Hiroyuki Takahashi, CEO of Amekaze Taiyo Co., Ltd.

Blending urban and rural areas to create a sustainable society

Representative Director of Amekaze Taiyo Co., Ltd.　Hiroyuki Takahashi(Takahashi Hiroyuki)

■ Profile

Born in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture in 1974. Graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. After working as a secretary to a member of parliament, he was first elected to the Iwate Prefectural Assembly in 2006. In the following year's election, he was elected for a second consecutive term, topping the list. After the earthquake, he ran for the Iwate Prefectural Governor election to be at the forefront of reconstruction, but lost by a runner-up and retired from politics. In 2013, he founded the NPO Tohoku Kaikon, and launched the world's first food-related information magazine, "Tohoku Taberu Tsushin," which connects local producers with urban consumers, and served as editor-in-chief. In 2015, he founded our company and became its representative director.

Food is something we all deal with every day. When procuring ingredients, do you think of the producer's face and say thank you? After overcoming a painful past, and while working in politics, the Great East Japan Earthquake gave him a glimpse of the limitations of rural areas. We spoke to CEO Takahashi about the future society he envisions for Amakaze Taiyo Co., Ltd., which operates Pocket Marche and other sites, with the mission of "blending urban and rural areas."

Life doesn't always go the way you want it to. First of all, I went to college three times. At the time, Aoyama Gakuin University, where I attended, was located on top of a mountain, about a 30-minute bus ride from Atsugi Station. Once you advanced to your third year, you'd move on to Aoyama, Tokyo, the city of flowers. I couldn't advance to the next grade, and I experienced the "Atsugi Gaeshi" twice (laughs). The reason I couldn't advance was because I lost sight of my purpose in attending college. I lived with my parents until high school, and went to school as a matter of course. However, my older sister was intellectually disabled, and even as a child I wondered questions like, "Why was I born like this? What is the purpose of life?" Then, when I moved to Tokyo for college and started living alone, that question suddenly hit me: "What exactly am I living for?" I went on a journey abroad to find myself, but I couldn't figure anything out.
After returning to Japan, I started working part-time at a TV station and eventually decided to pursue a career as a journalist. My job search focused solely on newspapers, and I applied to both national and local publications for three years, but I was rejected everywhere. I wrote over 100 resumes (laughs). At the time, newspaper reporters were the hottest prospects, and only one in 100 people passed. So, to gain work experience and pass interviews, I started carrying the bag of a senior university student and member of parliament. I started the world of politics for such a shameless reason, but I gradually became interested in it. Suddenly, I felt a strong desire to take the microphone and speak. I wanted to return to my hometown of Iwate, where I had been so cared for, see the same sky, breathe the same air, and have my voice heard by my local classmates. With that in mind, I returned to Iwate, but rural elections are heavily dependent on organized voting, leaving little room for young people. This was especially true since Iwate was the stronghold of politician Ichiro Ozawa. So, every morning, I continued to stand at residential intersections and along rice paddies, and a year and a few months later, I was finally elected. Life doesn't always go as planned. Once I decided not to look too far ahead and instead cherish the connections and encounters that come my way, things started to move and I've come this far.

The earthquake highlighted the limitations of rural areas

My impetus for starting Amekaze Taiyo was a head-on collision. When the earthquake struck on March 11, 2011, I rushed to the affected areas to provide support, and a sudden desire to become a leader and help with recovery from the disaster suddenly dawned on me. With that aspiration in mind, I ran for governor, but lost. Natural disasters highlight social issues that don't wait, so I retired from politics. Then, in the disaster-stricken fishing town of Sanriku, I met a fisherman. He told me, "This town was already at a dead end even before the earthquake. Even if we caught fish, no one would eat it. That was the final straw." Today, production and consumption are so separate that we don't see the fishermen's faces, and we buy at the supermarket just by looking at the price. I realized that the rational consumer behavior of maximizing cost-effectiveness—getting as much as possible at the lowest possible cost—was driving local producers into a corner. Furthermore, as I learned more about his harsh life as a fisherman, I began to want to buy his fish at his asking price, even if it was slightly more expensive than the fish at the supermarket. If we could make the producers behind our food visible, it would be possible to sell it at a fair price, which would mean we could create a world where producers are rewarded. With this in mind, we started the information magazine "Taberu Tsushin" and the direct-from-farm e-commerce site "Pocket Marche," which connect producers and consumers.

