Save the Hydrangea Mountain! - the Crowdfunding of Minamizawa Hydrangea Mountain where One Old Man has grown 10,000 Hydrangea in 47 Years

It's been a while since I wrote an article about local revitalization. This time I focus on Akiruno City of Tokyo Prefecture, not Tanagura Town which I'm engaged in as a supporters' ambassador.

This time the stage is a hydrangea spot called Minamizawa Hydrangea Mountain, where you can walk from Musashi-Itsukaichi Station in the west of Tokyo. To my surprise, there are around 10,000 Hydrangea in the area. And to my biggest surprise, one old man has grown all the Hydrangea in this private mountain in 47 years...!

 

(Quoted from faavo, the crowdfunding site)

Of course, Minamizawa Hydrangea Mountain is one of the most popular sightseeing spots of Akiruno City. Quite a few people visit this mountain from the midst of June to the beginning of July to see a crowd of Hydrangea in such an natural environment.

Sad to say, it is getting harder and harder to manage this Hydrangea mountain because the old man is now 87 years old...!  In order to maintain this Hydrangea mountain from now on, it is quite urgent for younger people to succeed to his techniques, and for an organization to succeed in his long solo challenge.

This is why the crowdfunding project of Minaizawa Hydrangea Mountain has started!

* Excuse me but the crowdfunding site is all in Japanese. If you would like to donate from outside Japan, please let me know.

※The screenshot was quoted from faavo.

The donation course is from JPY 3,000. I recommend that you should choose the courses of JPY 10,000 or more because they include the right to grow your own Hydrangea there!

As of May 16, 2017, the result is around JPY 700,000 raised of JPY 1,500,000. Almost half. However, the funding term is until the end of May. They only have 15 days left out of the original 40 days. I'm not yet sure whether they can be successful or not. We are looking forward to your donations and shares!

I myself decided to support the project for the following reasons.

1. Because the founder is my friend's friend.
2. Because I've often visited Musashi-Itsukaichi for fishing and visiting waterfalls.
3. Because I envy hillscapes there.
4. Because Hydrangea is a flower of my birth month.
5. Because I want to grow Hydrangea in my garden in the future.
6. Because the founder is pretty passionate.

My support is going to be more than the donation. I will take photos there during the Hydrangea season. I will support maintenance operations during the off season. I will discuss the project from the business and marketing point of view as a pro bono. If you are interested in such grass root movements, please let me know.

I can tell the values of this Minamizawa Hydrange Mountain project in several contexts. Let me summarize the points here.

• Social challenge to hand down the individual-dependent natural landscapes by adopting a organization-based management.
• Business challenge to create a new business model based on the system where easy-to-proliferate Hydrangea connect more and more people.
• Hydrangea, which tends to grow in artificial environments, grow among Cedar trees and Japanese cypress trees very naturally. This project can maintain such a precious environment of Tokyo. (If we once lose it, it is quite hard to restore it)
• This project can be a trigger for Akiruno City to re-recognize the necessity of local revitalization and discuss the issues actively.
• This can be a regional penetration process for the community cafe in from of the station by altruistic activities.
• In addition, I dream of the interesting collaboration with Mt Otsuka, a mountain of Hydrange hirta near Okutama.

I myself dream of the collaboration with Tangura Town somewhere someday because I've found a lot in common with the town, too. However, for now, what we have to do is to achieve the goal of this crowdfunding so that we meet the expectations of the donators. I continue to appeal this project while believing that there is an accelerated growth curve in crowdfunding!!

Lastly, let me say this again.

The donation course is from JPY 3,000. I recommend that you should choose the courses of JPY10,000 or more because they include the right to grow your own Hydrangea there!

As of May 16, 2017, the result is around JPY 700,000 raised of JPY 1,500,000. Almost half. However, the funding term is until the end of May. They only have 15 days left out of the original 40 days. I'm not yet sure whether they can be successful or not. We are looking forward to your donations and shares!