REGIONAL STRENGTHREMOTE WORK
BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHERIN A NORTHERN CITY

Already blessed by the rich natural environment of eastern Hokkaido,
the city of Kitami has determined to attract IT businesses and build
a robust teleworking environment. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic,
teleworkers from diverse fields have come together
to create a new community beyond their professional backgrounds.
Kitami, Hokkaido Prefecture,
is a city of approximately 115,000
inhabitants. Looking out on theSea of Okhotsk, the city boasts
a thriving farming and fishingindustry and proudly produces
more onions and scallops thanany other place in Japan. Close toMemanbetsu Airport, itself only a
90-minute flight from Tokyo, thecity is easily accessible from thecapital. Satellite Office Kitami—
which opened in the city center in2017—is a facility that provides
workspace for a total of 3,000
teleworkers every year. In addition

to programmers and engineersfrom various firms based in theoffice itself, a wide variety ofprofessionals—web media writers,
manga artists, web designers, andmore—take advantage of thevenue and its facilities. Corporate
workers who drop in duringbusiness trips are also on the rise.
One of the Office’s regular users
is NISHIMURA Takako, who
was born in Kitami’s neighboring
town of Bihoro and now works
remotely for a Tokyo accounting
firm. After attending a university
in Tokyo and pursuing her careerin the capital for a number of years,
she moved back to the area lastsummer with her two children to
seek a better living environment.
She is doing the same job as
before, but online. “This city isvery well balanced with regard toits urban functions and naturalenvironment. One of its biggest
draws is this satellite office, wherepeople can work together. I’m not
Satellite Office Kitami is a place whereteleworkers from myriad sectors cometogether. They communicate with eachother on a daily basis, opening up newvistas for their work. NISHIMURA
Takako, who moved to Kitami from Tokyo
last year, now enjoys a satisfying lifestylecombining work with parenting.

HIRATA Kosuke stands in front of
the new curling rink that opened justlast year. His ambition is to bolster
Kitami’s fame as a “Curling City.”

Opened in 2017, Satellite Office Kitami boasts anincreasing number of workers utilizing it. *The number
decreased in 2020 when the Office was closed to thepublic in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

alone here, and have the chanceto speak with other teleworkers,
which sometimes helps me toease my stress,” she explains. Local
businesses have begun to consult
her as an accountant, and she iseager to contribute more to theregion in her professional capacity
in the coming years.
Kitami is the home of theKitami Institute of Technology,
Japan’s northernmost nationaluniversity. However, like mostprovincial cities in Japan, it has
been plagued by the outflow ofyoung graduates toward Tokyoand other large metropolitan
areas once they have finishedtheir studies. By collaboratingwith IT firms, Kitami has been
implementing a unique scheme
to recover those human resources.
The city extends support to people
who wish to return after working
for IT firms in large metropolitan
areas for a number of years, having
gained various skills and expertise.
By providing such workers witha setting to which they cansmoothly make the move backwithout any hesitancy, the city has
already begun to attract numerous
people with earlier connections.
That, in turn, has led to therevitalization of the city itself.
One of the first people to takeadvantage of Kitami’s humanresource recovery plan was
HIRATA Kosuke, an Olympic
athlete who played on theJapanese curling team at the2018 PyeongChang WinterGames. After finishing a graduate
course at the Kitami Instituteof Technology, Hirata took ajob at a Tokyo IT firm that hada partnership agreement withthe city of Kitami. He worked
as a programmer there while
continuing his activities as acurler. After achieving his dreamof participating in the Olympic
Games, he moved back to Kitami
while keeping his job with the ITfirm. Hirata continues to work
even as he trains for a second
chance at the Winter Olympics,
and Kitami has proved to be theperfect place for him to do that.
Last year, the city opened asecond curling facility, whichis equipped with an advanced
system to analyze the motions ofboth the athletes and the curlingstones. Hirata has been able tocontribute data in his capacity
as a top-class player, and he has
also been working as the IT firmengineer with Kitami Institute ofTechnology Professor MASUI
Fumito, his former mentor, todevelop a system to improvecurling performances.
“Very few athletes havesuccessfully managed dual careers.
I worried about this in the past,
but Kitami provides me with anenvironment where I can achieve
it, and there are also people
around me to help. Though Ilive in a small municipality far
from metropolitan areas, I wantto prove that even someone in
my situation can be a world-classathlete while working in cuttingedge technology. I would like verymuch to be a good role model for
local kids who want to compete in
the Olympics,” says Hirata.
Kitami is surrounded by placesof great natural beauty, including
the World Natural Heritage Siteof Shiretoko, and it is also theperfect place to both work andenjoy your days of leisure. Added
to this is the bonus of the area’s
wide array of fresh seafood. Oncethe pandemic is over, what could
be a more wonderful idea thanvisiting—and perhaps working
in—this charming city andmeeting its people.

Kitami produces more onions and scallops than any
other place in Japan. The city is famous not only for
its fresh seafood but for its grilled meat (yakiniku)
as well, making it a great place to enjoy food.