Key Points
- A community revitalization project is transforming a historic 150-year-old shopping street by acquiring and renovating vacant houses into a diverse ecosystem of businesses, including a brewery, sushi shop, and bike shop.
- The initiative utilizes a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) structure, allowing 400 shareholders to invest in the project and receive “stay rights” in a renovated share house as a return on investment.
- The project implements a “mutual aid” staffing model where a single employee manages multiple storefronts, significantly reducing operational costs while maintaining a vibrant street presence.
- By focusing on a real estate and rental income model rather than just service operations, the project creates a “local finance” framework that is more attractive to corporate investors and bank financing.
Full Transcript (English)
Hyuma: By the way, we have acquired this property as well. Because it is in such good condition, we aren’t turning it into a standard guest house. Instead, because there are so few taxi services available for people who come out for drinks, we are making it a membership-based facility where they can take a nap and stay over.
Hyuma: Over here is the brewery. And this spot here is a yakitori restaurant that just opened; we will stop by there later. This one is a sushi restaurant.
Host: This is incredible.
Hyuma: This is a bike shop, and over here is a Japanese restaurant. About 150 years ago, this entire area was a thriving shopping street.
Host: Recreating a whole shopping street is a massive undertaking.
Hyuma: (Showing a video on his phone) Look at this. We had a lot of international visitors here recently. These are actually agricultural business owners from all over the world who came to study our town-making process. It’s becoming global content.
Host: Hyuma-san, how do you view this interest?
Hyuma: Farmers all over the world are facing the same challenges. Young people are leaving the towns, and everyone is becoming dependent on government subsidies. In that environment, people see what we are doing and ask, “What is this town?” They are looking for a new model. Oh, and this spot here will soon become a yakiniku restaurant.
Hyuma: (Entering a shop) This is Ms. Hirano. She is originally the daughter of a local manju (traditional sweet) shop owner, but she loved cheese so much that she became one of only 500 people to receive a prestigious cheese title from France.
Ms. Hirano: What I feel has been truly great is that, previously, we only thought about taking the things we have here and sending them to Tokyo or other places. But since Hyuma-san and his team arrived and expanded our horizons, people from the outside are now coming to us. They come here to eat what we have in its freshest state. I am truly grateful for this change.
Project Partner: Our plan is to turn this entire stretch into a shopping district. We’ve divided the street into five sections which will include a coffee stand, a wine bar, an antique shop, and a fragrance shop.
Hyuma: We have three storefronts here, but only one staff member. If a customer enters one shop and the bell rings, the staff member says “Coming!” and heads over. If the customer wants to check the shop next door, the staff follows them there. This is “mutual aid.” By having one person manage three shops, we can keep costs down while keeping the street active.
Project Partner: This space here is a share house specifically for members of our DAO.
Hyuma: The key point is the 100,000 yen investment unit. If you invest 100,000 yen, you get five nights of stay per year for ten years. We currently have 400 shareholders. That accounts for 2,000 nights. Since the house can hold ten people at once, there are 3,650 total nights available in a year. We use the remaining 1,650 nights as a form of “currency”—we give them to people who help us out with various tasks we need done.
Project Partner: This allows us to build up “trust assets.” It creates a community where, if you are in trouble, someone is there to help you.
Hyuma: Once the project reaches this stage of completion, people naturally want to invest or participate. When it’s just a dilapidated building, it’s hard to get investors. It’s also difficult for corporations to invest in something vague like “cafe operating expenses.” However, if we present it as a real estate model where rental income will be generated in two years, we can eventually transition to bank financing. It makes it much easier to secure investment. This is what we call the “local finance vacant house model.”
