Kamiyama Town and Green Valley — 15 Years from Abandoned School to Creative Hub

Kamiyama Town in Myozai District, Tokushima Prefecture, is located in a mountainous area approximately 40 minutes by car from Tokushima City, with a population of approximately 5,000. With an aging rate reaching approximately 46%, it is a typical depopulated area in Japan.

Yet this town has a distinctive demographic: over 100 people move in annually, half of whom are in their 20s and 30s. Centered on IT, design, and film-related companies, 16 companies operate satellite offices, and in 2023, the private Kamiyama Marugoto College of Technology opened.

At the center of this transformation is Certified NPO Green Valley.

Not Stopping Decline, But Changing Its Content

"Creative depopulation" is a concept proposed by Green Valley board member Shinya Ominami, forming the foundational vision for Kamiyama's community development. It is a strategy that accepts population decline as a given, then aims for a sustainable community by changing the "content" of that decline — who leaves and who arrives.

The Concept's Core

Shinya Ominami studied at Stanford University Graduate School in the late 1970s, experiencing Silicon Valley culture firsthand. After returning to Kamiyama and beginning community development, Ominami recognized early the unrealistic nature of the goal to "increase population."

The creative depopulation strategy is summarized in three points:

1. Accept depopulation: Do not attempt to reverse the population decline trend itself
2. Change population composition: Promote inflow of young people and creative talent to correct the elderly-heavy composition
3. Enable diverse work styles: Increase the town's value as a place for diverse businesses, not relying solely on agriculture and forestry

The importance of this vision lies in redefining "depopulation countermeasures." Conventional approaches implicitly aimed to "increase population," but creative depopulation sets the goal of "improving the quality of population composition." Not quantity recovery but quality transformation — this is the essence of the Kamiyama model.

Launch of Kamiyama Artist-in-Residence

Kamiyama Artist-in-Residence (KAIR) is an international art project that began in 1999. Each year from late August for approximately two months, 3 to 5 artists from Japan and abroad reside in Kamiyama creating works. Over 50 artists from 17 countries have participated to date.

Art's Structural Role

KAIR's achievement is not that "artworks remain" but that external connection circuits were constructed.

Cultivating a welcoming culture: Receiving artists of different nationalities and backgrounds each year gradually built a culture of "welcoming outsiders" among residents. In many rural Japanese communities, wariness toward "outsiders" is the greatest barrier to migration promotion, but in Kamiyama, KAIR progressively lowered this wall.

Place branding: The image of "a mountain town where artists gather" attracted the attention of creative professionals who seek "interesting places." This became the soil for subsequent satellite office recruitment.

Facility utilization prototype: KAIR used idle facilities — former nurseries, factory buildings — as artist activity bases. This experience accumulated as practical knowledge for later school reuse and satellite office development.

16 Companies Is 'Structure,' Not 'Miracle'

At first glance, 16 IT companies establishing offices in a depopulated area of 5,000 people appears coincidental or miraculous. However, this result was achieved through the alignment of three structural factors.

Factor 1: Fiber Optic Network Development

In 2005, Tokushima Prefecture promoted digital terrestrial broadcast development through its cable TV network, and in this process, fiber optic lines were laid throughout the prefecture. High-speed internet environment was established even in Kamiyama's mountain areas, creating the physical infrastructure for IT companies to set up remote work bases.

While this factor could be called "fortunate," leveraging it was Green Valley's intentional decision. Fiber optic enabled satellite offices — Green Valley coordinated this "infrastructure × user matching."

Factor 2: Vacant House Stock Utilization

Accompanying depopulation, many vacant houses existed in Kamiyama. Green Valley served as intermediary for utilizing these as satellite offices and migrant housing.

Particularly, the "work-in-residence" method — an approach that nominates professionals with specific skills and invites them to relocate — exceeded simple vacant house matching as a strategic talent recruitment mechanism. Rather than "anyone is welcome," the "reverse nomination" migration promotion of "we want people like this" directly contributed to qualitative improvement of population composition.

Factor 3: NPO Coordinator Function

Green Valley's most important role was the coordinator function as a third entity that is neither government nor private enterprise.

