The "Home to Start" Project Started

The “Home to Start” Project, which is a collaboration between MUJI Hiroshima Parco and Akiota-Cho, Hiroshima Prefecture, has been launched.

Akiota-Cho is located in the northwestern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. It is a tourist spot rich in nature that attracts visitors throughout the four seasons, and is home to places such as Nishi-Chugoku Sanchi Quasi-National Park and the Sandankyo Gorge. It is also quite accessible, costing less than one hour to go from the downtown of Hiroshima City. On the other hand, since the population and birthrate continue to decline, we launched the “Home to Start” project in order for people to experience living in vacant houses in the town. This project aims to increase the number of immigrants by giving them the opportunity to experience the advantages of the region. One vacant house was renovated by MUJI Hiroshima Parco and a local company, and from Friday, July 17*, applications for living experience can be made by those who want to actually try living in the country, or those who are considering moving to Akiota-Cho.
Homepage of Akiota-Cho “Home to Start” Project
※The actual living experience will be start from Saturday, August 1.

Since FY2019, MUJI Hiroshima Parco has been holding outdoor events such as the “Sandankyo Gorge Nature Tour” and the “Ini-no-Tanada Rice Making Event” in Akiota-Cho, a hilly mountainous area of Hiroshima. Through these activities, we were able to build connections with the Community Development Section of the Akiota-Cho City Hall, and we received invitations for cooperation in the areas of depopulation and vacant houses – all these contributed to the launch of the “Home to Start” Project. We are working with people in the town, as well as people from relevant departments within our company, in order to “increase the number of residents in Akiota-Cho” and “devise renovation measures to utilize vacant houses in Akiota-Cho.”

Encouraged by the opinion of the local residents that “it won’ stay long for both the local community and the company unless the project is established as a business”, our dreams began to enlarge, starting with the “Home to Start” Project. For example, we hope to create an event space by slightly revamping the storehouse adjacent. The work should be done by local carpenters and visitors from outside the town working together. In this way, people can truly appreciate and experience the charm of the local community.

Please stay tuned with our future initiatives.

*Information is current as of the date of issue of the individual article.