外務省海外広報課企画 Japan Video Topics 2001 年1月号

Cyber Town in the Snow

Deep in the mountains 300 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, the agricultural village of Yamada-mura rests some good blanket of snow. During winter heavy snow fall leaves the 2000 residents with a lo t of time on their hands. However, these days their idle hands are busy operating computers. Almost all the households are now part of the local area network. When the junior high school requested an Internet connection in 1995, the village applied to join the new government program. The following year a computer network was installed throughout the village to study the benefits include communications upon the lives of the residents. The telecommunications controlled with the information center is the heart of the village’s information network.

Almost no one had touched a computer before they were distributed in the village. Hiwako Tajima is one those who had never used a computer before. She has expanded her circle of friends through e-mail.
“I’ve learned enough to exchange e-mail. As I imagined, it’s a lot of fun. “
One of Hiwako’s e-mail pals is 83-year-old Nobutsune Tanaka, the oldest computer user in the village.
“I look forward to see if I receive replies to my e-mail messages!”
Twice each month he attends computer class. The teachers are local volunteers m any of whom are beginners. However, the students find it’s easier to ask questions to people they are familiar with. Today some people can even make their own web sites. Kumiko Kawaguchi is one of these novice volunteer teachers, the computer fascinator.
“The computer has motivated me to keep in touch with the others in the village.”

Some people have started using their computers in their work. Fusa Tanaka uses hers to make announcements and other documents related to her beauty shop… Fusa likes the computer so much. She’s even making her own web site.
“I’ve received e-mail from people I don’t know who saw my web site. So I’ve made various friends outside the village.”

Yamada-mura elementary school has about 100 students. The school hopes to, b y communicating the other schools through the Internet, students will gain a bro ad aspect of life outside of their village.

Elderly residents’ blood pressure and heart rate data can be remotely monitor ed. The public health nurse of the village office regularly checks the data. Cameras mounted on top of the computers provide a video phone function to allow f ace-to-face consultation.

This high-tech village has even attracted some new residents from the big cit y. The Ishibashi family were interested in giving high-tech country life at try . They say that life in Yamada-mura is very pleasant.
“I can shop on the Internet so I don’t feel inconvenience living here.” ;

Technology is bringing people together and providing new forms of communication for remote communities like Yamada-mura.

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