[Report] Comprehensive research report on the system design of specific regional development business cooperatives and their ripple effects on the local economy: In-depth analysis of all Hokkaido cases and advanced models nationwide

The following report was created using Google Gemini3pro Deepresearch.

1. Introduction: Structural challenges in the labor market in rapidly declining population regions and the role of cooperatives

The declining population and aging population, combined with a declining birthrate, are causing serious labor shortages, especially in rural areas. This issue is not simply a labor shortage; it is amplified by the dual challenges of high and low business volumes and employment instability, which stem from the structure of local industries.

This report provides an extremely detailed analysis of the current situation and challenges of "Specific Regional Development Project Cooperatives," which were established based on the "Act on the Promotion of Specific Regional Development Projects to Address the Rapid Decline in Regional Population," which came into effect in June 2020 (Reiwa 2), and covers all cases in Hokkaido as well as notable cases across the country.

1.1 Institutional background and philosophical significance

The Specific Regional Development Business Cooperative System is a groundbreaking legal framework aimed at maintaining local communities (sustainability). In the traditional labor market, seasonal work in industries such as agriculture, fishing, and tourism was treated as "fixed-term employment," creating a structural mismatch between workers' unstable careers and businesses' unstable labor supply.

This system legalizes and supports "multi-work" (side jobs), in which cooperatives employ workers on a year-round permanent basis (full-time employees) and dispatch them to multiple businesses depending on seasonal labor demand.

The basis of this system is not simply to function as a labor force adjustment valve. It is a practice of the "spirit of harmony," which regards the entire region as "one workplace" and seeks to resolve the issues faced by individual businesses in a spirit of cooperation. The union functions as the "human resources department of the region," providing stable employment and diverse career development opportunities to immigrants and young people, thereby promoting their settlement in the region (settlement).

1.2 Strategic Importance in Hokkaido

Hokkaido is blessed with vast land and abundant natural resources, but its snowfall and bitterly cold winter climate mean that its primary industry and tourism sectors experience some of the most extreme seasonal fluctuations in Japan. The region's industrial structure creates completely opposite labor demands depending on the season, with agriculture and construction in the summer and snow removal and ski resort operations in the winter. Until now, labor for these industries has relied on migrant workers from outside the prefecture and short-term part-time work, but securing such workers is becoming increasingly difficult due to a nationwide labor shortage.

Therefore, the spread of specific regional development business cooperatives in Hokkaido is not simply the introduction of national policies, but also has the aspect of a survival strategy to maintain the autonomy of the Hokkaido economy. Based on the latest data as of December 2025 (Reiwa 7), this report comprehensively analyzes all cooperatives certified and operating in Hokkaido, as well as unique model cases across the country, and highlights the factors for their success and challenges.

2. List of specific regional development business cooperatives in Hokkaido

3. Hokkaido's Specific Regional Development Business Cooperatives: A Detailed Analysis of All Eight Organizations

As of December 1, 2025, eight designated regional development business cooperatives have been certified and are active in Hokkaido. The Engaru Thank You Cooperative, which was previously active in Engaru Town, lost its certification and was dissolved in May 2024, but has continued to renew itself since then, with new cooperatives being established in Niseko Town and Shintoku Town. Below we provide detailed information on all eight currently active organizations, including their founding history, business model, and compatibility with regional characteristics.

3.1 Nayoro Regional Development Business Cooperative Association (Nayoro City)

[Establishment and Background]

Agriculture (glutinous rice, asparagus, etc.) is Nayoro City's core industry, but labor shortages have become a chronic problem during the busy farming season. Meanwhile, in winter, the city faces challenges such as snow removal, a task unique to cold, snowy regions, and maintaining local transportation. The Nayoro Regional Development Business Cooperative addresses these complex challenges by combining agricultural support as its core business with work related to maintaining local infrastructure, such as road passenger transportation (subsidies for buses, taxis, etc.) and working on the operation of the cooperative itself.

[Deep business analysis]

The union's dispatch industry includes the "road passenger transport industry," suggesting that ensuring "transportation" in rural areas is not simply a matter of transportation policy, but is being reconsidered in the context of job creation. Multi-workers work on the farm in the summer and act as drivers and assistants to support local transportation in the winter, thereby directly supporting the livelihoods of local residents. This is a good example of labor functioning in both "industrial promotion" and "maintenance of life."

