Globalisation and Locality: Two Worlds Coming Closer Together (Part 2)

This is part 2 of the text archive for the online talk session “Globalisation and Locality: Two Worlds Coming Closer Together ” held on December 15, 2021.

Globalisation and  Localisation:  Two  Worlds  Coming  Closer  Together (Part 1)

[4] What is the Value of Local?

Individual Values and Sympathisers

Yabumoto:
What I am thinking is that contemporary artists are the embodiment of the “transmission of local values”. They have no marketing or localisation, yet they sell their work to and receive support from 8 billion people around the world who share their values.

Nakano:
Let me add to what I said at the beginning about “FLAG RELATIONS™”. Our company’s philosophy is “to create a world where everyone can raise their own flag and recruit sympathisers”, and we focus on the value that each individual has. We believe that if you communicate that value, there will be people in the world who will share it with you. In my opinion, this is the very idea of “not marketing”, and also “how to be an individual in the age of globalization”.

Perhaps these “personal values” are similar to the world that Mr. Yabumoto has described, the world that contemporary artists create. It is possible that there are 100 people around the world who share these values. 100 people out of 8 billion is a small number, but to put it another way, if there is even one person who shares your values, you can survive.

Yabumoto:
In relation to what you have just said, it seems to me that contemporary artists in Cambodia are living with about 10 sympathisers.

Nakano:
It is generally believed that marketing to the masses is more profitable. In such an environment, what is the point of working with only about 10 sympathetic people? How would you answer?

Yabumoto:
It’s a very difficult question to answer. In fact, as we work with foundations, it’s often asked, “Does that make sense?” But I think it’s more like, “What’s the point of living in a world of repeated marketing and competition? (laughs).

In the course of my work, I am often asked questions about market conditions and localisation techniques. Each time I ask, “What’s the future of localisation? or “What’s the point of marketing? I feel like asking them back. Probably very few people can answer these questions.

Nakano:
That’s exactly how it is in China. They’re turning invested foreign companies into their own companies, but “is all that work, just making profit and making money, really creating value?” I wonder.

What I want to practice is to cross the barrier of “those who understand”. I want to transmit my “personal values” in such a way so that many people, not just a few, can share them. There is absolutely no one who can deny 100% of the values expressed by an individual. Even if there were, there would only be people who would ask, “How does this value generate profit? I’d like to continue to change the values of those who think that “earning more money even if it’s not so interesting” is better than “what I think is interesting”.

Yabumoto:
I think that is exactly what you are saying, Mr. Nakano. Sometimes I feel that values are often talked about in the context of CSR, SDGs, etc. What do you think about this?

Nakano:
I hear the same kind of talk in terms of CSV*2. I think there is a notion that if you don’t create intrinsic value or social value in the first place, you don’t even have a viable business.

*2 Abbreviation for Creating Shared Value. It is a management philosophy of a company that aims to contribute to society by balancing corporate profits with solutions to social issues through its core business.

What is CSV (Kotobank)?

I also think that we should rethink the value of the traditional world, which is lived locally. To give you a concrete example, how do you deliver that value to people who like the illumination of Omotesando? That’s the question, isn’t it? Perhaps, if you are open-minded enough to show interest in other people’s values, you can do it.

I moved from Tokyo to Sendai to start my own business, and I have to say that moving to a local area is a much richer way of life than working in the city. The income may be a bit lower. I hope that many people will become aware of the “local values” that they cannot see just by staying in the city.

Business Models of the Future

Yabumoto:
You are currently working with the Wakayama Prefectural Government’s Migration and Settling Promotion Division, what do you think about policies such as work vacation and inbound tourism?

Nakano:
Speaking of workcations, I think that as long as you take workcation within the existing system of the company, it’s just a trip. I believe that work should be free from location. I think it’s more right to create a situation where you can live in your favourite local place and still work in the city. So I feel that if we don’t change the way of employment and the way of working, there is not much point in implementing a workcation.

Yabumoto:
To go further, I think it should be the work of the whole world, not just the work of cities. After all, city jobs are “near is better”. In a business model based on domestic demand, it is clear that people who are geographically close to their business partners are the strongest.

