At the inaugural Satoyama Consortium symposium organized by The Japan Times on May 16 in Tokyo, municipal leaders discussed the possibilities of economic activities stemming from efforts involving "satoyama capitalism," a concept recently promoted in Japan to take advantage of natural resources in satoyama, which are rural communal woodlots that are shared and maintained by local residents. A similar concept in relation to the ocean is called satoumi.
At the session, Hidehiko Yuzaki, governor of Hiroshima Prefecture; Eikei Suzuki, governor of Mie Prefecture; and Gen Nakagawa, mayor of Nara, shared their thoughts on this topic. Hiroki Kuriyama, head of strategic business development and in charge of the 2020 Project at NTT Corp., moderated the discussion.
The following are translated excerpts from the discussion.