Recycling tradition through the Akita Maiko | Chinatsu Mizuno | TEDxTohoku
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Revitalizing local regions, especially sparsely populated areas, is not achieved through creating something entirely new, but by capturing people’s attention through a resource that is unique to the region and also close to the local people’s hearts.
In Mizuno’s case, she focused on something that only exists in her hometown in Akita prefecture - the historical culture of Akita Maiko - and polished that one factor. She believes this approach is applicable in places outside of Akita as well; there are numerous place in Japan that have an irreplaceable factor or resource that are yet to be used.
Utilizing the ideas that you encounter in your everyday lives and the legacies that linger around you, will eventually lead to the revival of a culture and a place.
“Revival” sounds complex, but it is simply about changing something from the past into something that you, as a person of the present, desire to see. This will lead us to an undiscovered future of the Tohoku region, including the flourishment of Akita, and will also allow us to share the essence that lies at the core of this country with the rest of the world.
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Chinatsu Mizuno
Entrepreneur, CEO of Sen Inc.
Chinatsu Mizuno was born in Oomagari city, Akita prefecture, in 1988.
After graduating from university, Mizuno began working in a firm in Tokyo, but eventually decided to make a u-turn and returned to her home of Akita to start her own business.
While working at the sales department of a company that produces the food culture of Akita, she was inspired to promote Akita’s tourism as well as to inherit and maintain its traditional culture. This led to the establishment of her company, Sen, in April 2014. Sen functions as a concierge for tourism and traditional culture, of which Mizuno serves as a CEO.
As a resource for the industrialization of Akita-bijin (Akita beauties), Sen hopes to nurture Akita’s historical culture of Kawabata geisha to develop its concept of a “meetable Akita-bijin.” The business focuses on the training and dispatching of Akita maiko.
水野千夏(みずの ちなつ)
1988年生まれ、秋田県大曲市出身、秋田市育ち。
大学卒業後、都内の企業に就職した後、地元秋田での起業を決意し秋田にUターン。
秋田の「食」をプロデュースする会社に営業として務めるなかで、
秋田県で観光振興と伝統文化の継承を思い立ち2014年4月、
観光、伝統文化コンシェルジュ事業を行う、株式会社せんを設立、代表取締役に就任。
現在は秋田美人の産業化を図るため、「会える秋田美人」の実現に向けて、
昔秋田に存在していた川反芸者の文化を、秋田の新しい資源として形成する為に「あきた舞妓」として、
あきた舞妓育成・派遣事業を展開している。
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