Yokakusa Koga meeting
Etsuko Inoue asks "What is next?"
Maino-san (left), Fujiyama-san (back)
student (right)
Technology is famous for extending our communications capabilities. It is now routine for people to converse around the world, to exchange notes at the speed of light, and to instantly purchase goods and services from suppliers who may be far away. This communications capability increases the choices we have and allows us to enhance our life with a more global view. But does this amazing technology lower our "local quality of life"? Whereas the Internet allows us to keep in touch with friends and family across the country or on the other side of the world, does it also distract us from our life in our own local neighborhood, town, or city? Are we becoming a sort of "hermit crab" insulated in our own "shell", surrounded by gadgets that are connected to other gadgets, but out-of-touch with the people just down the street?
It used to be that people spent much of their time in activities with their neighbors: visiting on the front porch, town meetings to discuss local issues, get-togethers at the community center for traditional music and dance, etc.
With the widespread adoption of radio and television the focal point of news and entertainment moved away from the front porches and community centers and to the radio or television inside the house. Today, in some areas, people are ignorant of even the names of their neighbors but they know well the names of television actors.
One can decry technological advancements such as radio and television as having a "de-humanizing" and "alienating" affect on individual people. The same might be said for the Internet, as some people spend more time chatting with folks 'online' than they do with their family, friends, and neighbors.
However it is not the technology that is to be faulted but rather our application of this technology. Fortunately the Internet is a much more versatile and flexible medium than is broadcast radio or television. The Internet can be applied in more different ways and by more people. By cleverly applying the Internet to our local daily lives we can regain some of the local quality of life which has been usurped in the past 50 years.
Since 1996 a group of volunteers in a small city in the south of Japan have been using the Internet to enhance the quality of life in their hometown. The subject of this presentation is this very unique group, Yokakusa Koga, their activities, and the affect it has on local life in their town.
Yokakusa Koga was formed in 1996 - very early in the "Popular Internet Age" in Japan. Ms Etsuko Inoue was working at her company, Nihon-ChipChat in the town of Koga, Fukuoka prefecture. She had recently established a homepage for Nihon-ChipChat. A local citizen, Ishibashi-san, was interested in the Internet and used a search engine to look for "Koga Fukuoka". Imagine his amazement in 1996 when the search engine returned pages of a software and Internet company only a 5 minute walk from his house!
He sent an email to Inoue-san suggesting that they meet. Inoue-san took it one step further - she organized a meeting for local computer and Internet enthusiasts and put a notice in the local newspaper. The first meeting had about 15 people - all very inquisitive people who can be described as "power users" of personal computers. Most had already created their own homepage.
This meeting was the beginning of Yokakusa Koga. "Yokakusa" is a Fukuoka area word (Fukuoka is a prefecture (a 'state' or 'province') on the island of Kyushu - the most Southern of the four main islands of Japan). The meaning of the word "Yokakusa" is unknown throughout most of Japan. It means "Good Spirit!" or "Feel Good!". "Yokakusa Koga" can be translated to Westerners to be: "Up Up with Koga!".
Today Yokakusa Koga has over 100 members. All are volunteers. The "core group" of 15 or so people continues to lead with their technical expertise and interest. The focal point of Yokakusa Koga is inward, toward Koga.
Etsuko Inoue arranged with the "Koga Young Commerce Group" to hold the meetings of Yokakusa Koga on the third floor of their building. This was partly done for convenience, as this building is next door to Inoue-san's office. It turned out also to be very fortunate for the development of Yokakusa Koga.
Every Friday since 1996 Yokakusa Koga has held an Internet Class, open to any person who wants to learn about Internet. The Internet Class teaches people how to use a web browser, how to create a home page, how to transfer a file with FTP, how to send and receive email.
The class is held on the third floor of the Young Commerce building. For the first several months of these classes Yokakusa Koga members would disconnect their home computers, bring them to the Young Commerce building, carry them up to the third floor and connect and configure them into a working LAN. After the class they would disconnect their LAN, carry their computers downstairs, return to their home, and reconnect for their personal use. These machines were all heavy personal computers - none were notebooks. This was alot of work for which there was no monetary reward. It shows the dedication and selflessness of the core group of Yokakusa Koga.
