TALK-2: A town's regeneration stems from the connections between the people – Tongu and the Shitamachi Marché

Shibata Toshiharu/ Owner of Kotobuki Coffee Shop
Yamamoto Tadashi/ Pinto House, real estate department supervisor
Shintani Kazunari/ Head of the Sapporo Minami Ichi Jo Higashi Post Office
Kondo Yosuke/ Northerncross Co., Ltd.
Nakajima Shinobu/ Priest at Hokkaido Jingu Tongu (since 2015)

Shibata　The "Jingu market" at Hokkaido Jingu had become a talking point, and so we wondered if we could do the same at the Tongu, and the event that began in 2015 was the Sapporo Shitamachi Marché.

Nakajima　As the town's atmosphere changed, we began to consider what the shrine could do. At first it was important to get people to come to the shrine, so we said we would like to go ahead with Shibata-san's proposal.

Yamamoto　Originally it was a local event so we only advertised it in the neighborhood.

Kondo　Even so, on the two days in 2015, the event attracted 800 people, and in 2016, 1,000 people gathered in just one day. Most of those people were locals.

Shintani　It's an event with a great atmosphere, isn't it?

Shibata　In Asakusa and other places in Tokyo they call shitamachi (older, traditional parts of the city), there's a sense of the community being really close knit. In Sapporo, we think this area corresponds to the shitamachi and so that's why we named the event "Sapporo Shitamachi Marché".
New residents don't have many chances to become familiar with the region. Making that connection is also one of the roles of the Shitamachi Marché.

Nakajima　This year it's 70 years since the Tongu became a branch shrine, and 2019 is Hokkaido Jingu's 150^th anniversary. I feel as if people are gathering in preparation for such milestones.

Shibata　In continuing this event in which we become more familiar with the Tongu, I can envisage another different year.

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