Wednesday, September 3, 2025
- 1 Career Design Camp: Students pioneering the future come to Hokuryu Town
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Career Design Camp: Students pioneering the future come to Hokuryu Town
The Career Design Camp kicked off in the summer of 2025 in Hokuryu Town, Hokkaido. Six students from across the country will spend a few passionate days working towards the future of their town and building their own careers. We bring you a report on the orientation held on Monday, September 1st, in the multipurpose room on the second floor of Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen.
A welcome message from the organizer, Mayor Sasaki
Hello everyone. I am Mayor Sasaki of Hokuryu Town. Welcome! I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all six of you, four women and two men, for coming together to develop your careers in Hokuryu Town.
We had participants from a truly diverse range of universities, including Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, Hokkaido University of Education Hakodate Campus, Rikkyo University, Keio University, Kio University, and Hosei University. Thank you very much.
Designing the future of Hokuryu Town with the power of students
This Career Design Camp is a few days' worth of time for you to design your future career. Make the most of the field of Hokuryu Town to test your own abilities.
I would like you to first get an idea of what Hokuryu Town is like by asking the townspeople about the personalities of the people, the local characteristics, and "why it became the number one sunflower village in Japan."
Hokuryu Town was founded 133 years ago. Its residents have built careers over those 133 years. These are careers from the past. Starting this year, Hokuryu Town has finally begun to build careers for the future. Just like you, we're thinking about what kind of town we should build going forward.
To that end, we want you to share your flexible and sometimes "outrageous" opinions, and we'd love to see them form part of your career.
This year's theme is "construction" and "childcare." Last year, we had 10 students come to us on workation/working holiday programs, and based on that, we invited you all to join us as part of a town-specific project. We are extremely grateful for the enthusiasm of everyone who is willing to cover the costs and participate. We are delighted to see everyone's positive attitude.
"There are many young people working in the construction and childcare industries. I would like you to talk to them and help each other grow. I am very much looking forward to the next six days. I look forward to working with you," said Mayor Sasaki.
Self-introductions by town staff and motivated students
Hokuryu Town Hall staff
Next, under the auspices of Akiko Kusaka, CEO of Hatara Collabo Co., Ltd., town officials who support the camp also introduced themselves.
Katsuyoshi Takahashi, General Policy Officer of the General Policy Office, Yayoi Kawamoto, Chief of the Town Future Strategy Division, Masahiro Kawada, Chief of the Construction Division, Sachi Kamiyabu, Assistant Chief of the Children and Life Support Division, Chiaki Mori, Counselor of the Town Future Strategy Division, Makiko Hase, Assistant Chief of the Town Future Strategy Division, Michihito Nakamura, Secretary General of the Hokuryu Town Social Welfare Council, Akiko Ichii, Representative Director of the Connecting Community Development Research Institute, and Kazuhiro Hayashi, Executive Director, all spoke of their expectations for the students and welcomed them.
Katsuyoshi Takahashi, General Policy Officer, said, "We are also thinking hard about how to connect the town to the future. We want to change the future through interactions with you all."
Six students from all over the country
The participating students also introduced themselves one by one and shared their thoughts.
- Having grown up in a densely populated area, he became interested in regional revitalization and an aging society, and participated in this activity.
The appeal of Hokuryu Town is its beautiful scenery and abundance of nature, and I felt it was a place that could cleanse the soul when one is troubled. - He hopes to enjoy the fresh environment of Hokuryu Town, surrounded by mountains and rice fields, which is different from the sea-surrounded environment of Hakodate. He decided to participate because he wanted to travel to various regions of Hokkaido.
- She is studying community studies at her undergraduate level and decided to participate in the event to learn about the local community as she considers her future career. She had come here several times as a child to see the sunflowers, and feels that this was a fateful encounter.
- I am studying urban and regional development in a university seminar, but since most of the time I am continuing existing research, I decided to participate in this program because I wanted to experience the process of identifying and solving problems from scratch.
- During her nursing training, she visited a village with an aging population of 51%. This experience inspired her to want to take part in solving problems while respecting the feelings of the residents, and she therefore participated in this activity.
- During a university seminar, he discovered the charms of Tama City, Tokyo, and when he worked to spread the word about it in the form of a booklet, he was delighted to see the local people enjoy it, which led him to become involved.
The present and future of Hokuryu Town: Project explanation
Chiaki Mori, councilor of Hokuriku Town's Town Future Strategy Division, gave an overview of Hokuriku Town and the purpose of this camp.
From Himawari no Sato to town development that will lead to the future
The Sunflower Festival is a main tourist attraction in Hokuryu Town. Held every year from late July to mid-August, it attracts nearly 200,000 visitors. The festival is notable for the involvement of many townspeople, with all townspeople coming together to cut the grass and junior high school students cultivating sunflowers from around the world and guiding visitors through the festival.
Regional revitalization projects and the role of career design camps
The town is currently working on the "Hokuryu Himawari Holdings' Future-Connected Town Development Project." This project consists of seven pillars, and the Career Design Camp falls under the sixth pillar: "Creating, Expanding, and Deepening Exchange Population and Related Population."
There is a reason why the themes this time were "construction industry" and "childcare."
- Construction industry:The town's main industry, agriculture, has the largest number of employees, but the construction industry has higher sales. Resolving the labor shortage in the construction industry is an important issue for the town.
- Childcare:For Hokuryu to survive in the future, it is essential that it becomes a town that people raising children choose to live in. To achieve this, the presence of childcare workers is essential.
We don't just want people to come. We want to create an environment and system where young people can work and learn with enthusiasm. If you have any concerns during your experience, please refer to this "ideal situation."
Results of last year's internship program and expectations for this year
Last year, as part of the "Town Internship Program," 10 university students undertook two-week internships in three fields: agriculture, construction, and town hall. The town hall identified a weakness in information dissemination as an issue, and received suggestions for renewing the town's website. These suggestions have been put to use in this year's renewal.
"I believe that your proposals this year will have a positive impact on the town's policies, construction industry, and nursery schools. We are really looking forward to hearing your proposals," explained Councillor Mori.
With boundless love, gratitude, and prayers, we wish the six students a great Career Design Camp 2025, where their fresh and flexible ideas will serve as a bridge to a bright and shining future for Hokuryu Town!
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