▶️ Go to the official website

3.2 Hamamasu Specific Regional Development Business Cooperative Association (Hamamasu Ward, Ishikari City)

[Micro-area Challenge]

Ishikari City has an urban area adjacent to Sapporo City, but Hamamasu Ward is the former Hamamasu Village area facing the Sea of Japan, and is a geographically isolated fishing village. The issue here is the decline in community functions due to depopulation. The Hamamasu Specific Community Development Business Cooperative Association proposes a "half fish, half x" work style that combines fishing (subsidies for salmon and octopus fishing, etc.), agriculture (orchards, etc.), and the accommodation and restaurant industries.

[Ocean and mountain circulation model]

What makes this association unique is that it combines the fishing industry, which is highly dependent on the weather and physically demanding, with other service industries (accommodation and food and beverage) to distribute the burden on workers and stabilize their income. In particular, by combining work around beaches and campgrounds during the summer tourist season with the busy fishing and agricultural seasons in spring and autumn like pieces of a puzzle, it creates employment throughout the year. This can be said to be a model case of "multi-skilling" in a small fishing village.

▶️ Go to the official website

3.3 Shiriuchi Community Development Cooperative Association (Shiriuchi Town)

[Turning the community into one workplace]

Located at the southern tip of Hokkaido, Shiriuchi Town is a thriving agricultural region, producing chives and tomatoes, but the town is facing a serious shortage of workers due to a declining population. The Shiriuchi Community Development Cooperative has adopted the slogan "Turning the region into one workplace," and is promoting the use of human resources by breaking down barriers between businesses.

[Deepening collaboration between businesses]

What is particularly noteworthy about this union is that it does not simply dispatch workers, but also places importance on information exchange and the creation of training opportunities between businesses. While the majority of dispatches are to agriculture, the union is also considering infrastructure development and processing industries, with the aim of raising the industrial strength of the town as a whole. The union's founding philosophy is to "enrich workers' lives with peace of mind and safety," and it is characterized by a strong focus on "human development," nurturing workers not just as workers, but as members of the community.

▶️ Go to the official website

3.4 Shimokawa Business Cooperative Association (Shimokawa Town)

[SDGs Future City Forest Model]

Shimokawa Town is well known nationwide as an "SDGs Future City," and is taking pioneering steps in forest biomass and building a recycling-oriented society. The Shimokawa Business Cooperative is a "brownfield" example in which an existing business cooperative (established in 1950) changed its articles of incorporation and was certified as a designated regional development project.

[Strengths of existing organizations and the forest industry]

Because the organization is not a newly established corporation but an existing association that has supported the local economy for many years, it has already built relationships of trust with local businesses, enabling smooth operation. The dispatch destinations are diverse, including lumber and wood product manufacturing, agriculture, and the service industry, but the forestry and lumber industry in particular has a strong foundation for year-round employment. While the town hall takes the lead, the association takes the lead in providing a place for newcomers, achieving profitability from the first year, making it a model with high management stability.

▶️ Go to the official website

3.5 Shosanbetsu Business Cooperative Association (Shosanbetsu Village)

[Hybrid of tourism and primary industry]

Located on the Sea of Japan Ororon Line, Shosanbetsu Village is known for its beautiful starry skies and campsite (Misakidai Park), but is an extremely sparsely populated area. The Shosanbetsu Business Cooperative Association combines the accommodation and campsite management businesses during the tourist season with the core industries of agriculture and fisheries, and even construction and automobile repair, making it a village-wide effort.

[As a means of maintaining the village's functions]

It is noteworthy that the industries to which the workers are dispatched include "social insurance, social welfare, and nursing care services" and "waste disposal." This means that the cooperative is not just promoting industry, but also complementing the village's social infrastructure maintenance functions (waste disposal, nursing care, infrastructure development). This is an example of a cooperative functioning as an "outside working force for the town hall" in a small-population municipality, fulfilling an important role in ensuring the quality of life for residents.

▶️ To the YouTube site

3.6 Nakatonbetsu Town Specific Regional Development Business Cooperative Association (Nakatonbetsu Town)

[Combining welfare and outdoor activities]

Nakatonbetsu Town, located inland in northern Hokkaido, is a town of dairy farming and forestry, but it has a high aging population and a serious shortage of nursing care workers. Our association dispatches workers mainly to the nursing care and welfare industry (food distribution, cleaning, etc.) in addition to forestry, construction, and tourism (gold panning experiences, limestone cave guides).

