Joint research by Okayama University and Benesse Holdings, Inc.
Setouchi Sustainability and Well-being Research Project
Final Report - Digest Edition

This pamphlet is the digest edition of the final report from the “Setouchi Sustainability &Well-being Research Project,” a joint research project conducted by Okayama University andBenesse Holdings, Inc. Centering on the three islands of Naoshima, Inujima, and Teshima
over the course of three years, from Fiscal Year 2020 to 2022, this project aims to analyzechanges in the region and residents’ wellbeing that were brought about by the “Naoshima
Method” and “Public Welfare Capitalism” of the Benesse Art Site Naoshima (BASN), toinvestigate the mechanisms of those changes, and compile the results for academic purposes.
This digest edition was produced to provide an overview of the results to all those who
cooperated with this research project. The complete report can be downloaded from thefollowing QR code.

Using both domestic and international data, Specially Appointed Professor Tsuri analyzed
what factors influence people's subjective well-being from the perspective of empiricaleconomics. From the perspective of social innovation, Associate Professor Aoo analyzed how
the BASN and Setouchi Triennale (Art Setouchi) may become a model for other countries
and regions. Professor Nishida summarized the issues in art management from theperspective of business administration, faced by museums and regions. Conducting a survey
1for the residents of Naoshima Town, Professor Yorifuji's laboratory in the School of Medicine
drew on social epidemiology to examine how “social capital” (i.e. the value of social
relationships) affects people's health and level of happiness. We express our deepest gratitude
to all the residents of Naoshima Island for their cooperation.
Owing to the tremendous efforts of BASN and Art Setouchi as well as the residents andothers involved, Naoshima and the surrounding islands have undergone significant changes
over the last 30 years. In this rich natural environment, contemporary art has acted as acatalyst for the preservation of what Soichiro Fukutake, Honorary Advisor to Benesse
Holdings Inc., terms a "happy community," which we can say is now growing anew. This
research project is an attempt to explain these peoples’ happiness (wellbeing) and reveal
methods for sustaining it (sustainability) into the future.

1. General Remarks - Makino Hirofumi, President, Okayama University
In 2019, on the 70th anniversary of the foundation of Okayama University, we formulated
the “Okayama University Long-term Vision 2030” and the “Okayama University Vision 2.0(2019-2021).” As a research university closely involved in the investigation of wellbeing andsustainability, in our “Long-term Vision 2030” we aim to realize "The Formation ofInternational College Town Okayama," rich in sustainability and inclusivity, and throughhuman resource development and social transformation in collaboration with diverse
stakeholders, to create new value for the region and the world. Therefore, in our “Okayama
University Vision 2.0 (2019-2021)” we position our institution as a “research university
dedicated to facilitating the SDGs, the continuous production of new value, from Okayama
to the world!”
Okayama University’s intentions for the SDGs are directed toward the creation of novelsocial transformations that promote sustainability and wellbeing. This is not something thatcan be obtained by science and technology alone; education, culture, and the arts are also
necessary. It is precisely because we are now moving toward the realization of Society 5.0, afuture society in which people's lives and society as a whole are optimized through digitaltechnologies and innovation that we believe this goal cannot be achieved without probing
deeply into the value of being human and what it means to live well. We aim to demonstrate
to the world our process of inheriting regional history and culture, and designing initiatives
to solve social issues in collaboration with local communities, and by transmitting this visionfrom Okayama to the entire world, becoming a research university that continues to create
new value for the region and the globe. From this perspective, I believe the research project2

