The Generation That Loved “Tomorrow’s Joe”

A question I want to ask UNI-SIGHT readers.
How do you feel when you open a new issue?

Oh! Just when I am so busy, here it is again!
You regret just skimming it, or forgetting to read it…
(Forgive me, Juan.)

I must apologize to younger folks who won’t understand, but I think the missed something by not watching Star of the Giants, Tomorrow's Joe, and Tiger Mask (all TV anime that were huge hits in the 1960s and 1970s) when they were in school. To offer this comment when everyone prefers “happy talk” seems wrong. Still, it would be a good thing, I think, if UNI-SIGHT would be as popular as the characters like Hoshi Hyuma, Tange Danpei, and Tiger Mask.

That is why I want to introduce here the Ashita no Joe? project underway at UNIVA Japan, a company with fewer than 20 employees.

There is a town on the island of Hokkaido, on the northernmost edge of Japan. With a population density of only 2.2/㎢, it ranks 1955th on this measure; only Hinoemata, a village in Fukushima Prefecture ranks lower at 1956. This is Japan’s most sparsely populated town.

And the winter temperature is minus 41.2 degrees. The town with the lowest temperature record in Japan. The lowest temperature in Japan! Three meters of snow in winter, which is okay.

This town is small but proud.
It is No. 1 in Japan in land area devoted to soba (Japanese buckwheat) cultivation.
Shumarinaiko, Japan’s largest artificial lake, is home to a rare freshwater fish, the Sakhalin taimen.
Its Horokanai High School has only thirty students and, thus, the best student-teacher ratio in Japan.
It does not, however, have a convenience store.

On September 4, this small town in the far north, filled with hopes and dreams despite the reality of depopulation, inked a comprehensive contract with UNIVA Japan to promote workcation, renewable energy, and café and workplace businesses, recruit high school students, and market locally grown soba.

The joint workcation proposal developed by UNIVA Japan and Horokanai was one of only thirty workcation promotions from all over Japan selected as a model project for fiscal 2022 by the Japan Tourism Agency.

Ashita no tame (for the sake of tomorrow)
1.Workcation business experiment
2.Intention to construct renewable energy facility
3.Café and workplace renovation
4.Increase high school enrolment from 30 to 50 students
5.Soba (Japanese buckwheat) marketing

*Only 22% of the soba consumed in Japan is produced in Japan and the price is slightly higher. This project is “Ashita no Joe.”

The workcation experiment is scheduled to begin this autumn.
What is possible? How much is possible? For anyone who wants to shovel snow while working!
Anyone who wants to enjoy snowball fights with Japan’s most powdery powder snow!
Anyone would like to go ice fishing for Japanese smelt and eat tempura made with the catch!
Who would like to give this a try?!
We are looking for one UNI-SIGHT reader to serve as a monitor, at no cost to themself!
If chosen, you will have to write about your experience for UNI-SIGHT and our home page.
If you would like this amazing experience, please comment!
If you are interested, don’t miss this chance!!
Do send us your reply!
Or, instead of a comment, send an email to:
y.yao@univacap.com

Today, as always, let’s show what we can do!!

President, UNIVA Japan Limited
President, UNIVA Staff Limited
Yoshiaki Ubatani