Nakano:
That’s exactly right. And perhaps it is those who can build a business model that goes beyond ‘near is better’ who will survive locally.

Yabumoto:
I think you are right. This is just my imagination, but I think that in the future, people who have traveled abroad and are fluent in English will not be called “global talents”. Rather, people who can discover and deepen the intrinsic value of their local area will be regarded as “global talents” in the future. I think that the value will somehow shift to people who embody the idea of “thinking locally and acting globally” that I mentioned earlier.

Nakano:
It’s good if you can speak English at an understandable level. I believe that a person who can answer the question “What value do I bring to the world? Or someone who can stand up for themselves in the present day and hundreds of years to come, without the backing of a company or organisation. In this sense, I think that contemporary artists who directly confront themselves with the world are truly “global talents”.

Yabumoto:
In relation to what I said earlier, I think that workcation is also linked to a kind of “global human resources development”. In the future, we should gradually increase the number of people who can compete globally and live in one place.

Nakano:
Thinking “locally” is an important step, but I don’t think we should ever be “provincial”. I think that if you always face the world directly as an “individual” without being protected by intermediate regions, companies, or countries, you will be able to pursue the local community, and I think it is globalization. . That’s why I think that globalisation and localisation are the same thing.

The Pros and Cons of ‘Glocal’

Yabumoto:
In recent years, we often hear the word “glocal” proposed by Rowland Robertson. To be honest, I don’t really understand it, but how do you see it?

Nakano:
To tell the truth, I don’t really know what “glocal” is either (laughs). I think it is the assertion that “if you push the local, it will lead to the global. . I’d like to say that, but I’m not sure if that’s how it’s defined.

Yabumoto:
I think that many people use “glocal” in the context of “thinking globally and acting locally”, which is not the original meaning. It’s really the opposite.

Nakano:
For example, I think it’s very uncool when someone who grew up deep in the mountains in the countryside says that “this part of Japan is lagging behind”, even though they have seen many different landscapes when they moved abroad. Such people are not even “glocal”. They are not even “glocal” because they are not looking at the local. I think “glocal” is the state of being able to see the value of the local, while at the same time having a global perspective.

Yabumoto:
In fact, I don’t think it is perceived as you say, Mr Nakano. It is said that “glocalisation” is the process of importing what is considered to be popular in the world into the Japanese market, like McDonald’s or Starbucks, and promoting localisation. Specifically speaking, there are examples of advanced Western practices being disseminated in Japan, followed by the implementation of the same in Southeast Asia. There may be a need for this in regions and countries where GDP and population are growing, but I’m not sure if it’s creating any intrinsic  value. I think there is a limit towhat you can do in a time machine business.

Local Survival Crisis

Nakano:
Even if we put into practice the examples that Mr. Yabumoto has just mentioned in the super-local area, GDP will probably not grow. In fact, Japan’s local population is declining and we are in a very difficult situation. Mr. Yabumoto is from Kinan, so he knows that if the population decreases dramatically, the region will disappear.

In particular, few young people in their 30s or younger are confident that their birthplace will survive until the time of their death. Probably the young people who are pessimistic about the future of their hometown will be divided into two groups: those who give up and go to the city, and those who fight for their land.

Yabumoto:
There are probably two ways to sustain the region. The first is to introduce a kind of “sanctuary city” as practiced in California and New York, forcing the population to grow and increasing domestic demand. The second way is to develop export industries like Singapore and Taiwan, and I think it is better to promote the latter way. Even if domestic demand falters, it can be filled by external demand, so although there is a long way to go, I feel that it will be a desirable situation for the region.

Nakano:
Some researchers believe that Japan’s current situation is “untenable without immigration”. As Mr. Yabumoto says, unless we get out of the “domestic demand type thinking”, we will only continue to fight a war of attrition. However, the world’s population is growing and the global market is large, so if we adopt the model of “communicating our value outside the region”, I think the region and the country itself can be sustained.