described herein plays an important role in realizing the “Okayama University Vision 2.0.”
2. Analysis of Regional Wellbeing and the Development of Indicators — Masao Tsuri,
Specially Appointed Professor
Wellbeing is certainly a measure of human happiness, however, it is also a subjective
evaluation that considers a variety of elements of ordinary life, and therefore something thatis difficult to objectively measure. The key to measuring wellbeing is “social capital,” theconnection between culture, nature, and people, the shared societal value. The naturalenvironment and all that comes from it are indispensable to the fulfillment of human
livelihood; however, this cannot be privately owned or traded on the market. The challenge
in measuring wellbeing is deciding how to capture the value of goods and capital that are nottraded on the market.
In addition to organizing existing wellbeing indicators, such as the OECD's methods, thisstudy examined the concept of shared social capital and resource allocation, determiningthat improvements in regional wellbeing can be achieved through the accumulation of longterm shared social capital in tandem with the establishment of economic infrastructure. This
enriches people's lives and, in a broader sense, helps build a prosperous local community.
Clearly, local seasonal events such as Art Setouchi are evaluated differently by different
people, and their economic impact leaves a gap between those who benefit from them andthose who do not. However, while the event is being held, several people from both Japanand worldwide visit the Seto Inland Sea region, providing a short-term economic boost to
the area, as measured by input-output analysis. Moreover, if artwork accumulates in the area
and interest in regional culture increases, then the richness of residents' cultural livelihood
will improve, which is undoubtedly a long-term effect of the accumulation of social common
capital.
3. BASN and Setouchi Triennale Art Festival as Social Innovation — Ken Aoo, Associate
Professor
This study analyzed whether and in what sense BASN and Art Setouchi are social
innovations in the islands of the Seto Inland Sea, where the population is aging and declining,and how they occurred.
First, we re-examined their 30 years history, including the prehistory of BASN and Art
Setouchi, which revealed a process of transformation through trial and error, beginning frombeach resort development and transitioning into the “art museum” which is Benesse House;
thereafter, into “art in the community” that was installed in the natural environment as wellas living spaces, such as “House Projects” and so on; and further into “art created alongside3

the community” with the commencement of Art Setouchi (Kitagawa Fram's method). We also
confirmed that this resulted from the involvement and contributions of a diversity of
stakeholders, including government, business, civil society and so on, along with Soichiro
Fukutake, who runs both a for-profit company and a public interest corporation, at the centerof it all.
Second, we verified that this social innovation developed from historic activities in the area
called Okayama from the Edo period and Meiji onward, and clarified that past social
innovations are “reference cases” that new social innovators should overcome.
Third, we conducted a field survey of Bilbao, in the Basque Country of Spain, as a similarcase of social innovation through art. Beginning with the well-known project to invite a branchof the Guggenheim Museum, examples of social innovation through art in Bilbao also include
the Basque government's initiative to transition the city from shipbuilding and steel industries
toward "creative industries" and reorganize the transportation network in the Bilbao city
center, which combined with the history and culture of the Basque Country, a unique region
within Spain, has set in motion a change in the status quo.
The results of our research have led us to believe that BASN and Art Setouchi haveundoubtedly been major social innovations in the islands of the Seto Inland Sea, as they havedrawn an influx of tourists and a growing immigrant population, the development of new
industries such as tourism, and furthermore, have changed the way people inside and outsideof Japan "view" the islands. That said, as to whether or not BASN and Art Setouchi can provide
a "model for regional revitalization," we believe they offer a multitude of "hints" more so thana "model" to simply be imitated. These hints include: (1) different approaches need to be
adopted depending on the historical background of each region and the characteristics of thepeople involved; (2) both significant investment and the involvement of the local community,
in one form or another, are required; and (3) the process is not something that can be
conducted in a few years or according to a blueprint drawn in advance — it requires several
decades of trial and error at a minimum, and for people to change as a result of these efforts,
as well.
4. Research on the Sustainable Management of Cultural Activities and the Arts — Yosuke
Nishita, Professor
Facing a multitude of challenges, from population decline and aging to overconcentrationin Tokyo, regional revitalization is an urgent issue for Japan. Accordingly, many anticipate
that the arts and cultural activities, as unique regional cultural capital, will play a role infostering regional revitalization. The art festival, which is rightly classified as a form of art
project, is developing as ways to approach social and cultural issues through art. The 2022
4

