No.55 Birth of Eel Transmission Base Pair Terrace

(Published in the June 15, 2016 issue of Koho Inagi)

On April 23, 2016, we opened a tourist information base under the elevated Inagi-Naganuma Station on the JR Nambu Line. We were able to open this facility because the continuous grade separation project was completed, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Construction and the JR East Hachioji Branch.
We were able to launch this facility with this concept thanks to local resident mechanic designer Kunio Okawara and multi-creator Jet Inoue, and we would like to express our gratitude.
The city has developed in line with urban infrastructure improvements such as land readjustment projects and the development of Tama New Town. However, on the other hand, it also faces the typical problems of urbanization as a commuter town, such as a loss of daytime population and dilution of the local community.
In order for new citizens to continue living here, I believe that it is necessary for them to feel attached to the area and recognize Inagi as their hometown, and I believe that one way to do this is through tourism. We believe that urban development is important and have made it a main pillar of our pledge.
As a tourism project, we will utilize everyday scenery that has been casually overlooked, such as the cherry blossom trees along the Misawa River side road, as tourist resources, and we will launch a certification system called ``Inagi no Taikohan'' to sell local products as souvenirs. In addition to making recommendations, we also donated the characters created by Mr. Okawara and Mr. Inoue to the city as part of the 40th anniversary commemoration of the city's incorporation, and we are also working on the mascot character Grand Prix as ``Nashinosuke Inagi''. Here we are.
In the process of creating these new tourism businesses, we are considering whether it is possible to collect Inagi's Taiko stamps in one store somewhere and permanently sell them, and to hold events such as the ``Kunio Okawara Works Exhibition'' held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the city's establishment. Various issues have arisen, such as whether it is possible to continue this event as a regular event rather than a one-off event. In order to solve these problems, we thought it would be necessary to set up a facility like an antenna shop in the city, and we launched the idea of ​​a tourist information center.
When we put the idea into practice, we had envisioned from the beginning that the facility would be located at Inagi-Naganuma Station, where the space under the elevated railway tracks could be effectively utilized, and that one of Professor Okawara's works would be permanently displayed as a large monument as an incidental facility. .
These ideas were put together into a plan as the ``Communicate the charm of Inagi! A project to create vitality in the town'', and it started with a visit to the JR East Hachioji branch office in May 2013 to explain the proposal. It took a long period of time and coordination among the parties involved to solidify the idea. In particular, in the production of the large monument, Mr. Okawara himself provided both material and emotional support, and the decision to use Gundam and Char's Zaku was a truly great achievement.I would like to once again express my gratitude to Mr. Okawara.
The operation of this facility will be entrusted to a private business in order to be accessible and flexible to citizens, and the Inagi City Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been entrusted with the role of designated manager. In addition to a promotion space where we disseminate new information through videos and flyers, we also have a market space where we sell specialty products such as pears and grapes, ``Inagi no Taikoban'', and a gallery space where we display our works.
This is how Inagi's new landmark was born. Coupled with the effect of attracting customers from various businesses and facilities, we hope that more citizens and customers from outside the city will enjoy using this facility, and that everyone will also be able to use this facility for their own events. We hope that the excitement will spread throughout the city and lead to the dissemination of information about Inagi.