About 70 kilometers north of Kyoto, Japan’s bustling cultural epicenter, sits the small fishing town of Takahama. Known today for its pristine beaches and surfing, during the Heian Period (794-1185), the aristocracy of Kyoto imported saba (mackerel) from Takahama. So much of the silvery gray fish flowed from Takahama to the ancient capital that the roads connecting the two began to be known as the “Saba Kaido” (literally, “mackerel highway”).
A thousand years later, in the midst of the weak yen and overtourism, Kyoto is looking to the Saba Kaido once again for relief — not in the form of mackerel but in the hope that the sleepy seaside village can become an alternative destination for tourists aiming to outrun the crowds in the quest for an “authentic Japan” experience.
Takahama isn’t alone in this endeavor — countless small towns across the country are grasping at any tourism overflow they can siphon off from Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Where Takahama may have a leg up, however, is through the foreign resident it relies on to evangelize its merits.
Originally from Telford, England, Bryan Eastlake has spent the past 18 years as a resident of Japan. After stints in Ehime Prefecture and Kyoto proper, he now calls Takahama home. In 2023, he began a three-year contract with the local tourism association to write, post photos and otherwise promote Takahama to a wider audience.
Eastlake, 38, says that he’s learned to use a broad brush after his first year attempting to convey the essence of Takahama to the outside world and its global audience of visitors.
“Try and get as much experience as possible,” he says, “and then you can distill that experience into concrete things."
In recent years, the Regional Revitalization Corps (RRC), a strategy by the national government in the protracted fight against rural depopulation, has become a useful tool for localities to attract tourists (and their money). With a goal of 10,000 members by 2026, the RRC is looking to residents of foreign descent in Japan to help market its provincial treasures to the world.
First launched in 2008, the RRC is under the direction of the internal affairs ministry and partners with local governments to support domestic migration from cities to the countryside. Each member serves a mission length of one to three years with a salary ranging around ¥3 million (about $20,000) plus bonuses for living expenses. Contracts follow two patterns — a general one that makes the corps member a normal employee, or a sole proprietor contract that designates the corps member as a freelancer. The specifics of each contract is decided by the locality and provides occasional flexibility for negotiations. Members are incentivized to stay in their local area to start private business or resettle after their contracts.
Currently, the program has around 200 foreign residents as members working in different industries around the country, but there has been a rising desire to hire more for tourism-related efforts.
While based in an office, Eastlake’s role in promoting the town of Takahama offers a wide latitude of freedom. His work allows him to lean into passions such as writing and photography with the aim to start a blog highlighting Takahama’s best spots (his contract stipulates he must post at least twice a month). In December, he also held bilingual discussions on the experience of living in Takahama as a foreign resident, and coordinated a trial tour for local companies to practice for future arrivals of inbound tourists.
After the conclusion of his three-year contract, Eastlake hopes to stay in Takahama to ensure stability in the tourism industry and showcase the minshuku (Japanese-style bed and breakfast) that dot the coast of Takahama.
“I think it's worth sticking out for three years,” Eastlake says, “because it might take three years for you to establish yourself.”
Seeing potential
The transition from the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme was smooth for Catherine Cornelius. For five years, the 28-year-old American came to know Fukui as a second home, falling in love with the rural prefecture’s natural beauty and charming locals. Nearing the end of her time on JET and intent on staying in Fukui, she reached out to her prefectural office.
While RRC members are generally recruited from metropolitan areas, the program permits former JET participants to remain in their local prefectures should they find a cooperating party — an easy task for Cornelius, who now works with Fukui Prefecture as part of the RRC.
“I wanted that freedom,” Cornelius says. “I’m special in that I’m a prefecture-level RRC member. I can go anywhere in the prefecture to do my job. I can collaborate with anyone as long as they’re going to be doing something similar to my mission.”
Cornelius now focuses on partnering with different pockets of non-Japanese communities, hoping to connect them with local Japanese residents. She notes her role is reminiscent of a cheerleader, with the greatest inroads she makes in the community being when she empowers members.
Whether it’s samba classes, Nepalese curry cooking courses or St. Patrick's Day festivities, Cornelius plays a role in translating, promoting on social media and connecting interested parties.
Following her contract, Cornelius wants to open a cafe targeting Japanese and non-Japanese customers — ideally, it’ll be a place with the sense of community that made her fall in love with Fukui in the first place.
Getting involved
As of now, foreign RRC members make up a fraction of the 8,000-strong contingent, meaning there’s opportunity waiting for those willing to pursue it. If that sounds like you, there is a chance you meet the criteria for an open position working under the RRC.
Listings for the program are found on their homepage, with the entirety of the hiring process being in Japanese. Each partnering municipality will post their respective missions and how many recruits they are accepting.
Working for the RRC requires a high-level of Japanese, both written and spoken. Both Eastlake and Cornelius note the importance of Japanese self-study on the program in order to quickly assimilate into the workplace and community.
Exactly how RRC members spend their days can differ greatly, but Eastlake says that for those up to the task, the collective mission of breathing new life into a rural town so desperately in need of it can be a galvanizing force.
“Whatever specific role you find yourself in within the program, you will likely be working towards the strengthening of a local community,” Eastlake says. “This in itself is not just a valuable opportunity to learn but, through your work and interactions with locals, you will be given the chance to see Japan from an entirely different perspective.”
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