placed on social-practice learning rather than pure education. (Reference: Furano-juku, Akiyama Mokkō School, Matsushita Seikei-juku, etc.) Instructors also serve as team leaders, and the operation follows a corporate structure (Inamori Kazuo’s amoeba management). Farming activities are operated as a new agricultural institution leveraging 6th industrialization.
5. Buildings (Dormitories)
Reuse abandoned schools and unused facilities throughout Hokkaido. Apply to and procure them from each municipality (with their understanding and cooperation). Establish a remote-learning education system. Establish a remote business support center.
6. Curriculum (Teaching Materials)
Each team adopts seminar-style methods to identify problems and topics by theme, then edits and produces materials and texts. We also invite experts from Japan and overseas to deliver online lectures. In other words, we incorporate a methodology and learning style that brings in scientifically rigorous, practically usable, and applicable knowledge — so that each team can become self-sustaining in productivity and revenue. Production funds and materials are sourced from places such as the Hokkaido Future Investment Promotion Center (national, local, public funds, private financing, individual investments, and crowdfunding). A new committee is established for management.
7. Capacity
450 to 4,500 people (establishing the Hokkaido International Agricultural School), targeting a number equivalent to 1/100 of the current Hokkaido population. Team-based, amoeba management. Online classes and online business practice.
8. Duration
Japanese and foreign students study together. The basic term is 3 months. Teacher and instructor durations are to be determined separately. Each year, we aim to grow the number of settlers and migrants to Hokkaido by 45 to 450 from among the graduates. After 3 months, students join business teams as partners, holding the position of co-managers.
9. Profile of the Principal
- A strong leader (imagination, creativity, action) — Sakamoto Ryōma.
- A manager who understands 6th industrialization — Inamori Kazuo philosophy.
- Someone with the spirit of bushidō, oriented toward the future — Yoshida Shōin.
A profitable manager + a great teacher + a strong general + a guide for the next generation.
Additional Notes
- The true bearers of Hokkaido’s regional revitalization program are young people committed to regional creation. Regardless of academic background, we seek to place the right person in the right place.
- The construction of the Hokkaido International Entrepreneurship Village will, on a single island, advance the building of a “mini-Asia” and “mini-global village”.
- We will leverage foreign capital, national funds, and local-government funds.
- We value the perspectives of foreign nationals living in Japan, as well as those of non-Hokkaido Japanese — making this a model for “returning to the countryside”.
- Before introducing foreign-resident talent and migration, we first increase the population of short-term visitor exchange.
- Rather than hiring cheap foreign young laborers, we attract excellent investors and talent.
- Across seas, across the world, across eras — through every effort and ingenuity, we will gather wisdom, talent, and capital on the treasure island of Hokkaido, cultivate business talent, and return the results and benefits to Hokkaido and the world.