The Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture is home to an area known as “satoyama-kai,” where people live in harmony with the rich natural environment. the Noto Peninsula earthquake of January 2024 caused extensive damage and transformed people’s livelihoods. JICA is working with the local government and the affected people for its reconstruction. Through the images of people struggling in the area, we will report on Noto now, two years after the earthquake.
Mr. Keiichi Yori, JICA Hokuriku Noto Reconstructionist, accompanies the oyster farmers to the site.
JICA accompanies producers in satoyama and satoumi
Winter on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. In the early morning, fish caught in fixed nets are landing one after another at the fishing port.
This year’s heat wave has brought higher sea water temperatures; has this affected fish stocks and catches?”
Keiichi Yori, JICA Hokuriku’s Noto Reconstruction Officer, is watching the sorting of landed fish and talking to fishery operators. While conducting field surveys of the fishing and forestry industries, he is consulting with them on how to add value to their livelihoods to support the region.
Mr. Yori plays the role of a “local JICA contact person” to address local issues in Japan. In the disaster-stricken area of Noto, JICA is expected to play a certain role in the area of “sustainable restoration of livelihoods utilizing satoyama and satoumi.
Mr. Yori, who had been in charge of food products at a major general trading company, moved to JICA in December 2024, leaving his job of more than 10 years and moving from Tokyo to Ishikawa Prefecture because of his extraordinary passion for Noto.
Claw marks on the World Agricultural Heritage Site
The coast of Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, where fallen trees and debris piled up after the earthquake and torrential rains.
The Sea of Japan, which nurtures an abundance of seafood, vast terraced rice paddies, heroic festivals and traditional crafts, and fermented food culture. …… In June 2011, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recognized Noto’s satoyama and satoumi, which still retain Japan’s original landscape, as Japan’s first World Agricultural Heritage site.
On the other hand, Noto’s satoyama and satoumi areas were also facing challenges. Serious depopulation and aging of the population had reduced the number of primary industry players, and changes in the natural environment due to global warming were having a serious impact on people’s livelihoods.
This was followed by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January 2024. In addition, torrential rains in September of the same year shattered people’s hopes for recovery and reconstruction. Cracked rice paddies were abandoned, and mountains were ravaged by fallen trees and collapsed forests. The sea was flooded with debris and sediment, and the seaweed beds that nurture fish were destroyed. Many people are living in a state of uncertainty.
Yori says.
We need to not only put things back together, but we need to continue to create creative businesses that will support the community as it rebuilds.”
A seaside village in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, collapsed after an earthquake and torrential rains.
Transformed from a general trading company
Born in Tokyo, Mr. Yori has often visited Anamizu Town, where his father’s family lived, since he was a child and was fascinated by the richness of the satoyama and satoumi. In summer, she helps out at the Kiriko Festival. The festival, in which giant lanterns called “kiriko” are paraded through the town, has been handed down throughout Noto and has become a source of pride for the local people.
Unlike in the city, the rice and fish on the table are connected to the producer’s face and natural scenery. As I made more friends in Noto, I began to think that one day I would return to Noto,” he said. Having worked in the food field for a major general trading company, when he began working in the satoyama and satoumi industry, it was with the hope that he could be of service to the region.
I had been to the disaster area as a volunteer after the Great East Japan Earthquake, took a leave of absence from university to engage in fundraising and business management at an NPO, and also went to the disaster area after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake four days after it occurred and started to support the victims together with my acquaintances. There, I realized that the depopulation and aging of the population were even more serious than in the Tohoku region.
In the summer of 2024, more than half a year after the disaster. While many festivals were cancelled, Yori visited a fire festival held on Notojima Island. There, he met Takuya Sugimoto of the Ishikawa Prefecture Creative Reconstruction Promotion Division.
Takuya Sugimoto (left) and Keiichi Yori work at the Noto Public-Private Partnership Reconstruction Center.
Mr. Sugimoto, who has been involved in promoting the use of Noto Airport, was also involved in the formulation of the prefecture’s “Creative Reconstruction Plan. When he was considering the establishment of a public-private partnership for the recovery of his business, he learned of Mr. Yori’s passion for Noto and approached him.
Why don’t you join us in doing what you can for Noto?”
This comment prompted Mr. Yori to apply for the Noto Reconstruction Project of JICA Hokuriku, and he was hired.
Keiichi Yori participates in a kiriko festival in Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the summer of 2025.
Creative Reconstruction” through public-private partnership
The phrase ‘creative recovery’ implies a desire to not only restore things to the way they were, but also to change the trend in one or two ways, even if only one or two.”
