‘Remote drinking’ solved in Japan for local extinction

During the days when people could not go out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the culture of remote drinking through video conferencing was popular in Japan. The new term “Zoomnomi” has emerged by combining “Zoom,” a video conferencing platform, and “Nomi Kai,” a company dinner. It is a form of introducing alcohol and side dishes prepared at home, and making a toast and talking on the screen, which was a new culture created by the pandemic.

In Japan these days, this remote drinking party is attracting attention by introducing it as a solution to the extinction of local regions. In rural areas where the population continues to leak out, and tourists do not come, the existence of the region began to be announced through this remote drinking party.

In Japan’s Ehime Prefecture, Ainancho is a small area with a population of about 19,000. It is a neighborhood that cultivates tangerines and fish, and its main specialties include ‘ainan gold’, which is a persimmon, oysters, bonito, and yellowtail. It is similar to Jeju Island in Korea, but in fact, it is not an area that is known as a tourist destination. This is because the location is the southernmost part of Ehime Prefecture, and the industry for accommodating tourists has not developed at all.

As people kept getting out and people didn’t even come to play, fat destruction became a big problem in Einacho. The town’s population fell by 10% in 10 years. As a result, Ehime Prefecture started the Ehime Triangle Project to address digital transformation and fat destruction.

What appeared in this triangle project is the “Chang” project, which connects Einancho and Ginza, an entertainment district in central Tokyo.

Since Ainorch has not developed much in terms of tourism, entertainment areas such as bars, which have long been maintained in the neighborhood, have developed. Taking advantage of this, we created a remote drinking party for Ainorch and Ginza. It is said that a large monitor screen measuring 70cm wide and 1m long and 20cm long was installed to illuminate the whole person’s body to enhance the sense of reality. In the case of video conferencing through Zoom, only the other person’s upper body comes out, but this monitor is said to be able to feel the sensation in the same space as the whole body and the surrounding sound are delivered vividly. Customers also left a favorable comment, saying, “It feels like I’m in the next room.”

Although Ginza in Tokyo and Ainangcho in Ehime Prefecture are 700 kilometers away from each other, the drinking party has been completed as if they were in the same space remotely. A person from Ainangcho and running a bar in Ginza took charge of the project. The menu was also prepared with high balls using tangerines and sandwiches using tuna from Ainangcho, and they were able to toast and talk to the monitor at the same time with the same menu. There is a rumor that they play a lot of roles in exchanges, such as going out to play with each other. It is amazing that digital technology is saving areas where population decline is not equipped with transportation infrastructure. In particular, it doesn’t feel like anything other than local governments trying so hard. Starting with this digital exchange meeting, the company plans to build a new hotel with more than 120 rooms next year to establish tourism infrastructure.

SALLY LEE

US ASIA JOURNAL