amendment of the Museums Act added a requirement that efforts be made to contribute to
the vitality of the regional community through collaboration and cooperation with various
local entities.
Focusing on arts and cultural activities, particularly museums and art festivals, we examinedmanagement issues from a regional revitalization perspective. Through interviews with the
managers and other stakeholders of art museums and art festivals, we identified challenges
faced by management, and through case studies of art museums and art festivals, we
conducted exploratory studies on sustainable management. While regional cooperation
among diverse organizations has its challenges, including conflicts of interest between them,it cannot be denied that the population is steadily decreasing, making the improvement ofregional vitality an urgent issue. It is essential that art museums and art festivals, as cultural
resources unique to each region, promote regional cooperation and obtain broad support fromnon-beneficiaries by disseminating information to help them understand the social value
these sustainable arts and cultural activities create.
5. The Effects of Participating in Art Festivals on Residents' Subjective Health and Social
Capital — Takashi Yorifuji, Professor
Cultural activities such as art festivals aimed at revitalizing local communities are widely
anticipated to foster social capital and affect people's health. However, there has not yet been
sufficient quantitative research on the impact that Art Setouchi and other art projects have on
local residents, hence more research is required.
This study examined effects on the health of residents of Naoshima Island fromparticipating in activities at Art Setouchi, one of the major art festivals in Japan; and, as amechanism for those effects, how that participation contributed to the development ofregional social capital.
Our questionnaire was distributed to all the residents of Naoshima aged 20 and above (N= 2,588), and the responses from 708 individuals were statistically analyzed. For details on
the analytic methods, please refer to the report. The participants were 45.0% male and 53.5%
female, with an average age of 61.3 years and an average duration of residence of 45.5 years.
Of the respondents, 100 (14.2%) individuals participated in Art Setouchi, while 597 (84.6%)
did not.
We used "subjective health" and "mental health" from Kessler's 6-item psychologicaldistress scale as indicators to investigate the "effect of participating in the art festival on thesubjective health of the residents." The results revealed that, as compared with the nonparticipating group, those who participated in the art festival had an adjusted odds ratio of
1.86 for higher subjective health and 3.23 for lower psychological distress. This indicated that5participating in an art festival had a positive impact on the "subjective health" and "mental
health" of residents.
Regarding “the impact of participating in art festivals on fostering social capital,” weanalyzed the connection between the cognitive dimension, which refers to subjective things
such as people's perceptions and values, including trust and reciprocity, as well as the
structural dimension of social capital, which refers to the network of relationships between
people that can be objectively verified by observing and recording actual behavior, such as
their participation in regional groups. The results revealed that participation in art festivals
was significantly associated with increase in both cognitive and structural dimensions,indicating that participation in art festivals can help foster both cognitive and structural social
capital.
Clearly, there are limitations to this study. First, this was a cross-sectional study, meaning
it was conducted at only one point in time; therefore, it is necessary to be careful in verifying
these causal relationships. Second, the response rate of the questionnaire was low. Third, thesame questionnaire was used to obtain subjective responses from residents about outcomessuch as health and social capital from their (non)participation in Art Setouchi, which may
have consequently overestimated the relationship between them. Nevertheless, consideringthat there have been few quantitative studies on the effects of participating in art festivals on
residents' health, we believe that this study will provide an important basis for further longterm research in the future.
6. Summary of Research Results
How should we interpret the results of these studies? Owing to the limitations of theresearch, I believe that there are many parts of the above reports that may be difficult tounderstand, particularly for those who are not researchers.
Professor Tsuri's research, based on empirical data from Japan and other countries,
revealed that while feelings of wellbeing vary by age and region, they are considerably
influenced not only by economic factors, but also by social factors such as relationships withother people, and by the surrounding environment, including both nature and culture.
Through an analysis and reconstruction of the process and people through which BASN and
Art Setouchi were initiated, Dr. Aoo's research revealed that it was rooted in the history andculture of Okayama, yet managed to go “beyond” those roots. In addition, through comparison
with a European case study (Bilbao, Spain), it clarified that simply imitating a model isinsufficient; it is necessary for projects such as these to have roots in the history and cultureof the region. Professor Nishita's research, demonstrates the possibility of managing not only
art museums and art festivals but also "regions" from the viewpoint of "management," a6

perspective that has until now been lacking in Japan. Finally, by empirically indicating througha large-scale survey of all the residents of the island that participation in the Setouchi
Triennale correlates with participants' perceptions about health and social connections, theYorifuji Lab's research made a contribution of considerable significance. While the data
currently available does not prove a causal relationship, it does strongly suggest that the art
festival is making a meaningful contribution to the wellbeing of the islanders.
Overall, the results of these studies, each conducted from a different perspective, suggestthat the activities of BASN and Art Setouchi, by enabling the participation and interaction ofdiverse people in and through contemporary art, have significantly contributed to thewellbeing of communities in the region, and by extension, their sustainability. As theseresearch results are so valuable to Okayama University, a research university dedicated to thepromotion of the SDGs, the English version of this digest was be created to share their value
with the world.
Contact: Social Cooperation Division, General Affairs and Planning Department, Okayama
University. e-mail: office-agora@adm.okayama-u.ac.jp7