“Autonomous Decentralization” was not just an ideal. A story about the scenery I encountered in Tachiarai Town

The persistent sense of discomfort with being tied to working for a single company

Since becoming a freelancer in 2025, I have continued a way of working where I engage with multiple organizations simultaneously on projects.

I provide sales and marketing support for companies, drive DX initiatives, and serve as an advisor for local governments. I work together on time-bound projects with people who have completely different backgrounds.

Sometimes I am asked, “Why don’t you belong to just one company?”

The answer is simple, because I think it does not fit the current era.

A way of working where you entrust everything to a single organization is, in a sense, centralized. Information, decisions, and careers are all concentrated on one axis. While that may look stable, it is also a structure that gradually erodes individual autonomy.

A managed society, a controlled career. I have always had concerns about drifting in that direction.

There are people who often complain about the methods or the direction of the company they work for, yet still follow along; I suppose that is simply something I am incapable of doing.

That is why I work on a project basis. People with various backgrounds gather temporarily for a purpose and bring their respective expertise. When it is over, we disband and meet someone else on another project. I believe that such an autonomously decentralized way of working is better suited for the current and future era.

While I think that way, honestly, the thought that “that’s just an ideal, isn’t it?” was also somewhere in the back of my mind.
But I would like to introduce, through my work with a small town in Fukuoka Prefecture, that it is by no means just an ideal.

I have written about the practical details here.

The leopard-print civil servant and the 10-year-long town development effect verification

Tachiarai Town. A town with a population of about 16,000 located in the south-central part of Fukuoka Prefecture.
There was a civil servant named Mami Murata in the Regional Promotion Division here. (Currently at Ukiha City through a personnel exchange.)
She has worked in this town ever since she joined the office at 19. Regional branding, tourism, hometown tax, DX—before she knew it, her assigned duties kept increasing, and she handles them with a division staff of 14. Her self-introduction is that her only responses are “Yes,” “Okay,” and “I’ll do my best!”

And she has one trademark: leopard print.
Clothes, business cards, accessories. It seems she has a variation of leopard print for all four seasons. The reason is that when she started promoting the town on social media, she decided, “I will become the symbol.” She is someone who put the idea of an individual becoming a media outlet into practice back in 2012.

It seems she was even flamed at first. Apparently, complaints came to the town office asking, “What is a civil servant doing?” But her colleagues, her superiors, and the local people protected her. And in 2023, that town became number one in Kyushu in the “Town Happiness Ranking,” and its population continues to hit record highs.

I became involved as an advisor in November 2025.
The theme was the effect measurement of regional branding projects. I wanted to visualize the results of the measures that had been continued for about 10 years with numbers. It was a request to create a state where we could explain it to the assembly and the townspeople with evidence!

Providing support through weekly online meetings. With a fully remote, four-hour-per-month engagement, I worked together with them to identify existing quantitative data, create and analyze surveys for missing information, and develop KPI designs and operational manuals for the coming fiscal year.

The work of creating numbers and seeing the field

My work as an analysis advisor centers on dealing with data.

While catching up on what Tachiarai Town has done so far, I confirmed the availability of that quantitative data and organized it so that the data on hand could be visualized.

Even so, there was not enough data. There was an overwhelming lack of data regarding the areas where I felt a tangible impact based on intuition. So, I decided to collect surveys. I designed the items from scratch so that the achievements of Tachiarai Town's branding project could be communicated quantitatively for anyone to see at a glance, and I called for responses widely at the end of December.

As a result, we received responses from 1,288 people. I analyzed the collected surveys and visualized the town's "interest," "action," and "attachment" using three scores. I designed the KPIs and established an operational structure that does not rely on specific individuals. I organized how to conduct monthly reviews and who should produce what output.

That was rewarding work in its own right. But the numbers on the screen are abstract, no matter how far you go.

Just as I was feeling that way, I heard that the "Lettuce Festa," one of Tachiarai Town's branding projects, was going to be held. March 1, 2026. I decided to go to the site.

The scenery I saw at Tachiarai Park on March 1st

To be honest, I was surprised the moment I arrived at the venue.
I can't believe so many people have gathered for an event in such a rural area, I thought.

About 2,500 people. The food and drink booths were bustling, music and singing could be heard from the stage, and a crowd had formed around a bubble performance.
But that wasn't what left the biggest impression on me.

Children were running around on the park lawn.

They came with their moms and dads, laughing and frolicking, chasing bubbles, and running again. It was just that, but the scenery was truly wonderful.

Seeing children having fun makes me feel like the future is bright.

So many people gathered and smiling. Just that alone makes me feel happy.
I also met with everyone from the Regional Promotion Division, including Mr. Murata, at the venue. Everyone welcomed me very warmly. I think it is very important to actually meet the people you usually only talk to through an online screen. There is a limit to how much you can feel things like passion and warmth online.

And then it occurred to me.
The KPIs and indicators I had been designing on my screen for the past few months—this scenery is what lies beyond them.

"Autonomous decentralization" has already begun

Mami Murata is someone who has had her "compass needle fixed" in Tachiarai Town ever since she was 19.

On the other hand, I am someone who moves across multiple organizations through projects.
At first glance, we might seem like opposites. But in reality, I believe we are facing the same direction.

What she has been doing is moving the town by engaging in dialogue with residents, the private sector, and outsiders, all while remaining within the administrative organization. She opened "Snack Mami" to create a place where entrepreneurs and newcomers could meet. She took tavern owners to a shochu brewery to create a local highball. She operates not through organizational hierarchy, but through projects and connections.

That is exactly the practice of autonomous decentralization.

Instead of leaving everything to a large organization, various people get involved for a purpose, bringing their own strengths to the table. Someone like me, who comes from the outside, adds a little something and then moves on to the next thing.

The voice saying, "Autonomous decentralization is just an ideal, isn't it?" was somewhere in the back of my mind.

But in this town, about 2,500 people were gathered on the lawn. Children were running around. The branding that had been built up steadily over 10 years had certainly created a "place where people come."

That was not an ideal; it was reality.

Moving forward, I will continue to move across projects

My work in Tachiarai Town came to a milestone at the end of March.

Now, I am involved in advisory work for the administration in another municipality on a similar theme of "utilizing data for policy," and outside of administration, I am involved in projects that aim to revitalize the region, such as with small and medium-sized enterprises and sports teams.

There are things you can see by not being tied to a single organization and moving across projects. There are chemical reactions that occur by bringing in different contexts.

I want to continue working in that way from now on.

Autonomous decentralization is not an ideal. It has already begun.

Regarding the survey analysis in Tachiarai Town, the report has been published on the official Tachiarai Town website, so please take a look if you are interested!
https://www.town.tachiarai.fukuoka.jp/kiji0032042/index.html