{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Side by Side","title":"Pt. 2: Professors Simona Zollet and Meng \"Mo\" Qu explain how Japan's Local Revitalization Cooperator Program brings urban residents to rural communities","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2401,"description":"In the second part of Ellen’s conversation with Hiroshima University professors Simona Zolett and Meng “Mo” Qu, they explore Japan’s Local Revitalization Cooperator Program, an initiative that brings urban residents to live and work in Japan’s depopulating rural communities.\nEpisode Highlights:\n04:05 How The Program Works\n10:08 Mismatches And Pitfalls\n17:57 Entrepreneur Funding And Risks\n22:23 Staying Long Term \n28:55 Advice For Other Countries\n\nMore Information:\nProfessor Simona Zollet is an Assistant Professor at Hiroshima University's Department of Integrated Global Studies and her work focuses on creating more sustainable farming landscapes through organic agriculture and agroecology, as well as developing new ways to connect producers (farmers) and consumers (eaters) and rural and urban areas within local food systems. She also researches the socioeconomic and environmental sustainability of rural communities and peripheral areas (such as islands) in Japan and Europe (mainly Italy). This includes examining rural in-migration (people moving from urban to rural areas), small business creation and social entrepreneurship, the use or creation of local food and farming heritage in innovative ways, and policies related to rural revitalization.  https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en/igs/zollet\nhttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simona-Zollet-2 \n\nMeng Qu, Ph.D. (Integrated Arts and Sciences), is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. He serves as Associate Editor for Tourism Geographies and Folk, Knowledge, Place. His research focuses on regional revitalization through cultural tourism, creative tourism, and regenerative tourism, examining international art festivals, regional cultural creation, socially engaged art, creative in-migrants/entrepreneurs, and sustainability as key analytical perspectives. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches from creative and tourism geography and rural studies, he...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/tlqGC47eNrIE2gpnsGBGmlOp6kISW7ZNG8gy-TLNnz8/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzQ3OTMzLzE3MDMx/MDQxNzMtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}