• Property intermediation: Negotiations with vacant house owners, renovation coordination
• Corporate dialogue: Information provision and site visit support for companies interested in satellite offices
• Resident bridging: Supporting relationship building between new occupants/companies and existing residents
• Government liaison: Subsidy applications, regulatory adjustments, policy proposals

This multifaceted coordination function is difficult to achieve within government's siloed organizations and differs from for-profit corporate logic. The NPO organizational form functioned as a "translator" among stakeholders.

Kamiyama Valley Satellite Office Complex

In 2013, with Green Valley at the center, a former sewing factory was renovated to open the "Kamiyama Valley Satellite Office Complex." As a coworking-capable incubation facility, it became a new base for company recruitment.

From Abandoned School to Educational Hub

In April 2023, Kamiyama Marugoto College of Technology opened. As the first new college of technology in Japan in 19 years, preparation was led by Chikahiro Terada, CEO of Sansan Inc..

Former Kamiyama Junior High School buildings were renovated and repurposed as student dormitories and dining halls, with new school buildings also constructed. With support from over 70 companies, effectively tuition-free education was achieved.

The Soil Created by Green Valley's 15 Years

Kamiyama Marugoto Kosen's location in Kamiyama was enabled by the soil created through 15 years of Green Valley's activities:

1. Brand as "a town where interesting people gather": Accumulated reputation from KAIR through satellite offices formed the image that "something interesting is happening in Kamiyama," creating the basis for being chosen as the kosen's location
2. Culture of welcoming external talent: Over 25 years of receiving artists, IT engineers, and migrants created the foundation for welcoming kosen students and faculty
3. Multi-sector collaboration foundation: The track record of cross-sector collaboration built around Green Valley enabled the government-industry-academia partnerships necessary for kosen operations

Structural Effects of Education on the Region

The significance of a kosen in a town of approximately 5,000 extends beyond simply "a school was built":

• Youth population increase: 40 students × 5 years = approximately 200 young people in their late teens to early 20s added to the town
• Education-related population: Including faculty, staff, and their families, additional population effects of several dozen
• Corporate connections: Ongoing relationships with 70+ supporting companies generate new business opportunities

Reproducibility of the Kamiyama Model

Kamiyama's success is the result of over 15 years of accumulation, not a case where "copying the methods produces the same results." However, structural lessons are applicable to other regions.

Reproducible Elements

Phased approach: Rather than starting directly with satellite office recruitment, Kamiyama's staged progression of art → migration → corporate recruitment is applicable elsewhere. The first step is "creating external connection circuits" — it need not be art; any entry point suited to local characteristics will work.

Establishing a coordinator organization: The existence of a coordinator organization positioned between government and the private sector is both reproducible and should be reproduced. NPO, general incorporated association, or townscape company — the form doesn't matter, but an organization that handles coordination among stakeholders is indispensable.

Strategic utilization of vacant houses and idle facilities: The mindset of redefining vacant houses and abandoned schools — typically viewed as "negative assets" — as "resources" for attracting external talent is applicable to any region with such properties.

Difficult-to-Reproduce Elements

Leader presence: The existence of visionary Shinya Ominami is the most difficult element to reproduce. A leader who maintained a consistent vision and acted on it for over 25 years cannot be substituted through institutional design.

Fiber optic timing: The fortunate timing of prefectural policy extending fiber optics to mountain areas is difficult to intentionally reproduce. However, current options including 5G and satellite internet are expanding, and communication infrastructure constraints are decreasing.

15 years of accumulation: Kamiyama's transformation was achieved gradually over 15+ years. Securing this timeframe within political cycles that demand short-term results is the greatest barrier for most municipalities.

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The Kamiyama case demonstrates that idle facility utilization can become "a tool for designing the region's future," not merely "building reuse." The 15-year trajectory from art through satellite offices to a technical college opening is not replicable overnight. However, the vision of "creative depopulation" — accepting population decline while changing quality — is a concept every depopulated area should study.

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Complete Guide to Abandoned School Reuse

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References

What is NPO Green Valley? (2024)

Regional Revitalization Utilizing Changes in Work Styles (Telework) (2015)

How Kamiyama, Tokushima Became the 'Sacred Ground of Regional Revitalization' (2019)

Kamiyama Marugoto Kosen: What Kind of School Raised ¥10 Billion to Open? (2023)