Build New Local Executive Committee 13 local newspaper companies from all over the country participated and announced the implementation status for 3 years of “Build New Local 2023 with Google News Initiative” to strengthen collaboration among loca

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2. Announcement of implementation status of winning newspapers in 2021 and 2022 We continue to provide implementation support and share progress among local newspaper companies. There are also newspaper companies that have a track record of contributing to the local community and making profits.
Please check the release below for details on the award-winning businesses for each year.
　2021: 　2022: -2021 Award-Winning Newspaper Company-
Saitama Shimbunsha “Self-Design People, Grow in Saitama. From Saitama, people with rich hearts who create their own futures”
We opened a classroom that offers experiential learning programs with the aim of restoring children’s ties with their local communities and encouraging their emotional growth.
It was officially approved at an internal meeting in October 2022, and full-scale operations will begin in April 2023. As of August 2023, the number of registered members is approximately 700, and a total of 50 experiential learning classes have been held.
The general incorporated foundation “Saitama Regional Connecting Foundation” was established in late October. Focusing on “growth support,” “activity support,” “newspaper distribution,” and “regional revitalization,” we publish “KIDS Saitama Shimbun,” which disseminates information about Saitama related to hands-on classes, as well as free schools and NPOs that serve as a third place for children. We also plan to consider providing support.
Kii Minpo “Digital teaching materials and information sharing tools for GIGA schools, community learning, and inquiry learning”
In response to the reinforcement of exploratory learning associated with the revision of high school curriculum guidelines under the “GIGA School Initiative,” we will provide Kii Minpo’s resources as learning materials and build a support system for high schools. Co-hosted with the Wakayama Prefecture Information Technology Promotion Association (WIDA) and in collaboration with Benesse, we held a regional learning seminar aimed at high school teachers to deepen their understanding of inquiry learning. “Think” was held. In the future, we will utilize the website “Everyone’s Learning Plaza,” which will publish the results of community learning and inquiry learning. We aim to collaborate with other local newspapers in order to develop a site where children, who will be our future readers, can see the issues they have set for themselves and the information needed to resolve them.
Kobe Shimbun “~ Adding value to logistics that connect producers and consumers ~ Regional revitalization project through regional logistics Hyogoto Fresh Delivery”
In order to reduce wastage of agricultural products and support local producers, we are building a new logistics system that utilizes newspaper delivery networks.
In conjunction with the PoC results of the project conducted in February 2023, the project was applied to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Kobe City, and was adopted, as well as winning the grand prize in the open innovation program “Flag.”
In addition, we are delivering donated food every week to 12 food support organizations in 9 wards in Kobe City for families with children who are facing hardship due to the coronavirus and soaring prices. In addition to starting an initiative to store and deliver daily necessities such as room-temperature food and some toilet paper, the company is also considering developing an educational business with startup companies that share the idea of ​​“delivering the appeal of food.”
-2022 Award-Winning Newspaper Company-
Daily Tohoku Shimbun “Flat-rate delivery service for stockpiled food in preparation for disasters”
In order to resolve issues such as expiry of disaster prevention goods and food stockpiles at home or a lack of awareness, we offer a flat-rate delivery service for stockpiled food, which delivers disaster prevention goods and stockpiled food in the first month, and replacement stocked food every three months thereafter. Expand. To coincide with the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake (March 11), when disaster prevention awareness is on the rise, we conducted a survey at some local supermarkets. Based on the response results, we will develop a pricing plan and overall project structure. We have decided on a partner for disaster prevention goods and stockpiled food.
We are currently waiting for responses from each newsagent in the area to confirm whether or not they will cooperate with delivery
operations. We also plan to contract with local companies that can provide customized recipes that utilize stockpiled food.
Iwate Nippo “DX with Google Maps, local activities and business of newsagents leap forward by 10 years”
Aggregating newsagents’ customer information, knowledge, and experience into an app linked to Google Maps. In addition to being able to check the delivery route, the system recognizes the delivery status through a program and notifies you of non-delivery with a push (sound). In addition to being useful as a sales tool, it also has a monitoring function that alerts family members in the event of something suspicious. As of December 2023, the beta version of the app is being tested at multiple retailers, and the official release is scheduled for spring 2024 after fixing bugs and improving accuracy. We will also carry out promotional activities to spread the word not only within the prefecture but also throughout the country.
Shizuoka Shimbun “Tsuki Katachi,” a service that alleviates work handicaps caused by gender differences, especially menstrual problems. We have developed the welfare service “Tsukikata” to alleviate the handicaps caused by gender differences (particularly women’s concerns about menstruation). We will build services that remove obstacles so that even women with low health literacy can receive medical care with peace of mind.
In April 2022, we launched FUJIYAMA BRIDGE LAB, a company specializing in new business development. In order to create prototypes, she is actively researching the femtech industry, approaching stakeholders, and studying to improve her knowledge (obtaining qualifications, participating in associations, participating in events, etc.). Shinano Mainichi Shimbun “Parents’ home security monitoring service” In Nagano Prefecture, which has one of the highest vacant house rates in the country, we view vacant houses (family homes) as a “regional resource” and provide solutions and solve problems together with the government, aiming to both reduce the burden on vacant house owners and revitalize the region by utilizing vacant houses. Explore. We are digging up vacant houses to solve the current situation where local governments are asking owners to change their minds in order to promote the early distribution of vacant houses while maintaining their asset value, and the situation where high-quality properties cannot be provided to people who wish to move. We aim to obtain related projects from local governments from next year onwards by implementing measures such as identifying actual and potential vacant houses in the area and disseminating information for decision-making. Chunichi Shimbun “Chubu International Students PR Project –
Multilingual PR Video Production”
Together with international students studying at Japanese
universities, we have built a business that produces PR videos and sells them externally.