Yabumoto:
In Japan, there are many managers who are concerned with “domestic demand-based globalisation” and are unable to escape from their success in that area. How to change this situation will be an important discussion. What’s more, “earning external demand” could take a huge amount of time to realize, just like the discussion we had at the “mikan workshop” we held the other day. In this sense, I feel that there are many people among the managers who dismiss it as “not rational”.

Nakano:
The success story of “domestic demand-based globalisation” is, in essence, “let’s take the TVs that sold so well in Japan and sell them in Southeast Asia”. I recently read through all the volumes of “Kosaku Shima”, and the worldview of the book is exactly the same as the current situation in Japan. The story is about a consumer electronics company’s battle to change the way domestic demand works.I think the author is aware of the current situation, but Japan is really depleted.

Yabumoto:
To give another example, there are companies in Thailand and China that manufacture brassieres, and because the prices are lower in Thailand, the Chinese go to Thailand to buy them. When I first heard this story, I thought that the only value of the brand was the low price based on the gap between supply and demand of labour costs, which may be an extreme theory, but it means that the brand value of the product is disappearing or does not exist.

Nakano:
The current theory of economics establishes the idea that people should buy things that are cheap, even if it is only one yen, so based on that theory, the current story of the Chinese may be normal. However, I would like to change my way of thinking to “people want value” rather than “people want cheap things even if they are one yen cheaper. “.

As for me, I don’t think that value is equal to money. When I was involved in reporting on the earthquake and tsunami, I saw people who had lost all their possessions and were still struggling to find the essence of value. This is a world that cannot be explained by money at all.

Rationally speaking, it would be better to abandon the area and move to another town. However, there are young people who dare to choose to rebuild a town where more than half of the population has lost their lives, with five or ten times as much effort. When I asked them why, they replied: “Because I love it here”. I feel that they have a strength that no one can deny.

Because of this experience, I saw the value in the love for the local community that these young people seem to have in their hearts. Now, through “Locality!” we are working on “communicating the value of the individual in a way that conveys it”.

[5] Local Practice

Why Organise Kinan Art Week?

Nakano:
We would like to ask Mr. Yabumoto a few questions about why he is organising Kinan Art Week. First of all, for those who don’t know about Kinan Art Week, can you give us a brief explanation of what you are actually doing?

Yabumoto:
The Kinan Art Week 2021 took place from the 18th to the 28th of November. As I told you earlier, the concept of Kinan Art Week is “Komoru to Hiraku”, which means “to seclude  and open”. In this sense, I believe that our efforts and today’s discussion are very much connected. In terms of data, it is clear that the population in the Kinan region, such as Shirahama Town where I was born and grew up, or Tanabe City where I went to high school, is declining. As Mr Nakano mentioned earlier, I think there is also a tendency for young people to be pessimistic about their future in their hometowns.

Throughout my life abroad, I have visited many different countries and regions, but I still see the value of Kinan and Kumano as the region that shines brightest. I am convinced that if these values are re-organised and exported, they have the potential to create great economic value. However, there is a disadvantage in that it will take a very long time, so I would like to take the time to implement this project in the form of the Kinan Art Week over a period of about 10 years.

This time we held Kinan Art Week in the form of an art festival, but art itself is a very useful thing. I myself define it as “art when it moves you”, and the “practice of art” that I experienced in Asia is a very broad, deep and free concept, so I would like many people to come into contact with it.

Nakano:
That’s amazing! We have the same way of thinking! 

Yabumoto:
Some experts might be offended (laughs), but I see art in that way. This time, there will be almost no art experts at Kinan Art Week. In that sense, I’m really looking forward to thinking about how we can work together with “unknown people” to create something new.

In addition, we would like to continue in a form that does not rely on government budgets or subsidies, and to transmit the value of Kinan, Muro-gun and Kumano to the whole world in the long term. Furthermore, since the players in the region are currently turning the world of local domestic demand, we hope to take about 10 years in the future to create a system that can earn external demand, and even “a system that can automatically return the earned external demand to society”.

Probably, if we don’t earn external demand, we won’t be able to pay for social security and poverty reduction. That’s why I’m not so keen on the idea of “degrowth” that’s so popular at the moment. In that sense, Kinan Art Week is about “how do we secure the financial resources to implement these policies?” I would like to put this into practice with a long-term perspective. People tend to think of me as an anarchist, but I am in a position where I believe that politics and policy are important.

