We organized Okayama University “Tsuyama Ideathon,” an event where students, faculty, and people in the community came up with new ideas, in Tsuyama City on January 20.

Ideathon, a word was coined recently by combining “idea” and “marathon,” refers to an event where various people get together and bring up ideas on specific issues while holding discussions. This event was held as part of the “Okayama University and the Former Mimasaka Province Collaboration Project” based on a comprehensive cooperation agreement signed between three cities, five towns, and two villages that constituted the former Mimasaka Province, and the Tsuyama Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Students held in-depth discussions with residents of the Joto and Josai districts of Tsuyama City while learning about the communities’ current states, strengths, and challenges.

From Okayama University, four members of the teaching staff in the Discovery Program for Global Learners and Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems plus 28 students, including overseas students, participated in this ideathon. On the community side, about 20 students and four teachers of high schools in Tsuyama City and some 20 local people also took part in enlivening the event.

Okayama University students visited the Tsuyama Archives of Western Learning in the Joto region in the morning. In the afternoon, after learning about the history, present situation, and activities of the community from high school students, Secretary General of the Josai Community Development Council Yuko Sasaki, and Kouji Inui, Charge Chief of the Historical Town Promotion Office of the City
Construction Department of the Tsuyama City government, at the Sakushu Mingeikan (crafts museum), they were divided into three groups and enthusiastically discussed the utilization of temples and unoccupied houses in the region and the way of making use of the crafts museum.

Okayama University students commented, “The historical heritages of Tsuyama should be more utilized and promoted to outside (the prefecture),” “Providing visitors with more opportunities to enjoy experiences is essential,” and “The event gave me a good chance to learn and think about the community though I’ve never visited the region.” Local high school students also gave opinions, including “The comments from overseas students made me think that there are various things we can do for our community.”

The event served as a good opportunity for both our university’s students and community residents to devise many new ideas while learning the community’s strong points.