Yamaguchi: Short Film to Help Revive Tawarayama Onsen Hot Spring Resort; Production Team Plans to Bring Back Tourism

Courtesy of the Junior International Chamber Nagato
A scene from the film “Tawarayama” in which the protagonist decides to take over her family’s onsen ryokan inn business

NAGATO, Yamaguchi — A short film about a young woman’s efforts to revitalize tourism in her home town, Tawarayama Onsen hot spring resort in Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture, has been attracting attention on YouTube.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Tawarayama Onsen hot spring resort in Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture

The 28-minute film “Tawarayama” has been viewed more than 53,000 times in just over a year.

Local volunteers planned the film to promote the resort town. It was filmed at the resort, and locals acted in it. The team involved in the production are enthusiastic about creating a sequel and also have plans such as offering tours around the film’s locations.

In the film, the main character returns to Tawarayama Onsen after getting sick of working at her company in Tokyo. She tries to promote the area with a former classmate — he is a Japanese confectionery maker — and others, using a cuddly yurukyara character made to resemble a Nagato Yuzukichi, a citrus fruit, which is a specialty of the city of Nagato.

The character eventually decides to take over her family’s onsen ryokan inn business.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Hikaru Tanaka

Made in October 2023 by a production committee using subsidies from the city, the film was one of several projects to mark the 60th anniversary of the Junior Chamber International Nagato. The committee, chaired by Hikaru Tanaka, 31, a former Nagato city employee, is made up of about 10 chamber members from various industries including the seafood processing and service industries.

Tanaka, head of a design office in the city, wrote and directed the film. He engaged mainly in the city’s public relations and tourism policy during the seven years through March 2022 that he worked at the city government. Drawing on his experience filming and editing promotional videos, he played a central role in the film’s production.

“I want to contribute to the promotion of local tourism,” Tanaka said.

The main character is played by Sachi Nakamura, a member of the Kitakyushu-based theater company Buru Egonaku.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Machinoyu public bathhouse in Tawarayama Onsen

The movie was shot over three days in August 2023 at such locations as Machinoyu, a hot spring public bathhouse in the Tawarayama Onsen area. About 10 locals, who happened to be at the site on the day of filming, were asked and agreed to appear in the film.

The Tawarayama Onsen has laid out a project to attract more visitors, in which the entire hot spring resort will serve as a single hotel through collaboration with hotels and restaurants. Guesthouse owner Yoshihiko Fujinaga, 62, who is involved in the project, also appears in the film as a farmer.

“I joined the production because I wanted more people to know about our Tawarayama Onsen,” he said. “I hope young people will come forward to take over the onsen ryokan inns like they do in the film.”

The film doubles as a promotional video for the onsen area.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Sanzaru manju, sweets in the shape of monkeys

Among the features of the film are “Sanzaru manju,” Japanese sweet buns made in the shape of monkeys. The buns are modeled after the “three wise monkeys,” which embody the principle of “mizaru, iwazaru, kikazaru” (“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”). According to legend, the hot spring was discovered by a white monkey, the incarnation of Yakushi Nyorai, or the Medicine Buddha. The film also features a corner at Machinoyu where mineral water is available for drinking.

According to Tanaka, visitors have said that they came to the onsen area after seeing the film or because they felt a connection with the main character.

A version of “Tawarayama” with English subtitles was released on YouTube for overseas audiences in January last year.

Health resort since Edo period

The Yomiuri Shimbun

According to Tawarayama Onsen, a local company that operates a hot spring and other businesses, the hot spring resort has been used as a health resort since the Edo period (1603-1867), and the number of annual bathers at the resort peaked at more than 700,000 in 1972.

However, with other hot spring resorts and recreational areas increasingly becoming vacation destinations for travelers, the number of guests staying there for long periods has decreased. As a result, in 2023, the total number of visitors to the area was only 111,723. Another problem is that the people running ryokan inns are aging, resulting in the number of inns in the area falling to 16 from 44 in 1955.

Under these circumstances, the production committee plans to offer goods related to the film by spring. Among the goods is a map of locations featured in the film, such as a street in front of Machinoyu where the main character and her former classmate meet. Towels with the Nagato Yuzukichi character design and other items to compliment a tour of the area’s public bathhouses are also planned.

Tanaka is working on the plot of a sequel to the film in which the protagonist and her former classmate marry and work together to revitalize the resort.

“If we bring together the strength of young people, like the characters in the film do, we can revitalize the area,” Tanaka said. “I want the film to raise interest in Tawarayama Onsen so that we can move things forward.”