In fact, in my mind, our efforts at Kinan Art Week are a practice for “world peace”. In the future, if we are able to earn foreign demand, we may be able to say “No” to countries with large domestic demand. I believe that a state where there are various poles is important for world peace.

I would like to show you the actual situation of Kinan Art Week. We exhibited our works in various places in Shirahama town and Tanabe city, and we had a very large number of visitors.

Nakano:
I think it’s a very nice initiative. Will Kinan Art Week be held again next year?

Yabumoto:
Yes, that is the plan. I personally think that the time has come for art festivals to be discouraged. That’s why we are preparing a very small, maniacal project to be carried out over the next year with a group of vital citizens. In this sense, we want to find people with vitality, and together we want to find people who can transmit the value of the land to the world.

Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty of Local

Nakano:
I feel that our practice is similar to the Kinan Art Week, and I really sympathise with Mr Yabumoto’s approach. Our goal is to find people who can be active in the world as individuals. I also agree with what Mr. Yabumoto said earlier, “If it moves you, it is art”. In our company, we believe that “attraction is everything that moves you”.

“Getting down to the nitty-gritty of local” does not mean to be a frog in a well. Without the perspective and strength to compete on a global scale, the region will probably disappear. However, I believe that all local communities have the power to overcome this crisis.

On the other hand, artificially created tourist attractions will probably disappear. I think so. Incidentally, in a city in Kyushu, where I visited last weekend, there is the highest suspension bridge in Japan, built at a cost of 1.6 billion yen. The city is marketing the place as a tourist attraction, but I wonder if this form of local development is wrong. I thought about this to myself as I crossed the bridge (laughs).

Yabumoto:
These days, I think there are a lot of examples of glamping, saunas, etc. that have become popular in the cities and have been successfully marketed and developed. Of course, I don’t mean to deny that, but I feel that these things will probably end up in the short term. In that sense, I think it’s important to create something that will last into the future.

“Japan-ness” and Global Business

Yabumoto:
Recently I have been collecting myths from all over the world and Japan and I thought to myself, isn’t this connected to “getting down to the nitty-gritty of local?”. I think that even if they look different, the content is often universal. At present, I feel that companies that put “Japan-ness” at the forefront of their business overseas are not able to compete successfully in the world.

Nakano:
What exactly is that? In my opinion, “Japan-ness” as defined by the government and big business is not the true image of Japan.

Yabumoto:
I think so too. A company that puts something like “Japan-ness” in the foreground, for example a teahouse or a Japanese garden in the office? If you’re a financial services company, you’re competing at the cutting edge of capitalism, but you can’t compete in the global race for capital, so you think you’re making it look Japanese.

On the other hand, the Japanese companies that survive abroad are not even recognisable at first glance as being Japanese. However, in a few percent of the essence of their work and products, there is a glimpse of something like “Japanese roots”. And it’s a kind of universal thing too.

In this sense, I believe that the world of contemporary art is the same as corporate society. I think that many of the works that are appreciated in the world of contemporary art are created by people who do not know which country they are from. For example, I noticed that one of the works used mythological expressions, and when I was researching Japanese mythology, I found that it was a mythology with origins similar to Indonesian mythology. The conclusion was that it was the work of an Indonesian artist.

Nakano:
Perhaps contemporary artists don’t use mythology because it sells, but because it’s an important motif or story for them.

Yabumoto:
Exactly. At first glance, contemporary art has a global and universal look, but when you actually get down to the content, it’s very local. I think it’s that kind of locality that makes it so valuable to connect with the global world.

Nakano:
In addition to corporate society and contemporary art, I think the same is true for the appeal of tourism. There is a difference between the so-called “Japanese charm” that we want to promote from a marketing point of view and the “local charm of Japan” that we are promoting. I believe that it is the latter that will one day be appreciated in the global world.

What is the Inherent Charm of the Local Area?

