Delivered on July 14, 2025
Urban development in Joetsu City, a regional transportation hub by Joetsu City
Atsuo Ishiguro, Section Chief, Comprehensive Policy Division, Comprehensive Policy Department, Joetsu City Hall
How to create an effective tourism strategy by Myoko City
Yutaka Okada, Section Chief, Planning and Policy Division, Myoko City Hall
Affiliation and position information is as of the time of distribution
The Joetsu Anniversary Year Location Information Utilization Seminar @ Joetsu Myoko was held on June 26, 2024, and was sponsored by LBMA Japan. The seminar had the theme of "The Future of the Region Connected by Data." The seminar delved deep into the potential of using location information data to revitalize the region.
We will introduce the content of each seminar in several parts.
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<Urban development in Joetsu City, a regional transportation hub by Joetsu City>
Joetsu City Overview and City Characteristics
Joetsu City has a vast area with a population of just under 180,000 and an area roughly half that of Tokyo. In the Heisei Great Merger, 14 cities and towns merged to form the city as it is today.
One of the city's characteristics is that it serves as a base city in the northwestern Japan area. It is just over two hours by Shinkansen to Tokyo, and within a day trip to Osaka, making it very accessible to wide-area transportation. It has all the transportation infrastructure, such as ports, highways, and railways, and is making use of these to develop the city.
In the "7th Comprehensive Plan" currently being promoted, the future image of the city is set as "a city that is easy to live in and full of hope," and efforts are being made using the backcasting method. In particular, the following four key themes are set.
・Human: Human development, fostering civic pride, and promoting human exchange.
・Community: Community development utilizing the power of 28 local autonomous districts.
・Digital: Social change using digital technology.
・Green: Efforts to realize a decarbonized society.
Joetsu City has many attractions, such as its advantage as a regional transportation hub, its energy potential for a decarbonized society, its rich historical culture represented by three castle ruins and Takada's Gangi Street, and an environment that is easy to raise children in.
The challenge of population decline facing Joetsu City
However, Joetsu City, like the rest of the country, is facing the major challenge of population decline. The population is declining steadily, the aging rate is increasing, and the young population is steadily decreasing. Currently, the population is decreasing by about 2,500 people per year, which is equivalent to the population of one regional autonomous district being lost every year.
The main cause of this population decline is that both the "natural decline" due to the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths, and the "social decline" due to the difference between in-migration and out-migration are negative. In particular, there is a noticeable excess of young people moving out after graduating from high school, and many young people are moving out of the city when they go to college.
On the other hand, Joetsu City has two universities, Joetsu University of Education and Prefectural Nursing University, as well as a vocational school for information and nursing, and has the potential to keep a total of 400 students in the city. These schools are positioned as "treasures for the region" and are important bases for young people to settle in the city.
Joetsu City's Strategy for Regional Revitalization
In the midst of a severe financial situation (especially the increase in welfare expenses), Joetsu City is strengthening its efforts for regional revitalization. The new strategy formulated last year has the following five perspectives as keywords.
・Youth: Promoting the settlement and return of young people.
・Digital: Using digital technology to solve regional issues.
・Communication: Actively promoting the appeal of the region.
・Matching: Matching human resources and resources from within and outside the region.
・Adaptation measures: Building a social system that adapts to a declining population society.
As a specific initiative, the city is promoting the charm of the region to its residents and outside the city, calling it the "Joetsu Anniversary Year," which coincides with eight milestones, including the opening of the Shinkansen and the 20th anniversary of the merger.
The city is also focusing on youth support measures, such as the production of promotional videos by high school students, a youth activity revitalization subsidy system, and a scholarship repayment support system for returnees.
In addition, in recent years, the city has been actively concluding collaboration agreements with companies and promoting urban development through public-private collaboration. For example, Satsuma Imabun Japan developed and sold tantan noodles using ingredients from Joetsu City, and MUJI opened one of the world's largest stores and developed products in collaboration with local children.
Various projects are underway with the help of private companies.
There is also active collaboration with local NPOs, and a digital transformation promotion group called "Orareja" supports digital transformation in each region and promotes exchanges between different industries. In addition, the "5E Council" is working to create new businesses based around Joetsu Myoko Station, and many companies have expanded into the area around the station.
