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JAPAN Forward launched its "Ignite" series of essays in English to directly share Japanese students' voices with their global peers. Ritsumeikan University student Keitakosashi Naka is one. As part of the US-Japan Council's TOMODACHI Initiative, Okudaira and other participants traveled to the region devastated by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake on March 14-15, 2026. From that experience, he considers how community leadership should be structured for the future.
The TOMODACHI Initiative is a private-public partnership between the US Embassy Tokyo and the US-Japan Council. Launched in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, it focuses on developing next-generation leaders in Japan and the United States. This particular Noto Peninsula project was organized by the TOMODACHI Regional Representative of the Chubu-Hokuriku Region, Shiori Sata. Funding was provided by Prudential and Amazon.
Keitakosashi Naka's essay is the fifth submission among participants in the 2026 Noto Peninsula project. Applying his experience as a participant in an earlier Boeing TOMODACHI Initiative leadership-building project, he considers how community leadership can be effectively structured for rebuilding after a disaster and beyond. Let's listen.
Forty-fourth in the Series, 'Ignite'
By Keitakosashi Naka
Essay on the TOMODACHI Initiative Noto Peninsula Project
Two years after the 2024 Noto earthquake, Noto is still on the way to recovery.
In March, I visited the Noto Peninsula as a participant in the program hosted by the TOMODACHI Initiative. It was launched for the purpose of developing next-generation leaders through a Japan-United States partnership. In 2023, I participated in the TOMODACHI Boeing Entrepreneurship Seminar to learn entrepreneurship and leadership. Now, I'm interested in community building and management involving various people.
This visit aimed to learn resilience and recovery from disasters by visiting the stricken area of Noto. Reconstruction of the community from the disaster is the most obvious example of how leadership is exercised there. This is the reason why I thought this visit was just right for me at this time.
In the panel discussion on the theme of "Build Back Better" on the first day of the program, panelists involved in community regeneration in the Noto area are focused on the importance of leadership that respects voices on the ground.
Recovery at Shiroyone Senmaida
Makiko Doshita, who is involved in the conservation activities of Shiroyone Senmaida, a rice terrace known as a scenic spot in Noto, emphasized the need for community-based reconstruction from her experience after the earthquake. After the earthquake, Shiroyone Senmaida suffered heavy damage because it was close to the epicenter. Initially, the local government planned its recovery by using heavy contractor equipment. At the time, they wanted to resume accepting tourists as soon as possible. However, local conservationists, including her, objected to this plan because the rice terraces had been preserved by human hands.
After reconstruction work began, the process didn't progress smoothly. Contractors hired by the local government lacked knowledge of this rice terrace. Eventually, this work became a collaborative effort with local people. This story indicated that top-down leadership does not always work since it is essential to reflect on-the-ground insights into any project.
Through discussion, panelists showed the leadership style that will be required of the future society. Nami Moriyama, who runs a city planning business in Nanao, advocated the leadership style which she called "weak leader," which evokes empathy from people around, while contrasting with the previous leadership style, which emphasized strength.
Wakura Onsen Area
The next day, the program moved to the Wakura Onsen area. While walking down the street, scars of the earthquake still remained. A volunteer tour guide looked back on that time. It was New Year's Day, and many guests were visiting this hot spring area. Soon after the earthquake occurred, a major tsunami warning was issued in this area. In this situation, hotel staff across the town cooperated to guide the guests to the evacuation site located on the high ground. Thanks to their efforts, there were no casualties among the guests in this earthquake.
After visiting the hot spring area, the next destination was Wakura Onsen Omatsuri Hall. There were exhibits about various traditional festivals held in the Noto Peninsula. Those include "Seihakusai," which is recognized as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Kiriko Festival, where people parade in the street while carrying a large lantern.
On the screen of the exhibiting room were local residents who had participated in those festivals. The tradition of the festivals has been passed down from generation to generation by each community member. The festivals truly embody that community and are sustained by not only the power of strong leaders, but also by the small contributions of each member.
Leadership Style
Experiences during this visit to Noto made me recognize once again that a community is sustained by not strong leaders controlling its members, but by the small support of each diverse member from the bottom up. When we hear the word "leadership," we tend to think it means the power [of] strong people [that] makes people follow.
In this society, which requires sustainability and flexibility, it could be said that a bottom-up leadership style is more needed than ever before. I would like to practice leadership that makes the most of the abilities and knowledge of the people around me.
About the Author:
Keitakosashi Naka wrote this essay as he entered his second year as a student in the Faculty of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University. He was an alumnus of the TOMODACHI Initiative Boeing Entrepreneurship Seminar before participating in the 2026 Noto Peninsula project.
RELATED:
- New Insights on Disaster Recovery Through the TOMODACHI Initiative x 'Ignite'
- Disaster Recovery: Building Back Value for the Future
Author: Keitakosashi Naka
Student, Ritsumeikan University and TOMODACHI Initiative alumnus
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