Episode 18 of the podcast takes us once again to Niigata Prefecture and the snow country area of Matsunoyama. Famous for its very heavy snowfall, Matsunoyama is a place in many ways defined by that snow. In this episode I speak with Kamimura Shotaro, a regional revitalisation coordinator based in Matsunoyama. Shotaro’s work tasks him with revitalisation of the community and as such, we discuss the multiple challenges being faced by the people of Matsunoyama while also exploring the opportunities of life in the deep snow.

This episode highlights the reality for many communities in the snow country and across Japan. Communities that are struggling to sustain themselves in the face of depopulation and an ageing population, changing economies and lifestyles, and climate change. But there is also cause for optimism, something Shotaro and I discuss in the second half of the interview including reasons to visit Matsunoyama including Matsunoyama Onsen – considered one of Japan’s three great medicinal hot spring towns – along with Echigo-Tsumari Art Field and the big snow of the small resort, Matsunoyama Onsen Ski Area.  We recorded the interview on a very wet day in a charismatic roadside tea house named Matsunoyama Chakra.

Shotaro’s website ‘Snow Notes’ documents and educates about life in both Matsunoyama and wider snow country. He publishes some pages in English but obviously, most pages are in Japanese. I recommend the online translator DeepL for Japanese to English translations. You can also find links everything discussed in this episode and more information including a map of where Matsunoyama is located on the episode page on the Snow Country Stories Japan website.

Snow Country Stories Japan is a bi-weekly podcast about life and travel in Japan's legendary 'yukiguni'. For more information about the show and your host, visit our website - www.snowcountrystories.com - and make sure to subscribe, rate and review the podcast and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.