From May 2023, we will begin producing videos to promote the appeal of Japan as a demonstration experiment with students from Nagoya University of Japanese Studies and Meijo University. “A Foreign Student’s Train Journey to Nagoya, Okazaki, and Hamamatsu” will be released in September 2023 with subtitles in English, French, and Italian, translated by the students themselves. The second book, “A foreign student’s trip to the Chita Peninsula by car,” was similarly translated by the students themselves and released in October 2023 with subtitles in English, Chinese (traditional), and Uzbek. A special page has been set up on the Chunichi Shimbun website and PR aimed at Japanese people is also being carried out. In the future, we plan to proceed with proposals and sales to various fields based on the results of this demonstration experiment.
Chugoku Shimbun “Yorozuya Ippincho (Beyond the Wall of the Digital Divide)” For local producers who have small production scales and have issues with advertising, market development, and logistics, we provide a comprehensive service that covers everything from logistics to sales and collection. By adjusting the number of sales outlets that sell products depending on the content and quantity of products, producers can receive money by simply delivering the product in bulk to a designated location, allowing them to concentrate on production activities.
The service will launch in August 2023. We distributed the booklet twice to increase awareness among readers. We will continue to focus on increasing the number of registrants and discovering attractive products in order to expand the site.
San’in Chuo Shinposha “withTouchCare, a service that allows anyone to live in a place of their choice with peace of mind and energizes the community.”
In order to ensure that the rapidly increasing number of elderly people living alone are not left behind, we have created Touch Care, an IT tool that leverages local information, digital technology, and nursing care business knowledge to enable elderly people to connect with the outside world on a daily basis and lead safe and healthy lives. I will provide a.
In addition to installing the devices at staff’s homes and checking their operation, we also ask nursing care providers to cooperate with us in installing the devices. By recommending the installation of a system for the purpose of “health promotion” rather than “watching over”, we aim to reduce resistance to “watching over” services when the target person lives alone and is in good health.
In the future, we will consider changing the UI of the service and collaborating with municipalities that have single-person households. Nishinippon Shimbun “Living with Gibier -Build New Table-”
In order to eliminate the negative image of gibier, we collaborate with local companies that strive to provide delicious gibier. By making full use of the newspaper company’s resources for PR, we will be able to easily deliver delicious game to your table while being environmentally friendly.
As the first product project, we will develop and sell “smoke oil” that allows you to easily enjoy the aroma of smoked meat. In addition to proceeding with the design and manufacture of the manufacturing machine, the company has also begun producing smoked oil product samples.
In the future, we will hold gibier tasting events at campgrounds and other locations. As a second step, we plan to publish an explanatory book on gibier and begin product planning.
Kii Minpo “Wakayama Study Workation – Agricultural Reform, Related Populations and Creation of Innovation”
We have built a portal site to disseminate information about “workcations,” which cultivate creativity and help solve problems by changing the work environment, and “studycations,” which are the student version of workcations.
With the cooperation of Wakayama University, we conducted a “Plum Studycation” as a test marketing project with the aim of resolving the lack of labor for plum harvesting, which is a regional issue mainly in the southern part of Wakayama Prefecture. We hired consultants from Kyodo News Digital to carry out a full-scale “studycation.”
In the future, in addition to expanding the portal site, we will collaborate with producers, universities, and local governments to lower the hurdles for university students to participate in
“studycations.”
3. Comments from related parties
From Yusuke Tomoda, Head of North Asia, News Partnership Division, Google Japan Corporation
“As I have been involved in Build New Local since its inception, the issues facing local newspaper companies and regions have come to light, and I feel that there is a business opportunity there. I believe that the history of the past three years is that we have focused on how to utilize it and have been active.In addition to reporting results and progress, it is important to share the difficulties and barriers to implementation. Although each region has its own characteristics, I think there are many commonalities in the barriers to plan implementation in similar business formats.By sharing the difficulties and solutions faced during implementation, We hope that each newspaper company will utilize this information in their future business development.”
From Mr. Masaki Sawai, Fukushima Minposha, Chairman of the BNL Executive Committee
“We are pleased to be holding the event again this year.The Business Plan Contest evolves every year, and this year, the third year, we focused on implementing the plan and achieving results in a short amount of time. We hope that other newspaper companies will be able to expand their business by sharing the results, challenges, and future promotion methods from the initiatives that have been adopted and have already been implemented. The purpose of this project is to rebuild the local community in a new form in the post-corona era, develop human resources, create new businesses, and develop new digital businesses to realize Build New Local. By sharing various know-how and collaborating with each newspaper company, the newspaper company as a whole will grow.By promoting the 16 projects that have been adopted so far, we are taking one step at a time to realize Build New Local. We want to get closer.”
4. “Build New Local Project” management structure
1. Management structure
Management body: Build New Local Executive Committee
Special cooperation: Google News Initiative
2. Structure of the Build New Local Executive Committee
Regional Newspaper Multimedia Network Council: 43 member local newspaper companies
Digital Business Consortium: 45 member local newspapers