■ "Mixing cities and rural areas"

Amekaze Taiyo has three main businesses.
The first is a food service called "Pocket Marche." It is an online market currently registered with 8,100 producers and 730,000 users nationwide, and can be easily described as "the primary industry version of Mercari." With "Pokemaru," you can also communicate with your smartphone and set your own prices.
The second is a travel service called "Parent-Child Regional Study Abroad." As the number of people without hometowns is increasing, we are developing programs where parents and children who have no hometowns to return to during the summer vacation can come to rural areas, where the parents can work remotely and the children can experience farming on a farm.
The third is local government support services. Local governments are now often referred to as "department stores of issues," facing a variety of challenges, including depopulation and aging populations. We have strong connections with local producers, providing support to strengthen local governments by teaching them how to sell and deliver products directly and by creating workation programs. A consistent concept underlying all three of Amakaze Taiyo's core businesses is "mixing urban and rural areas." In today's cities, the overconcentration of population in Tokyo has led to various challenges, including a lack of living conditions and a lack of workers. Meanwhile, rural areas, facing challenges such as a lack of workers due to their underpopulation, are facing challenges. In other words, "mixing" means "bringing urban vitality to rural areas and rural leisure to urban areas." We hope to encourage urban residents to purchase and eat seasonal regional ingredients while still in the city, and to bring their children to nature during summer vacations as if they were visiting their hometowns, giving them a sense of leisure and occasional relaxation. For rural residents, we hope to encourage them to visit from all over the country and purchase products at reasonable prices, leading to vitality.

■ "Direct from the Farm SNS" that values ​​"space" and fosters connections

Pokemaru is not just a direct-from-farm e-commerce site; it's a "direct-from-farm social network" where relationships are forged. Two-way transactions, where producers and consumers can see each other's faces, foster feelings of gratitude. For example, Pokemaru has a rule that farmers notify customers of completed shipments, such as "We've shipped it from the ocean." This can be surprising for customers who have only ever purchased from supermarkets. Furthermore, if farmers remember a customer's address, name, and whether they purchased from them last month, they'll take the time to send a 10-second message to the customer saying, "Thank you for purchasing from us last month and again this month." This effort isn't necessary, but it's possible if you want to. The characters for "effort" and "time" contain the character "ma" (space between people). It's written as "between people," meaning "human." Spending time and effort with customers builds relationships. Once relationships are formed and you connect on Instagram, you get to know each other even better. One farmer even sent apples as a baby gift to a newborn family, even though he hadn't placed an order yet. It's just like an older relative from the countryside (laughs).
From the buyer's perspective, receiving a gift from a city-dwelling, hometownless man who always buys apples from them is a gift they'll never be able to let go of. And when the farmer holds an event at a Ginza antenna shop, they visit to show off their children. Isn't that incredibly emotional? (laughs) While there are competing services with similar mechanisms, this "distance between producers and consumers" is what makes Pokemaru unique. We deliberately state in our service FAQ that we "do not intervene," allowing for direct, closed communication between producers and consumers. This could lead to the risk of middlemen selling directly to producers in exchange for payment. However, we prioritize the engagement that comes from establishing a two-way connection over that risk. Increased engagement fosters relationships and encourages long-term purchases. It also improves producers' selling power. The most important aspect of marketing is knowing your customers. Connecting directly with customers can sometimes be harsh, but that's a weakness in your own production and sales. Producers who listen to their feedback and make improvements will steadily improve their selling power, ultimately leading to a more sustainable society.

■ Increasing the "related population" and revitalizing cities and rural areas

It is said that the Japanese population will fall below 100 million by 2050, a loss of more than 20 million people from now. So, to put it in extreme terms, what if by 2050 all Japanese citizens had registered residence in two places and were able to travel between urban and rural areas? We believe that if the number of people with registered residence who are actively involved in rural areas, in other words the "connected population," increases, the vitality of the entire country will increase. First, we aim to increase the "quantity" of people involved in rural areas through three services. In other words, we want to give many people a passport from urban to rural areas and increase the number of people involved in rural areas in whatever way.
Furthermore, we work with large companies on things that cannot be done by a single company. For example, Japan Airlines wants to revitalize rural areas, but has no way of doing so, because if rural areas decline, there will be no one to transport them. On the other hand, we want to increase the number of people traveling between cities and rural areas, but we do not have the means of transportation. For this reason, we have formed a comprehensive business partnership and are working together.
We are also looking for people who share the same aspirations. Let's bring together urban and rural areas to create a sustainable society together!

■Message to university students

Head-on collisions won't happen unless you go outside. That's it! (laughs). It's really important to encounter something unexpected, and for that encounter to give rise to new ideas. Head-on collisions won't happen if you just sit at home looking at your smartphone! I think it's important to just go outside and, if something seems interesting, try it out without thinking too much about it.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on February 27, 2024 by Yui Takemura, a fourth-year student at Senshu University and Eri Kawaguchi, a first-year student at Tamagawa University

Meiji University Graduate School 1st year student, Sakai Yaku / Tamagawa University 1st year student, Kawaguchi Eri / Senshu University 4th year student, Takemura Yui