Yabumoto:
What is the “local charm of Japan” that can be appreciated in the global world? How does this differ from the “Japanese charm” that you were talking about earlier?

Nakano:
The most important thing to remember is that you are not aiming to create. It’s a question of whether you’re focusing on your own surprise, discovery and excitement, or whether you’re aiming to get hits on the internet. I think that’s the question. If it’s the former, if you send out something that really moves you, that’s what moves people. In the world of journalism, I think the word “truthfulness” is applicable. In other words, does it have journalist value?

In fact, in the world of promotion, the value of “personal surprise, discovery and inspiration” is becoming more and more appreciated. To take a simple example, it is becoming more and more likely that the value of the unknown people working in the field will move people more than the value of the celebrities. In fact, when we had a competition with an advertising agency, they hired a celebrity to make a presentation, but we proposed people from the field and won (laughs).

Yabumoto:
I see. Yes, I think we are slowly moving in that direction. It’s really gradual.

Nakano:
But we’re still not in the majority. We are commissioned by companies to do local promotions and information dissemination, but there are still people who don’t like what is produced and feel that they don’t want to pay for it. So we turned our attention to the people who wanted us to express our values, and we started to send out information using the unmade “real voice”.

Yabumoto:
I feel that the approach you are taking can be defined separately from the context of so-called promotion and marketing. What would you call it?

Nakano:
That’s a very good question. We call it “FLAG RELATIONS™”. In short, it’s not a marketing approach.

Yabumoto:
I see. This is exactly what you were talking about at the beginning.

Nakano:
I think marketing and promotion is the act of “setting a target and going for the hit”. But we don’t do that, we hold the flag high. We gather people who feel ‘good’ about what we do.

Yabumoto:
I think it’s a very interesting initiative.  We had a dialogue on the topic “Is tourism an export industry?”, and we talked about the fact that exports are stereotyped as “marketing and transporting goods to the country”. So maybe we need to create a new word to change those concepts. The word “flagging” that Mr Nakano mentioned fits in very well.

Nakano:
I believe that there should be tens of thousands or billions of flags in the world. I’d like to create a world where people can say to each other, “Your flag is nice” or “That flag is nice too”.

Yabumoto:
The very expression “flag” makes me feel that we are entering an era of a local vertical axis, rather than the aforementioned so-called (domestic demand type) global horizontal axis world view. In fact, I think that until now we have been thinking too much about the horizontal axis and have neglected the idea of the vertical axis. In that sense, too, the phrase “hoisting the flag” is very fitting.

Nakano:
We hold the flag vertically, so it’s more three-dimensional than horizontal, and in that sense we are walking a step ahead. I think people will naturally come to a flag that is attractive, rather than spending their energy on deliberately bringing people together. So it’s not a question of “how do we mobilise people? but rather “How do we transmit attractive values? I think we need to think about how we can move society.

We have been discussing this issue for a while now, and I think that we have developed a lot of ideas. What did you think of today’s talk session, Mr. Yabumoto?

Yabumoto:
The last one, about the flag, really hit home for me. I think you can combine locality and globality in the expression “hoisting a flag”. It’s just an idea, but I think we can say that from the ground down is locality and from the ground up is globality. Locality and globality are connected.

Nakano:
It’s a form of self-promotion that differs from marketing. How do you express that that’s not the purpose? When I think about it, “hoisting a flag” is probably the closest thing I have to an image.

Yabumoto:
I think it is exactly the same as the structure of the myth. I think that there is something in common between the structure of the connection with heaven and earth and the act of putting up the flag.

Nakano:
I think what is interesting about Japanese mythology is that the country was created by integrating the myths and gods of different villages. It’s exactly like the idea of integrating flags. In Japan, there are eight million gods, and each village has its own shrine, and this is what a flag looks like. I hope that we can create a world like the one described in Japanese mythology in the society of the future.

I enjoyed today very much. I would like to have another opportunity to discuss this in the future. I think it would be interesting to have a regular open discussion about how we developed our ideas. 

Yabumoto:
I enjoyed it too. Thank you to everyone who took part and for the long hours.

Nakano:
Thank you all for staying with us until the end.