Shuichiro Sakaguchi (Representative of BAGN Inc. / Representative Director of Riverbank) - Communities Resonating Through Shared Values Increase Their Intensity

"Editing" through values

I currently work in two locations, Tokyo and Kagoshima, and I think both sets of values are different and both are good. There are things that should be preserved, but it's not the case that everything old should be kept, and there are things that should change. I don't think it's a matter of whether cities or rural areas are better or worse; I believe it's important to have the option of both values. I feel comfortable in both locations because I can understand the merits of both options. I think both lifestyles are enjoyable, and having both options is a very rich thing.

There is everything, from the latest things to incredibly old things. However, just because there is everything doesn't mean it's all good. In Tokyo, there is so much content that you wouldn't be able to enter anywhere without the process of editing. And to edit means to choose something, and at the same time, it means not choosing something else. Nowadays, it is harder to not choose than it is to choose.

It is a sense of editing through values. Even in the same area, by having a way of editing, the layers start to look completely different. It would be good if there were ways to enter a region from a certain perspective, and from there, have an encounter where you can listen to information about that region. Like digging through records that no one listens to and thinking about how to connect them like a DJ. It's the joy of searching around a town, editing, and creating context.

A "self-reliant, decentralized" event with no center

I was in Tokyo until my mid-30s, and when I returned to Kagoshima, I was completely an outsider. I thought I needed my own work to create a place for myself. Not just financial work, i.e., business, but work that is needed by everyone. I wanted to create a single perspective, so I thought about holding some kind of event.

At the time, several artists like potters and leather craftsmen had just become independent, and an atmosphere was emerging where they were introducing each other to others while groping for ways to make themselves known. From within that community, the GOOD NEIGHBORS JAMBOREE (*1), a cross-cultural event where people enjoy creative activities across genres—music, design, craft, art, dance, photography, film, literature, food, etc.—in nature, began. Separately, a roving fair that connects shops and artists in the city was also launched. That is "ash Design & Craft Fair" (*2). In 2021, which marked its 14th year, 83 creators and 57 shops participated. I believe the reason why this 'ash' has continued for so long, and why it is interesting, is that it is a "self-reliant, decentralized" model with no center.

Shops and artists talk independently and decide where to sell their work. Basically, negotiations are done by each individual, and there are no particular selection criteria for artists. The secretariat just organizes things. Even so, quality and order are maintained because there is mutual agreement. What the people who gather at 'ash' are building is not a community based on local ties, but a community based on values. It is not carried out by a centralized center taking charge of everything; artists and shops are connected by values, and each is acting spontaneously.

Because there is no center, everyone is free, and there is no power structure. I think it is easy to reach a consensus because people gather with shared values. Or rather than consensus, it feels like resonance. It feels like the tuning is somehow aligned. And that feeling is overlaid and thickened each time we hold the event. That's why it continues and spreads. We are just pushing them from behind.

If there is a vision accompanied by values, people will gather across locations

When I look at the artists, I feel that their mindset is different before and after the bubble generation. We are the generation that barely missed experiencing the bubble. People from the era when things made were sold from right to left seem to prefer the top-down model. A top-down community where power is concentrated in someone will disappear when that person quits, but a bottom-up model is easier to sustain because everyone is doing it spontaneously. And if there is a vision accompanied by values, people will gather there across locations.

The value that participating artists and shops feel is clear, and that is connection = social capital. Artists and shops talk among themselves, and while using this kind of festival as a starting point, it is properly turning into business. I don't think the people who participate in 'ash' have sales as their primary goal. Neither the participants nor we expect any profit at all. After all, everyone is selling quite a bit, but that is just a result. More than that, the fact that money is generated and the economy circulates in other places because connections are made in this community is greater. For artists, shops, and us, being able to connect with good people is more of a benefit. We aren't aiming for anything, and I feel that it is becoming work precisely because we aren't aiming for it.

Customers also gather and roam around, targeted by their interest in crafts, art, and culture. 'ash' requires you to research which shop has what yourself, and because the areas are dispersed, there is a certain hurdle to going around, so it became a structure where you have to commit spontaneously to enjoy it, which wasn't intended. Therefore, it is hard for overtourism to occur, where people concentrate in one place. I think the value of the area is rising, but perhaps capital doesn't notice it, or thinks it's pointless to do it here, so it doesn't really enter. A structure has been created where shops naturally enter old properties with low real estate value or areas that have become slightly unsafe and have no competition, lighting up one by one, and people with ideas gather there. It's like SoHo in New York. Places that are lively stay lively, and they remain gently without much fluctuation. Such success stories are piling up one after another within our community.

Local production for local consumption of culture

If 'ash' is an event that is self-reliant and decentralized, GOOD NEIGHBORS JAMBOREE is an event with a sense of unity that is self-reliant while being consolidated. Within overlapping communities, through these two events, diffusion and contraction have become like a parallel system, and it has continued for over 10 years.

How you show it to the outside of the region is of course important, but if you only try to sell to outsiders from the beginning, it won't resonate. Since people who won't come won't come even if you try hard to promote it actively to outsiders, showing it to the inside of the region is actually more important. I think it is better to put effort into how much the region consumes or enjoys its own culture in a good sense by letting people inside the region know that "there are such good people in Kagoshima."

We use the term "local production for local consumption of culture." For example, Kagoshima has surpassed Shizuoka in tea production to become number one in Japan, but people have an image of tea in Shizuoka and Kyoto, right? There are many tea shops in Kyoto and it is drunk often. How much local people consume local products is definitely conveyed to the outside. It is important to make it so that local people can say that local culture is essentially good. And it is to say that the things you think are good are good and share them. It is easier to deny than to affirm. If you lower your self-affirmation and say "this is no good" for the time being, you can just say "see, it was no good" when it fails, and when it goes well, you can just stay silent. Affirming something comes with responsibility. It is to say that something is good with the feeling that you really want to share what you truly thought was wonderful. As a result, I think it will be conveyed to the outside of the region as well.