Community Project

Walk Japan's work in the heart of the Japanese countryside helping to revive a small farming community.

For nearly two decades Walk Japan has taken thousands of customers to many off-the-beaten-path areas of Japan. Whether deep in the mountains of central Japan, isolated villages or remote islands, these places offer insights, elusive to most visitors to Japan, into the nation and its people, its culture and natural beauty. They also highlight an often hidden side of Japan that is far from its common image as a technological advanced and crowded nation. Rural Japan is in a gentle but seemingly unstoppable decline.

Unused and overgrown paddies and arable fields are found throughout Japan. Forests are often uncared for and farmhouses in various states of ruin are prominent almost everywhere. Through this landscape bamboo growing rampant seems to be on a destructive march through everything standing in its path.

Dick Irving, a founder of Walk Japan and Professor of social geography at Kwansei Gakuin in Kobe, is an expert in the field of issues facing rural Japan. For more than 30 years Dick has been researching and documenting rural Japan in his study area of Ayabe in Kyoto Prefecture. Dick's research paper, Environmental caretaker - Who wants the job?, eloquently describes the problems of a declining and ageing population and their growing impact on rural communities.

Paul Christie, Walk Japan's CEO & Managaing Director, has been living in Kunisaki, deep in rural Kyushu, since 2002. Kunisaki is no exception and faces an uncertain future as the local population continues to shrink and age. Since arriving in Kunisaki, Paul has been working to revive fields and forests he owns. He also contributes his labour to help his neighbours plant the fields, get the harvests in and generally maintain the village.

Since late 2007, Walk Japan has been contributing to the work Paul has started in Kunisaki. Walk Japan provides funding for local labour to expand the area of land that can be cared for. Current work is centred on the revival of plantation forests; the re-establishment of mixed forests and natural environments; and the rehabilitation of long disused fields. The long-term aim is to help the communities of two, small neighbouring valleys maintain their environment and provide for a more vibrant and prosperous future. Between now and then, though, there is a lot of work to do and we will be providing details of progress and future plans on this page.

Our local office in Japan is in an old farmhouse which we have converted for the purpose. The building had been empty for over 17 years before we took it over and is, so far, symbolic of what we are achieving. The office has been reconstructed with the aid of local craftsmen using locally-sourced timber. An excellent natural air flow through the building means that in the summer months we have no need for air conditioning and rarely need to use fans. We have just installed a wood-burning stove for warmth in the winter months. The wood for the stove is sourced from a nearby coppice. Coppicing is an ancient technique that was common throughout the world helping to sustain and protect woodlands. We have also installed a simple but effective composting toilet and all lighting is low-energy LED. Other planned additions, including solar air and water heaters, will make our office one of the least energy intensive work environments possible. The office is the first of a series of environmentally low-impact and low-energy intensive structures, including accommodation for our customers, we plan to build over the coming years.

We employ a local man, Moriyama san, to work full-time on maintaining and developing our community project. Moriyama san is using his skills learnt as a lumberjack to re-establish natural woodlands and properly maintain cedar plantations. The woodlands are to include many varieties of native trees and provide habitats to support as great a wildlife as possible. With Moriyama san’s help we are also reviving arable fields, some left untended for as long as 40 years, and creating orchards to provide a great range of fruit including citrus, peach, figs, chestnuts, cherry, mulberry and plums. In time we will also be establishing a small vineyard. With some of our village neighbours we have also taken over the maintenance of a park area that had long been neglected and is now a resource for everyone to enjoy.

Other activities in Kunisaki involve all our staff in finding long disused and lost, old trails; maintaining established trails; and lending their time and effort to support other local community groups planting trees and picking up rubbish. Customers on our Kunisaki Trek tour have the opportunity to see what we are doing but anyone interested is welcome to come and see what we are up to in this beautiful part of Japan. Or, if you cannot come to Kunisaki and see what we are up to photographs can be viewed at our Community project gallery.