[Lowering barriers to entry by separating out jobs that do not require qualifications]

In nursing care settings, a clear distinction is made between physical assistance that should be performed by qualified personnel and peripheral tasks that can be performed without qualifications (cleaning, serving food, communicating), and by having multi-workers take on peripheral tasks, it is possible to reduce the burden on specialists and alleviate labor shortages.In addition, a working style that involves interacting with tourists as an outdoor guide in the summer and performing care work within facilities in the winter and on rainy days is an attractive career design for young people, as it allows them to feel both "contributing to society" and "interacting with nature."

▶️ Go to the official website

3.7 Niseko Migration Work Cooperative (Niseko Town)

[International Resort Leveling Strategy]

This is a new cooperative certified in July 2025. Niseko Town is a world-class snow resort, and there is explosive demand for labor in the winter, but the difference in demand with the summer (seasonality) has been an issue. Also, rising land prices make it difficult for workers to secure housing in the area. The Niseko Migrant Work Cooperative has addressed these issues by combining summer agriculture, golf courses, and construction with winter ski resorts, accommodation, and snow removal, thereby providing year-round employment.

[Housing support as a survival strategy]

It is worth noting that the association offers single-person housing at the exceptionally low price of 10,000 yen per month. In the Niseko area, where apartment rents have skyrocketed due to the resort boom, providing stable housing is a stronger recruitment incentive than wages alone. Combined with a relatively high hourly wage of 1,200 yen and up, this serves as an extremely strategic "device" to attract diverse talent from Japan and abroad and help them settle in the region.

▶️ Go to the official website

3.8 Work Tokachi Shintoku Cooperative Association (Shintoku Town)

[Tokachi brand and diverse industries]

Certified in September 2025, this is one of the newest cooperatives in Hokkaido. Shintoku Town is known as the "town of soba" and is located in the rich agricultural area of the Tokachi Plain. In addition to agricultural support, the cooperative combines food processing (food manufacturing), tourism (resort hotels and outdoor activities), and retail.

[Crossover between food and tourism]

The name "Workle" is thought to incorporate the meanings of "Work" and "Circle." With the Tokachi area's strong agricultural brand as a backdrop, the company is building a model in which workers can be involved in the entire process of sixth-sector industrialization, working hard in the fields, processing and selling the produce, and then offering it to tourists. This is expected to foster a sense of workers not just as workers, but as "players" who experience the story of the local industry.

▶️ Go to the official website

4. List of distinctive cooperatives across the country

5. In-depth analysis of five distinctive regional development cooperatives across Japan

Unique initiatives utilizing this system are also being developed in regions outside of Hokkaido. Here, we will select five distinctive and advanced cases that go beyond simple labor compensation, and analyze them in depth, including unique brand building, cultural preservation, and integration with the creative industry.

5.1 Ama Town Multiple Occupation Cooperative Association (Ama Town, Shimane Prefecture)

[Originator of the system originating from a remote island]

Ama Town is the town that initiated the establishment of this system.Half official half X"or"Adult Island Study AbroadThe union is a frontrunner in regional revitalization, known for initiatives such as "Designing Work Styles." The union is a systemic embodiment of that philosophy, and is based on the concept of "Designing Work Styles."

[Editing rights for work styles]

Its greatest feature is that it is an environment where workers can proactively "edit" their own careers. By combining all the island's jobs like a puzzle, such as fishing, tourism, administrative work, cram schools, and oyster farming, it proposes a style of enjoying island life itself, rather than monotonous labor. Its brand power is overwhelming, having won the Good Design Award, and it has become a powerful magnet that attracts young people from urban areas.

▶️ Go to the official website

5.2 Oguni Multi-Work Business Cooperative (Oguni Town, Yamagata Prefecture)

[Matagi culture and life in the snow country]

This association, affectionately known as "Ogumaru," operates in Oguni Town, a heavy snow area at the foot of the Iide mountain range. What is unique about the association is that it incorporates the traditional culture of the region, such as "matagi (hunting)," "vine craftsmanship," and "sake brewing," into its business.

