[Yoron Island] My hometown has been chosen as the setting for an NHK morning drama!

On Monday, July 13, the NHK Osaka Broadcasting Station announced that it will produce a series titled "Nagisa no Shinkaron" (Nagisa's Theory of Evolution) as its morning drama for the second half of 2027, set in modern-day Osaka and Yoron Island.

This news spread through the island in an instant. I received many DMs and LINE messages from friends and followers saying "Congratulations!", but honestly, I don't quite feel it personally. That's because I really don't watch TV...

The protagonist is a veterinarian. It seems this will be the first time in morning drama history that this profession is featured as the heroine. The story depicts a veterinarian struggling with cow births and emergency cases on an island where there are more cows than people in the livestock industry. It is true that Yoron Island has about 6,000 cows compared to about 4,900 residents.

The heroine will be chosen through auditions, and filming is scheduled to begin in March 2027. This will be the first morning drama set in Kagoshima Prefecture since "Manten" in the second half of 2002.

The script is being written by Koji Tokuo, known for works like "Ossan's Love" and "Lion no Kakurega." He commented that he spent six months interviewing veterinarians across the country and used each of their experiences as a guide for the story.

Why this news is important for "tourism"

Being the setting for a morning drama means something different than a one-off topic. It means that the island's scenery and lifestyle will be broadcast into living rooms across the country every morning for six months. During the pre-trip information gathering stage, the name and images of Yoron Island will be unconsciously imprinted in people's minds in front of the TV. This is exposure that would be worth a huge amount of money if converted into advertising costs, and it can become a motivation for visiting the island for years to come in the form of pilgrimages to the filming locations even after the broadcast ends.

However, I also believe we shouldn't get too carried away here.

There are many cases where regions that saw an increase in visitors due to the morning drama effect ended up with a temporary boom because their accommodation and transportation capacities couldn't keep up. Yoron Island also has a structural issue of a shortage of lodging. If we only chase the buzz without having a proper reception system in place, the worst-case scenario could occur where people come and leave disappointed.

I see this news as the greatest tailwind for Yoron Island, but at the same time, it is also the final opportunity to seriously review the island's reception system.

Thoughts from someone born and raised on the island

I was born and raised on Yoron Island, and I am currently serving as a tourism ambassador for this island. My family home is a guesthouse that my father has been running for 57 years, so I am someone who has seen both island life and tourism in my daily life.

That is precisely why I cannot just be happy about this news as if it were someone else's business. Once filming begins, local businesses, the government, and the tourism association will all be moving from their respective positions. What is needed at that time, I believe, is not just communication based on momentum, but the foundation of information dissemination we have built up so far and actions that connect stakeholders on the island.

Since 2019, I have been disseminating information about Yoron Island and handling inquiries on social media (as a help desk for island tourism), and since 2022, I have also been handling cases from the Yoron Town government, dealing with matters that go beyond the scope of tourism. It is precisely when big news like this arrives that these steady efforts should pay off.

The joy of the morning drama decision and a small snag somewhere in my heart

The moment I heard that Yoron Island would be the setting for a morning drama, I was genuinely happy. It is not often that the island where I was born and raised is introduced to the whole country in such a big way.

However, at the same time, I feel a small snag somewhere in my heart. This is because I believe the island's greatest charm lies in the way time flows, where there is nothing. The unhurried days, the atmosphere where no one cares if things don't go as planned, that slow daily life called "island time." The anxiety that this most important part might be diluted as the buzz spreads and more people come has been clinging to the back of my joy the whole time.

As someone from the island and as a tourism ambassador, honestly, there is not much I can do alone. I want to do what I can within my reach to keep in step with my local colleagues and pass on the island's character to the next generation while protecting it.

Yoron Island has been chosen as the setting for a morning drama.
It will likely receive a lot of attention from now on.

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