Empower Japan! Project “Machi-Raku”

Under the concept of “Empowerment” pursued since the opening of Rakuten Ichiba, the biggest online shopping site in Japan, we have been promoting “Empower Japan! Project ‘Machi-Raku’” in cooperation with municipalities around Japan. The project is designed to revitalize regions through Internet services. By sharing interesting seasonal information on the attractions of various regions with people who visit there, live there, and care about the region, and also by partnering with some local governments, we promote the idea of utilizing the Internet for further regional development.

(Related link) Empower Japan! Project “Machi-Raku”

Sharing Information

Starting with the opening of “Machi-Raku Hokkaido” in April 2008, we launched the regional revitalization content “Machi-Raku” that casts the spotlight on “machi (= communities)” in all prefectures throughout Japan, and transmits information on their respective attractions via the Internet. The Machi-Raku website is designed to entertain both local residents and visitors (or would-be visitors), and also provides information on regional specialties offered on Rakuten Ichiba as well as on tourist sites and hotels posted on the Rakuten Travel website.

The Machi-Raku website also hosts places created jointly with prefectural governors and governments, as well as municipal governments of cities, towns, and villages, to send out fresh local information. It provides access to seasonal information posted by local governments and blogs by municipal government employees.

(Related link) Hokkaido prefectural office

(Related link) Matsuyama city

(Related link) Machi-Raku Okinawa

Promotion of IT Utilization

As part of the project, we sponsor “Machi-Raku Workshops” twice a year. Inviting representatives of all prefectures, we present reports on our current projects at workshops, which also serve as an occasion to share successful experiences of IT utilization conducted jointly with local governments, and create opportunities for new initiatives.

Under partnership agreements with local governments, we are also working to reinforce joint online projects and further promote IT utilization at local governments.

Programs for Internet Users

To cite a few examples of IT utilization to date, we sponsored online product fairs, for which we invited people who offer their products through the Internet, and organized online events tie-up with antenna shops.
We also offer a service to deposit “furusato nozei (hometown tax payment)” (*) through the settlement service offered by the Rakuten Group -- Rakuten Bank (online bank) and Rakuten Card -- making it possible for anyone to support designated local governments 24 hours a day.

* “Furusato nozei (hometown tax payment)”

“Furusato nozei” means donations you make to your hometowns or regions to which you have particular bonds or feelings of gratitude. You get tax credits for your resident tax and individual income tax payments in accordance with amounts of donations you make, thus effectively making part of your tax payments to your “furusato (hometown).” Since local governments you designate for “furusato nozei” do not have to be your actual hometown, you can freely which choose regions to support with your donations.

(Related link) Miyazaki Bussanten

(Related link) Furusato nozei

Proposals for Regional Business Operators to Utilize IT

We sponsor free seminars across Japan in cooperation with local governments to help regional business operators familiarize themselves with IT, and utilize it in their business operations. We present them with proposals to broaden marketing channels for their products into e-commerce. At one seminar, we drew as many as 530 participants.

Regional Activities

Regional Community Promotion by 47 Machi-Raku Special Correspondents

A total of 47 special correspondents in Rakuten are engaged in activities to promote regional communities. Each correspondent resides in, hails from or is emotionally attached to one of the 47 prefectures, and has the role of gathering and transmitting information on the prefecture of his/her choice. These correspondents are striving to contribute to regional development by actively transmitting information through twitters and blogs, among others, in communities where they think they can drum up support from many people.

Rakuten IT School Activities by Employee Volunteers

In order to help students responsible for the next generation experience the potential and the speediness of the Internet, Rakuten employee volunteers and Rakuten Ichiba merchants visit schools across Japan, at the pace of about once a month, for new-style classes held in partnerships among Rakuten, local enterprises, and students. IT School classes, many of which are conducted in cooperation with local governments, are designed to provide students with rare opportunities to learn about trial-and-error experiences of online shop owners, and awaken and deepen their understanding of “the difficulty of selling products” and “the importance of working.”

IT School classes offer a repackaged version of Rakuten University lecture courses, which are originally designed for Rakuten Ichiba merchants. They provide an opportunity to share the framework and tips for successful e-commerce. They are practical classes covering a whole range of activities: workplace visits, planning of e-commerce marketing strategies, creation of selling space by website development, product conceptualization, and actual sales.

(Related link) Rakuten Machi-Raku twitter

(Related link) Machi-Raku Tokuhaiin Brog

(Related link) Rakuten IT school