[Cultural inheritance multi-work]

While many cooperatives emphasize "solving the labor shortage," Ogumaru puts forward the idea of "living in harmony with the mountains." The cycle of wild vegetables in spring, farming in summer, harvesting in autumn, and sake brewing and hunting in winter is a way of life in harmony with nature that can be described as Jomon-style. This has succeeded in attracting immigrants who are not just workers, but who will carry on the spiritual culture of the region.

▶️ Go to the official website

5.3 Tokamachi City Multiple Occupation Cooperative Association TOMOWORK (Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture)

[Regional HR department/career-focused]

TOMOWORK in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture, defines its union as the "regional human resources department" and is engaged in extremely strategic human resource development. It is characterized by offering clear career paths such as the "Multi-Work Course," "Primary Industry Professional Course," and "Urban Development Course," and recruiting with an eye toward future independence and starting up a business.

[Professional Orientation]

The website and branding are sophisticated, eliminating any nuances of welfare or relief, and instead exploring the possibility of side jobs as a business. The system (incubation function) allows workers to hone their skills through temporary placement at companies, and ultimately produces human resources who graduate from the union and become local leaders, making it an attractive model for urban talent as a "place of growth."

▶️ Go to the official website

5.4 Nishiaizu Multiworks Cooperative Association (Nishiaizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture)

[Fusion of art and creativity]

This association, which operates in Nishiaizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture, is extremely unique in that it is involved in the operation of the Nishiaizu International Art Village, a cultural facility that utilizes an abandoned school, in collaboration with the general incorporated association BOOT.

[An evolution of artist-in-residence programs]

We have built a model that allows creators and aspiring artists to earn a stable income by working on local farms and facility management alongside their creative activities. Artists who move to rural areas typically face financial instability, but by providing a "basic income"-like function, we have achieved a highly symbiotic relationship that secures a labor force while enhancing the cultural level of the region.

▶️ Go to the official website

5.5 Erabu Island Development Business Cooperative (Wadomari Town and China Town, Kagoshima Prefecture)

[Cooperation between local governments on the island and sugarcane]

This association on Okinoerabu Island is a model of wide-area collaboration, spanning two municipalities on the island: Wadomari Town and China Town. It combines the peak season (winter to spring) of the island's core industries, sugarcane cultivation and sugar factories, with the peak seasons of tourism and other agriculture.

[Island economies of scale]

On a remote island where the market size is small and it is difficult for a single municipality to complete the puzzle of year-round employment, economies of scale are being created by transcending municipal boundaries and treating the entire island as a single market.This is a modern example of the "yui" spirit, in which islanders and immigrants come together to protect the island, centered around the island's unique and powerful economic engine, the sugarcane industry.

▶️ Go to the official website

6. Conclusion: Implications for sustainable local communities

What became clear through this survey was that specific regional development business cooperatives have gone beyond being simply a "framework for labor force adjustment" and are beginning to function as a "platform" for redefining the unique culture and values of each region and building new relationships with external human resources.

6.1 Narrative as the key to success

Successful unions, such as Shimokawa Town in Hokkaido and Oguni Town (Ogumaru), a national example, do not simply present jobs, but also powerfully communicate the local narrative of "why work here" and "what kind of life awaits you." Communicating not only data and conditions, but also the aspirations of the people and the spirit of the region behind them, is key to resonating with people and attracting high-quality talent.

6.2 Institutional sustainability and challenges

On the other hand, as the Engaru Town case shows, there is still a risk of unions going bankrupt. The biggest challenge for the future is how to move away from a reliance on government subsidies and create independent revenue sources and added value. To achieve this, it is essential to take measures like Tokamachi City (TOMOWORK) to strengthen human resource development functions and improve dispatch unit prices, as well as a comprehensive approach that considers this as a set with improving the living environment, as in Niseko Town.

6.3 Outlook for the future

Increasing the "permanent population" is not easy in a society with a declining population, but it is possible to deepen the "related population" that is involved in the community during specific seasons or for specific purposes into a "semi-permanent population" through the support of cooperatives. In response to the "loneliness" and "decline" facing Japan's rural areas, the Specific Community Development Business Cooperative offers a new model of community based on the "spirit of harmony" of mutual support and shared roles. This "journey of co-creation" will serve as a compass for opening up local communities for the next generation.