Takayama Village
Nobuyuki Uchiyama

After working for the Meteorological Agency, Nobuyuki Uchiyama became the mayor of Takayama-mura in 2016 after being a member of village assembly. As a member, his mottoes were “to establish a disaster resilient village” and “to nurture human resources.” He is now eager to entertain the tourists with Michi-no-Eki (lit. roadside station) and Hoshi-no-Eki (lit. starlit station).

“I want to liven up the village tourism by Roadside and Starlit stations”

The key industries of the village are agriculture and tourism. With regards to the tourism, I have a particular feeling towards Michi-no-Eki. I used to move a lot because I would’ve been appointed to different branches of the agency I worked for. In those days, the very first place I would go to after moving in to each town to collect regional information was Michi-no-Eki. That’s why I would like to make our roadside station as the hub of the village to get to know Takayama-mura.
I am also passionate about Hoshi-no-Eki. There is Yamada Farm which is located in an area of 1,500 meters above sea level. One of the charms of the farm is that you can see the sky full of stars. There is no way we don’t make use of it. I want to create a Hoshi-no-Eki near by and include it in the tourist route to enjoy the nature and the facility. In the winter, it gets so cold that diamonddust may be observed. It would be nice to enjoy our wine under the starlit sky at night, as well.
More than 20 years ago, I moved to Kofu, a city in Yamanashi Prefecture famous as a wine-producing region. They held a welcome party for me, serving their wine in 1.8-liter bottles. We drank it out of cups. It was the time when wine was not as popular as it is now in Japan. Around the same time, I had an opportunity to drink wine in the oldest winery near Kofu with a vineyard spreading behind me. It was so impressive that it made me feel like I was having the most delicious wine in the world. From that experience, I think the ambience of drinking wine is very important.
I myself was born and raised in Takayama-mura. I love my homeland very much. I hope those who were born and raised here and moved out to go to college would want to move back and raise their children. I am determined not only to make such environment for them but also to nurture more people who think of their homeland in that way.

Interviewed in October, 2017
Writer : Hideko Takahashi / Photographer : Hiroyuki Tamura