Innovative Collaboration Revives Tourism and Cultural Heritage on Sado Island
Sado, the largest of Japan's "Remote Islands," is located in Niigata Prefecture on Japan's west coast. Since 2018, we have been collaborating with the Sado Tourism Association. Initially hired as consultants, our task was to develop programs on Sado that attract young international travelers. Today, we are running the "Mother Nature" environmental and cultural volunteering program on the island.
Sado island faces significant challenges, including a shrinking and aging population, which has decreased from 126,000 in 1950 to 49,000 in 2022, and a decline in tourism. Previously, Sado was also a popular vacation destination for Japanese tourists. However, since the mid-1990s, due to the rise of budget airlines offering cheaper travel to more distant and "exotic" destinations like Guam, Bali, Okinawa, or Hawaii, tourist numbers have halved.
The result in Sado is abandoned buildings and even entire villages. Historical buildings, such as temples, are also deteriorating due to a lack of local people visiting for religious reasons and tourists exploring these sites. Monks, often over 80 years old, struggle to find successors. This is leading to a loss of cultural heritage.
To address this problem, we initiated a collaboration with Chokokuji Temple. The temple, which was already founded in the year 807, is one of Sado's largest and most interesting temples, hosting a large number of cultural assets declared as Nationally or Prefecturally Important Cultural Properties.
We use Chokokuji Temple as the base and accommodation for volunteers joining our Mother Nature Environmental Protection Volunteer Program on Sado. A portion of the program fees supports the temple’s preservation. The temple also serves as accommodation for interns in other programs we offer on Sado, such as restaurant internships. Besides providing financial support to the temple through out program, our volunteers contribute to the temple's upkeep through their work. One day per week, our volunteers clean the temple, perform gardening, and conduct various maintenance and repair tasks.
In 2024, we also launched a souvenir shop within the temple. We cleared out a room in the temple and built display furniture. Volunteers work in the shop, selling temple devotionals and sustainably produced souvenirs from Sado. We also rent out kimonos, snorkeling equipment, and bicycles to visitors. All proceeds from the shop and rentals go directly to Chokokuji Temple.
Besides Chokokuji Temple, we also cooperate with other local groups in activities related to environmental conservation, maintenance of historic rice fields and other historic structures, and local festivals. The meals for program participants are sourced from nearby local restaurants.
Through innovative tourism activities, we generate alternative income for historical structures, contributing to the preservation of cultural heritage and revitalization of the local economy. At the same time, we deliver meaningful activities and provide deep insights to our international program participants, which are hard to get through more conventional forms of tourism.
Join us!
Ich denke, es kann etwas einschüchternd sein, aber trotzdemes wird das Beste sein, was du je tun wirst. Ich vermisse Japan jeden Tag. Komm einfach mit etwas Geld, falls unvorhergesehene Dinge passieren. In meinem Fall hätte ich vielleicht etwas mehr Geld haben sollen, bevor ich hin ging. Am besten, du sparst einfach ein wenig Geld, bevor du herkommst.
Und ich würde einfach sagen, mach es, wenn du kannst. Ich hatte keinen anderen Plan, außer dass ich diesen Job wollte. Und irgendwie hat es geklappt. Ich denke, wenn ich dazu in der Lage war, dann kann es jeder andere auch!
