From Villages
The Most Beautiful Villages in Japan
The NPO “The Most Beautiful Villages in Japan” Association was founded in 2005 with seven towns and villages. At the time, during the so-called “Heisei Great Merger” period, which saw the promotion of municipal mergers, it was becoming increasingly difficult for small villages with excellent local resources and beautiful landscapes to survive. Taking its model from the “France’s Most Beautiful Villages” movement, which carefully selects and introduces beautiful, rustic villages in France, we launched a movement aimed at helping Japan’s farming, mountain, and fishing villages become independent as the most beautiful villages, while protecting the scenery and culture that can never be regained once lost.
This beautiful village movement, which originated in France, spread to Japan, and villages, towns, and districts in small, remote municipalities that felt the same way began to join the Beautiful Villages Association. We have been supporters of this movement since 2007, and we began publishing a tabloid newspaper with the aim of recording the growing Beautiful Villages movement and delivering it directly to the residents living in beautiful villages.
If we were to compare it to vegetables, we would start by walking around the local areas to gather information, with the idea of ”preparing the soil, sowing seeds, harvesting, and selling.” The appeal of travel is meeting people. If the setting is a beautiful mountain village or fishing village rich in nature, it makes you more tolerant and more receptive to the ideas of others. This is our beautiful village experience. Similar to agritourism in Italy, you work in the city during the week and release your mind amid the beautiful scenery of rural areas on the weekends. I hope you will find your favorite beautiful village.