One member, Hisakado-san, built ten computers from junk that had been thrown away by different companies. These computers are now available on the third floor of the Young Commerce building, and are connected to the Internet full-time via an ethernet connection to Nihon-ChipChat (next door). These computers are used for the Internet Classes on Friday night, and also for general use by members of the Young Commerce group.
One member of Yokakusa Koga, Kawamura-sensei, is an art teacher at a local middle school in Koga. This school had recently purchased and installed (40) brand new computers and a good server machine. However that school needed help to setup and use these computers. Kawamura-sensei asked Yokakusa Koga if the group could help this school. Hisakado-san and others worked as volunteers at that school, and created a LAN for the forty computers. They ran a telephone wire from the second floor to the first floor to provide Internet access thru the server. Every computer in that school became connected to the Internet.
Yokakusa Koga members organized classes for the teachers and the students. Every student in that school learned how to use the Internet and create their own home page.
This project at the middle school was an amazing story in 1997 in a small town in Japan. Both the people at the school and Yokakusa Koga remember it as a very exciting project.
Yokakusa Koga holds "Internet Festivals" regularly. These take place near the Koga train station, which sees thousands of people each day. Yokakusa Koga members bring their own personal computers to use for the event, arrange with NTT for an ISDN line for Internet access, and show people "how to use the Internet".
For these festivals a special "home page" is built with sections labelled: "For Father", "For Mother", "For Teenagers", "For Young Children". Each section has links to other home pages that are typically of interest for each of these groups.
Visitors to these "Internet Festivals" see the many "virtual communities" available on the net as well as the Yokakusa Koga home page with much information about their own home town.
The "Young Commerce" group is an organization of businessmen who are mostly under 40 years old. The largest business in Koga is a Soy Sauce Brewery, and most of the Young Commerce members own small shops and businesses. Yokakusa Koga was using the Young Commerce building for their Internet Classes, and as a result, Young Commerce members became very interested in using the Internet. Like many people, they were keen to learn about new technology, but did not know "where to start".
A print shop owner, Nakagawa-san, a member of both Yokakusa Koga and Young Commerce, emerged as a strong leader for Young Commerce. He worked hard to find inexpensive but adequate computers. Every member of Young Commerce now has a personal computer in their home or shop. They use email regularly to communicate with each other. They have established a "Cyber-Mall" on the Yokakusa Koga homepage. The most popular item for purchase using e-commerce at the Koga Cyber Mall is Soy Sauce.
When an order is placed at the Cyber-Mall, an email message is delivered to the proper Young Commerce member. They fulfill the order and deliver the goods quickly.
Young Commerce and Yokakusa Koga are working on an expanded project for e-commerce. The goal of this project is to help old people and disabled people to enjoy a better life using the Internet. These folks sometimes have trouble to get out and around town, so the plan is to help them to use simple "Internet Appliances" to shop at the Koga Cyber-Mall. When the order is processed and delivered, the delivery person stays for a few minutes and visits with the customer, chats with them, and asks if all is well and if they need any other help.
This project was tried with an Internet Appliance that used a television set as a monitor, but the results were not acceptable. The two groups, Young Commerce and Yokakusa Koga, are now thinking about another way to have inexpensive and simple Internet Appliances available for elderly and disabled people.
The Koga Young Commerce Group cannot succeed with their plans without the help of Yokakusa Koga because Yokakusa Koga provides much technical expertise. Also, Yokakusa Koga needs the help of Young Commerce for a place to meet and important connections to people in the local community.
Some people in Koga were very enthusiastic about the new technology of computers and Internet, but they did not have enough money to buy a new computer. So they bought an older computer at a lower price. When you buy a new computer there is usually a "support program" to help you at first. But there is no such help for buyers of older computers.
The people who bought these computers were beginners and needed help. Many of them had become enthused about computers and the Internet from attending the Yokakusa Koga Internet Classes. Now that they had their own computer they had many questions regarding "how to make it work". As individuals they contacted Yokakusa Koga and asked for help. Yokakusa Koga responded with a program called "Otasuke Tai" which means "Help Group".
