A Dreamland! An Amusement Park Vibe! Excitement! We are creating 'Asobousai Land'!

On Sunday, December 17th,
the 'Kitakyushu City Disaster Prevention Festa 2023' will be held,
taking over Halls A, B, and C of the West Japan General Exhibition Center in Kokurakita Ward, Kitakyushu City.

This is an annual major event hosted by Kitakyushu City, aimed at raising disaster prevention awareness among citizens.

So, they took notice of 'Asobousai,' which always targets children and involves a wide range of generations, and
in an area covering about one-sixth of this event,
we will be creating 'Asobousai Land'.

The desire to make it fun—to make it a disaster prevention event—really shines through, doesn't it!
There are plenty of projects that both children and adults will enjoy!!
I am honored to be able to create 'Asobousai Land' in a corner of this event in collaboration with the local government.

When planning this event,
one of our members quietly said,
'I want to do all the Asobousai activities we've done so far...'
and because they said that!

We're going to do them all!!!

There are about 40 types of 'Asobousai activities' we have created so far.
Why don't we line up about 30 of them that can be completed at this venue!!

We have been given a vast area.
It is still wider than a baseball infield, and has about the space of two school gymnasiums.

It feels like just lining up 30 booths would leave it looking sparse.

There are also activities that aren't suitable for booths but can be enjoyed by large groups together.
Things like bucket brigades, true-or-false quizzes, and telephone games.

While these activities won't quite be on a 'stage,' I hope to create an event plaza-style corner where everyone can enjoy them together.

We will also be setting up about 30 activity booths, and
we want people to enjoy them using a 'stamp rally' format.

That said, since it seems difficult to go around to all 30 locations, I think I will try dividing them by 'genre'.

For example,
the 'Earthquake Corner' might have a disaster tail game,
the 'Wind and Flood Damage Corner' might have a heavy rain front golf game,
and the 'Disaster Information Corner' might have handbells or darts.

I think it would be fun if we set up several genre-specific corners and people could go around clearing at least one of them.

The target attendance is 5,000 people.
We will create over 30 booths.
The target number of staff is 100!! (We are actively recruiting! Individual participation is also welcome!!)

For the planning and preparation of this event, we have decided to establish a working group to serve as the core members.

The working group members will take on a central role in preparing for the event.

Last night, we held an online meeting with the working group members.
Since it was our first meeting, we carefully confirmed the purpose of the event and other details.

The focus of the discussion was the 'layout'.

What should we do for the layout of this 'Asobousai Land'!?

I also prepared two rough drafts and presented them to everyone.
The pros and cons of each...
Everyone's opinions...

When we combined them, a chemical reaction occurred!!!

(This is the fun part of planning meetings!!!!)

As we all talked, the theme and concept began to emerge.

'Amusement park vibe'
'Excitement'
'A dreamland'!!!

If the booths were just lined up in a bleak, monotonous way, it wouldn't be very interesting, would it?
Perhaps it would be better to have partitions behind each booth with posters and such for clarity, but that would block the view of the other side and make it feel closed off.

A cluttered feel is fine, but we don't want it to feel cramped (laughs).

Also, we want people to keep coming in, and when they leave, we want them to have completed the stamp rally, received a gift, and left feeling like they had a great time. We want to visualize that kind of flow.

As mentioned above, a sense of unity for each genre's corner is also necessary.

What we all agreed upon and decided yesterday was:
'Narrowing down the entrance and exit'.

Narrowing it down!?
The idea is that if it's clear where you entered, it creates more of that 'land' entrance excitement!

Also, by placing the exit right next to the entrance, we can clarify the entry and exit points while making it easier to enter.
Furthermore, it seems there's an element where seeing the atmosphere of people leaving makes others want to enter!

Once inside, we thought about having some booths lined up clearly along the walls, while others are set up in a circle to be enjoyed from any direction, and placing a stage (a plaza for everyone to play) at the very back where it's visible to increase fluidity and encourage people to walk around.

By taking the best parts of everyone's opinions, a wonderful layout was realized.

When the time comes that I can show it to you, I'd like to announce the layout plan itself. It became such a wonderful result of our discussion.
I definitely could not have come up with this on my own.
I truly realized the power and wonder of discussing things with everyone.

Sunday, December 17th
Children and adults alike, please come and visit us!!
We are creating the dreamland 'Asobousai Land' and will be waiting for you at the West Japan General Exhibition Center.
Of course, participation is free.

Also, this is such a big project.
We are also looking for members to work hard with us!
Our goal is to have 100 staff members!

As long as you can come to the venue, we will have roles ready for you to perform, so even partial participation, like just the morning or just the afternoon, is very welcome!
Please, we would love to have you.

Oh man, I'm so excited!!!
Discussing it with everyone has made that feeling even stronger!!

Thank you for your continued support!!

For those watching, make sure to write it in your schedule for Sunday, December 17th! (laughs)

Thank you for watching again today.

<Article from 'today' one year ago★>

It's already been a year.
It was a very meaningful course.

<Article from 'today' two years ago★>

Last night's members were also mainly students.
As they advance in grade, the members keep changing, but the juniors are growing by watching their seniors. I am very happy about that.