[20 Years Since the Opening of Tsuruoka Town Campus of Keio (TTCK)] Regional Revitalization Through Scholarship Bearing Fruit with the Fukuzawa Spirit

2021/04/07

Image: Institute for Advanced Biosciences Biolab

First, please look at the color frontispiece. A place that was nothing but rice paddies 20 years ago has now developed into one of the leading science parks, lined with many venture companies and even hotels. Its area is 21.5 hectares, which is equivalent to about two-thirds of the area of the Hiyoshi Campus or Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC).

To date, there have been seven venture companies originating from Keio Tsuruoka (Table 1). Among them, HMT was listed on the TSE Mothers market, becoming the only listed company in Tsuruoka City. Spiber, a developer of synthetic protein materials, was ranked number one in the world on the UK site "Disrupt 100," beating out Silicon Valley ventures. Despite being unlisted, its market capitalization reached 114.3 billion yen (December 2020), attracting attention from around the world. The new employment created by Keio University and related companies is approximately 670 people. Including their families, this settled population accounts for about 1% of the total population of Tsuruoka City, and according to the city's website, the economic ripple effect is approximately 3 billion yen annually.

In June 2017, Tsuruoka City was ranked third in the nation, following cities like Fukuoka, in Forbes Japan's "Innovative City Ranking that Makes Japan Interesting." In September 2018, Newsweek Japan published a special feature article titled "Regional Revitalization through Ventures: Reasons for the Success of Yamagata's 'Tsuruoka Model'." Tsuruoka's technology has also been featured one after another on documentary programs such as "Jonetsu Tairiku" and "Gaia no Yoake."

In the Diet in November 2017, then-Prime Minister Abe cited it as a success story for regional revitalization, stating to the effect that "At the Keio University Institute for Advanced Biosciences in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, young researchers from Japan and abroad are gathering, and world-class new venture companies are being born one after another, creating great vitality in the local economy."

"What is happening in Tsuruoka?" Many members of the Diet and administrative agencies, including four successive ministers in charge of regional revitalization, have visited for inspections. It has also been introduced as a leading example of regional Japan on the Prime Minister's Office international public relations website and in booklets.

While it is gratifying to be evaluated by the government as a success story, Tsuruoka City has not been selected as a national priority strategy area. For some time, the Japanese government has provided large-scale financial support to over 40 locations nationwide as "Regional Innovation Strategy Areas" for regional revitalization, but Tsuruoka City has never been selected.

What made Tsuruoka bloom was the strong relationship of trust between the local governments (Yamagata Prefecture and Tsuruoka City) and Keio University based on a long-term vision. With the major goal of revitalizing and developing Tsuruoka City—where the population decline shows no signs of stopping and there are even fears of potential disappearance—through scholarship and science to make it a success model for regional cities in Japan, Keio University has taken on the mission of improving academic culture through world-class research results, fostering creative human resources, and creating and accumulating new industries through venture companies.

It will take at least 30 years to realize such a major goal. Therefore, in addition to the activities of the current generation, I believe that the essence of regional revitalization lies in fostering creative human resources who will lead the next generation.

Fukuzawa stated this in "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," arguing that what is important in education is not "guidance," but rather preparing an "environment" for students to learn on their own and develop their talents. In accordance with this Fukuzawa spirit, Keio Tsuruoka has implemented many interesting educational programs (Table 2).

For example, the "Special Research Student" program is a system that accepts local high school students into the research center to support their independent research. There is an important condition for acceptance: "To have the spirit and courage to go to university through AO (Admissions Office) entrance exams or recommendation-based entrance exams." In other words, the condition is not to do exam-prep studying. We want them to devote themselves to independent research, promote their results, and aim for university admission from their first to fourth choices all through AO exams (or self-recommendation exams).

On the other hand, the "High School Research Assistant" program is a system (paid) that employs local high school students as assistants every day after school on weekdays. Even in a cutting-edge research center, there are many tasks that high school students can do, and having them do those tasks is mutually beneficial. Furthermore, by entrusting more advanced work to talented high school students, further growth can be expected.

These human resource development programs that move away from standardized test scores (deviation values) are beginning to bear fruit. Lira Matsuda, who was a research assistant during high school, promoted those achievements to enter SFC through the AO exam, went on to graduate school, and is now working in her hometown of Tsuruoka as a researcher for HMT. The ecosystem for human resource development set in Tsuruoka has begun to turn.

Recently, major companies in Tokyo have also shown strong interest in Tsuruoka's human resource development environment. Currently, we have concluded comprehensive partnership agreements with five companies and are accepting working professionals as graduate students (Table 3). Most of them are in their 30s in administrative positions with degrees from liberal arts faculties, but they take cutting-edge biotechnology experimental training such as genome analysis alongside undergraduate students. They develop various projects themselves aiming for a healthy and long-lived society with Tsuruoka City as their field, aiming to become innovative human resources through the fusion of different fields. For major companies, fostering innovative future executives is an important issue, and expectations for "Tsuruoka Magic" are high.

Tsuruoka City is located in the Shonai Plain on the coastal side of Yamagata Prefecture. Surrounded by the Sea of Japan, the Three Mountains of Dewa, and Mount Chokai, it possesses beautiful nature where the scenery changes throughout the year with green in summer, autumn colors in fall, and white snow in winter.

The level of food culture in Tsuruoka City is high, and it is the only city in Japan certified as a UNESCO "Creative City of Gastronomy." It is also one of Japan's leading sake-producing regions. The Junmai Daiginjo "Chitoku," born from a collaboration between Kato Kahachiro Shuzo (founded in 1872) and the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, is a top-quality product selected using cutting-edge component analysis technology from precious sake collected only from drops that dripped after putting the moromi (mash) into sake bags using the traditional "funa-gake/shizuku-dori" method. It has been on general sale as official Keio University merchandise since 2020.

The slogan I have championed for 20 years at the Tsuruoka Campus is "Post-Honor Student" and "Ordinary is Zero Points." "Let's leave the ordinary things to others and do what only we can do." When you do something different from others, there is no precedent, so the probability of failure is high. That is why everyone is reluctant to do it. But if someone doesn't challenge themselves to do something different, neither society nor organizations will evolve. Challenging yourself to do something no one has ever done is very exciting, and that thrilling atmosphere will further attract talented and creative human resources.

Do not be an "honor student" who earns points by conforming to trends and authority, but be a "leader" who acts with courage without fear of criticism or failure. By producing many world-shining research projects, human resources, and industries from the regional city of Tsuruoka, we aim to be a success story of regional revitalization through scholarship, and we want to change the state of Japanese education and regions into something more exciting and interesting.