It was mentioned earlier that the core group of Yokakusa Koga consists of very talented "power users". This sort of expertise is required to configure an older computer to work well on the Internet. This "core group" volunteers to visit the homes of the beginners and help them with their older computers - to configure them and connect them to the Internet. The beginners realize that Yokakusa Koga members are volunteers, and so are very appreciative and do not ask for unreasonable help.
"Otasuke Tai" has been a very successful project, and continues.
(Links in this "Web Pages" section point to the Yokakusa Koga web server)
Yokakusa Koga maintains an extensive set of web pages at http://www.koga.org which include practical information such as bus and train schedules for the city, historical information such as interviews with the town elders, and upcoming events information in the form of a "community calendar".
Etsuko Inoue interviewed Nagasaki-sensi, the town historian, who is 92 years old. His interview and lectures are available online at the Yokakusa Koga web site.
Everyday Life in Koga
There is a special story about how Yokakusa Koga brought "everyday life" to many people in Koga.
Etsuko Inoue was having the trees in her garden trimmed, and the gardener discovered that he had trimmed too much and exposed a nest of young birds to the harsh sun. If left exposed they would probably die.
The gardener, Inoue-san, and her mother discussed what to do. They then created a "sun shade" from some cardboard, and the gardener affixed it to the tree to provide shade for the young birds.
Inoue-san took photos every day of the birds as they progressed and put them on the "town news" of the Yokakusa Koga web site. By the time the birds grew up and left the nest the Yokakusa Koga Web Server was pouring out a continuous stream of photos as many people in Koga were able to watch their progress without bothering the birds.
In 1998 Yokakusa Koga's home page counted it's 20,000th visitor. Some web pages count 20,000 visitors each day, but a total count of 20,000 visitors is an important event for Yokakusa Koga. After some thinking it was decided to celebrate this event by collecting 20,000 loose beverage cans from around the city and recycle them. This activity would help the Yokakusa Koga members better appreciate what the number 20,000 actually was; it would help to clean up Koga and make the city more beautiful; It would recycle valuable resources - steel and aluminum; And it would raise money from the recycling. The money, it was decided, would be used to buy food and medical supplies to send to a Medical Doctor, originally from Koga, who is a volunteer to help poor people in Peshawar, Pakistan.
This activity required lots of work - especially by key people, such as Nakagawa-san, a local print-shop owner/operator. It was unanimously viewed as a success and all participants enjoyed this work.
It is easy for a group of volunteers to disintegrate due to many reasons: "too many chiefs", "big disagreements about small matters", "people might try to get control to promote political or commercial goals", etc. Yokakusa Koga has been successful since 1996 and now has over 100 participating members. This success might be attributed to the guiding principles of the group: "Open, Fair, Simple". This motto was thought of by Ishibashi-san.
The Internet helps to connect us and to realize that, despite large distances and cultural differences, we are one species sharing a single planet. The Internet is growing every day - like a gigantic spider web made of network cables encircling the Earth.
Imagine being able to shrink yourself to a tiny size and jump inside one of the fibre-optic cables which makes up the Internet: TCP, UDP, ICMP packets would all by flying past like a constant stream of 'shooting stars'. From inside such a cable the Internet might be described as "10,000 points of light".
Many of these "points of light" will be from virtual communities which will expose individuals to folks they otherwise might never meet. It will enrich personal lives and expand our technical and cultural activities.
Other "points of light" will be from E-Commerce, and will help people to buy and sell, manufacture and distribute, use and recycle goods and services.
But also there is room for "points of light" from each of our neighborhoods and home-towns - the soft gentle glow of a welcoming lantern just down the street.
Yokakusa Koga has taken a first step in applying technology to help townspeople better appreciate and enjoy their local living environment.
We do not say that things that Yokakusa Koga has done are, of themselves, extraordinary. However the combination of these things done well by many volunteers is noteworthy, and has shown that the Internet can be used by ordinary citizens for the betterment of their local neighborhood and hometown.
© Copyright 2000 Marty Cawthon (Dearborn, Michigan USA) & Etsuko Inoue (Koga, Fukuoka JAPAN). Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
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