Potential for year-round tourism and wide-area transportation
The city is also focusing on promoting year-round tourism, and is working on initiatives based on the history and culture of Takada Castle, Kasugayama Castle, and Naoetsu. In particular, the city is currently considering ways to attract visitors to the Kasugayama area, using big data analysis and with the cooperation of external specialist companies.
The number of passengers at Joetsu Myoko Station temporarily dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has now recovered to the predicted level of over 4,000 people. It is noteworthy that since the opening of the Shinkansen, the number of people commuting to other prefectures from Joetsu City has increased. This suggests that the Shinkansen has improved wide-area access and created a new lifestyle in which people can enjoy the charm of the larger cities in the Hokuriku and Joetsu areas while living in this city.
Adapting to a declining population society and prospects for the future
Section chief Ishiguro emphasizes that in order to adapt to a declining population society, it is necessary to take future demographic trends (increases and decreases in the elderly population, decreases in the young population, and the pot-shaped population pyramid) into deep consideration.
Comparing future population projections for major cities along the Hokuriku Shinkansen and Joetsu Shinkansen lines, Joetsu City tends to have a higher rate of population decline than other large cities. Under these circumstances, how Joetsu City can maximize the potential of the Hokuriku Shinkansen area and promote sustainable urban development is an important issue.
Joetsu City has demonstrated its determination to boldly tackle these issues based on its comprehensive policy, regional revitalization, and population vision.
<How to create an effective tourism strategy by Myoko City>
The charm of Myoko City and the current state of tourism
Myoko City, with a population of about 29,000, is positioning tourism as an important local industry amid a declining birthrate and aging population. There are many companies in the accommodation and food service industries, and tourism-related industries account for a large proportion of sales.
Myoko's greatest attraction is, without a doubt, the snow. Many foreign skiers, including those from Australia, visit in the winter in search of high-quality powder snow. In addition, the rich nature and hot springs, represented by Myoko Nagomi no Yu, which has seven hot springs, five spring qualities, and three water colors, are also elements that attract tourists. In terms of food, rice, wild plants, vegetables, and local cuisine are popular, and it is also known as the hometown of YouTuber HIKAKIN. It is also famous as the "village of training camps" where many of the schools participating in the Hakone Ekiden hold their training camps.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of visitors last year reached a record high of 5.23 million people, tourism sales of 24.8 billion yen, and local circulation of 4.2 billion yen, the highest figures since data began being collected. However, the number of visitors to ski resorts in winter has not returned to pre-COVID levels, and strengthening a year-round strategy to attract visitors is a challenge.
Challenges in tourism promotion and the importance of digital utilization
Myoko City faces several important challenges in its quest to become a sustainable mountain resort.
Strengthening year-round attraction strategies: In order to attract tourists who are concentrated in winter to the green season, it is necessary to polish tourism resources and strategically attract visitors.
Communicating tourism information as a community: Although there are wonderful tourism resources, their appeal is not being fully conveyed both domestically and internationally. It is necessary to establish a story and brand image throughout the region and effectively communicate it.
Developing a tourism reception system and environment: There is a lack of secondary transportation to travel around existing tourism resources, and improving transportation is an urgent issue.
Developing and securing tourism talent: With many family-run businesses, there is a noticeable lack of successors, and resolving the problem of business succession is an urgent task. It is also essential to develop and secure specialized talent who can plan and execute tourism strategies, as well as talent who can handle the increasing number of foreign tourists.
Strengthening international competitiveness through industrial revitalization: Although there are attractive tourism resources, the system for tourists to spend money in the region has not been fully established. Opportunities and products that encourage consumption need to be created.
To solve these issues, it is essential to strengthen data utilization and digital marketing. Myoko City is strongly aware of the need to clarify domestic and international targets and establish digital marketing methods to attract them. Specifically, it is urgent to build a foundation for collecting and analyzing data such as the countries and regions of origin of inbound tourists, their travel routes in Japan, and what they are looking for, and to secure talent who can utilize that data.
In addition, information dissemination using SNS, promotions tailored to targets, effective dissemination of event information, and support for tourism business operators in improving business efficiency by promoting digital transformation are also important measures. The city is also working to improve its welcoming environment, including tourist information using chatbots and AI, and the development of a remote work environment. To solve the issue of transportation, the introduction of tourism-oriented MaaS, ride sharing, car sharing, etc. is also being considered.