In Tamura City, within the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan, a city planning program called the T2 Project (Tamura Tankyu Project, with “Tankyu” meaning “to explore”) was held on August 8-9, 2024. The T2 Project, which was hosted by the Board of Education, was designed for junior high school students aged 12 to 15 to draw out their ideas for the city. This city planning event has been held four times and is coordinated by Toshinori Ohashi, a former intern at the Center for Cities+Schools (CC+S).  Toshi was an exchange student from Japan at UC Berkeley from 2015-2016 and is currently working at Mitsubishi Corporation in Tokyo. Every summer, he collaborates with his hometown, Tamura City, to host the program. This year, Tamura City’s Board of Education invited CC+S online to join the presentation session.

Theme:  “Designing the Future of Tamura City and Yourself”

Location: Tamura City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan https://visit-tamura.jp

Purposes of the T2 Project:

• Understand the city where students live and learn the process of discussing ideas to improve it.
• Boost confidence and awareness to lead the future of the city and promote autonomous activities in their schools.
• Learn to think from multiple perspectives and motivate themselves to expand the boundaries of their future by interacting with professionals who are leading the subject globally.

Toshi utilized the Y-PLAN method and designed the program to fit into two days. On the first day, students mapped out Tamura City to better understand their hometown, identified several issues, and brainstormed ideas to solve them. They considered multiple perspectives, such as those of their grandparents, and interviewed city staff and their families.

Like many other municipalities in Japan, Tamura City faces the challenges of a decreasing population and an aging community. Some of the issues students identified include the transportation system and attractions for tourism. They discussed how to improve living conditions for locals and how to appeal to people outside the city.

At the end of the event, the T2 Project invited a few adults to consult with the students about their future goals and paths. By combining the designs of their city and themselves, the T2 Project has given students the opportunity to explore their city and inner selves, helping them grow as citizens and individuals. We look forward to seeing them continue to impact society.

This event showcases that Y-PLAN methods can be adopted across cultures and contexts. 

For more inquiries about Y-PLAN or the T2 Project, please contact:

Y-PLAN: https://citiesandschools.berkeley.edu/contact/

Toshinori Ohashi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toshinori-ohashi-a18717105/