Mr. Sugimoto was born and raised in the satoyama of Hakui and has helped grow rice and manage the forests since he was a child. The earthquake caused a lot of cedar and ash forests to collapse,” he says. Many cedar and ake forests collapsed because the undergrowth had not been cut and the branches had not been removed. If sunlight does not reach the ground, coniferous trees will not put down roots. While promoting the benefits of satoyama-zanoumi, the number of people who protect it is dwindling. The scarcity of income from the livelihood needed to maintain it was another major reason.”
Ms. Sugimoto is currently working for the Noto Public-Private Partnership Reconstruction Center (Noto Renpuku) (Wajima City), a general incorporated association established by the prefecture and six Noto cities and towns, to connect the needs of the affected areas with private sector support and to support reconstruction projects using funds.
The base of the Noto Public-Private Partnership Reconstruction Center (Noto Renpuku) is located at “NOTOMORI” beside the Noto Satoyama Airport. Local restaurants and other businesses that lost their buildings in the disaster will also move in.
In parallel with his work for JICA, Mr. Yori is also involved in building new businesses for the prefecture based in Norinompuku. What has been helpful is Yori’s experience at a general trading company, where she has worked on branding and developing sales channels for food products in Japan and abroad. Mr. Sugimoto says.
Mr. Yorisaki understands the cash flow and contracts of a business, as well as what a profitable and sustainable business looks like. He looks at various projects and documents while focusing on what is necessary to achieve this, which is very encouraging. I feel this kind of support is essential for ‘creative recovery.'”
From bottom trawling to oyster farming
For residents, too, Mr. Yori is someone they can rely on. If I have any problems, such as how to deal with the local government or how to sell my products, I ask Mr. Yori,” said a young fisherman who has lost his bottom trawl fishing business. A young fisherman who has lost his bottom trawl fishing business says, “If I have any problems, I ask Mr. Yori.
The fishing grounds have suffered a drastic decrease in seaweed beds due to global warming, and the earthquake has put a final nail in the coffin. The damage was so devastating that there was no way to recover from it. From early on, I knew we had to try something new.”
The challenge was to cultivate oysters. When the “false feces (undigested discharge)” produced by oysters falls to the seafloor, it becomes a source of nutrients for sea creatures, and a rich ecosystem may grow again. They hope that this will create a virtuous cycle that will lead to the revival of the ocean and the day when bottom trawling can once again be practiced.
The earthquake made me realize that the sea and mountains are treasures. I want to increase the number of new workers at the port to make it bustling with activity so that young people can work there with dreams and hopes. In order to achieve this, I want to protect the sea while creating brand-name seafood and expanding our sales channels to the world.
Keiichi Yori accompanying a fisherman on a set-net fishing trip
JICA and Noto forge ties
On the other hand, Yori says, “I am helped by the connections that JICA has fostered in Noto.
SATOYAMA and SATOUMI have been attracting international attention in recent years. Ms. Miri Takeda of JICA Hokuriku explains how JICA Hokuriku has invited government officials and others from developing countries to learn how to balance environmental conservation and sustainable local economic activities since 2011, when Noto’s satoyama and satoumi areas were registered as a World Agricultural Heritage site.
The rapid increase in human activities is causing rapid degradation of the natural environment, which in turn is affecting the lives of people in developing countries in many ways. The sustainable use of natural resources and regional development in Noto’s satoyama and satoumi are highly valued both domestically and internationally, and people in developing countries can also benefit from the lessons learned.”
JICA Hokuriku has been actively involved in the recovery efforts, such as by participating in the operation of evacuation centers immediately after the disaster, as a way of “repaying Noto” for having hosted so many of our training programs. JICA Hokuriku has also provided opportunities for trainees to visit disaster-stricken areas and see how reconstruction is progressing, thereby connecting disaster-stricken areas with developing countries.
A young fishery operator who started oyster farming accepted trainees from Indonesia and the Philippines to observe the recovery after the earthquake. He says, “Once we get back on our feet, we would like to visit their countries to repay the favor.
Inspection of reconstruction by trainees
A Model for Hometowns Around the World”
Reconstruction will take a long time, and JICA will continue to be involved in satoyama-zan-umi as a companion. Mr. Sugimoto shares his hopes for the future.
JICA has continued to communicate the significance of satoyama and satoumi through training and other means. The Creative Reconstruction Plan includes the goal of becoming ‘a beacon of hope for all hometowns in Japan and around the world. We hope that the restored satoyama and satoumi will serve as a model for other hometowns around the world, and we look forward to working together with JICA’s ability to communicate this message.
© Source JICA