3rd Okinawa International Movie Festival　March 18 (Fri.) ～27 (Sun.), 2011

Love of my hometown: Rebun is an island at the tip of Japan.
There's only 1 convenience store, and 2 traffic lights.
It's freezing cold when it snows. Ladies are mostly senior citizens.
Escape is impossible without a ferry.
Wage only goes down even if you work.

That's what it's like, but I kind of love it here.

Love of my hometown: Everybody that’s lived here most of their lives always say, “There’s nothing interesting here.”
But as an ‘outsider’ who has just joined this ‘new’ hometown 2 years ago,
I want to shout, “Nomi City (@Ishikawa) has it!” because it’s just full of wonderful things.

For example: clear night skies where you can see shooting stars, mystical woodlands where you might meet Totoro, reservoirs full of dancing fireflies, the Yarimizu Kannon Reisui, one of 100 famous waters selected in this Heisei period…
“There’s nothing, but everything.”
I want a lot more people to know about this delight!!!

Love of my hometown: Renkon, the lotus root.
Everybody probably knows about this vegetable.
At the same time, there aren’t many who consider it familiar. This generally-known, but sort of the minority in the vegetable world, is Tsuchiura City’s pride.
Tsuchiura City is Japan’s number one producer of the lotus root.

The image of the lotus root is that of a commoner's vegetable. However, if you have ever bought one at a supermarket, you know that it’s actually quite expensive.
I once saw a lotus root in a supermarket in Tokyo, and was surprised by the expensive price tag which didn’t suit its image. On the other hand, Tsuchiura is Japan’s number one lotus root producer. So naturally, it’s easier to purchase at a much cheaper price. That’s why the people of Tsuchiura know the best and tastiest way to eat lotus roots.

The most well-known lotus root dishes would probably be kinpira (sauté and simmered vegetable with salty, sweet taste) or chikuzen-ni (sauté and simmered in broth).
But the best way to enjoy the lotus root is to fry it. Cut 5mm to 1cm thick slices and fry until it lightly browns. Strain the extra oil, lightly salt and the dish is done. It’s important to not make the slices too thin. By frying thick slices, you can enjoy both the crispy outside and steamed texture inside. Also, freshly fried lotus root is of course great, but the crunchiness after it’s cooled down is another taste to enjoy. And fried lotus root is definitely the best way to savor its natural sweetness. So please, come to Tsuchiura and treat yourself to the affordable and tasty lotus root. I’m sure everybody will be charmed by this vegetable.

That’s what I’m waiting for. The day the lotus root boom begins here in Tsuchiura. My dream continues to swell as I believe that day’s not too far away.
It’s a ‘hole lot’ closer than you think.

Love of my hometown: This prefecture has the perfect balance between urban areas and nature, overall very convenient and a great place to live. I’m happy I grew up here.

Love of my hometown: Inuyama City has an “irreplaceable landscape” that even warlords had loved.
And that is the Inuyama Castle - a National Treasure - which overlooks the Kiso River.

The locals’ passion to ‘inherit and pass down the castle’ led to its designation as a National Treasure. So in that respect, I feel that all who are involved with the present Inuyama Castle carry a great responsibility.
During the Sengoku period, the castle has fallen 3 times in battle by Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu.
However, the landscape surrounding Inuyama Castle moved even the hardened souls of warlords, and the castle has remained.
Part of the castle was destroyed when a great earthquake hit during the Meiji era, and was in crisis of being demolished.
At that time, the community came together with the mutual desire to inherit and preserve the castle. As a result, enough donations were collected to restore the castle to its former glory.

I would like to be a part of passing along this important task which has continued for 474 years. I applied for JIMOT CM in the hope that the people of Inuyama can share this.

Love of my hometown: After suffering catastrophic damages from the Great Hanshin earthquake, massive redevelopment projects restored Shin-Nagata area, Kobe, into a whole new town.
But it’s difficult to say the spirit of the town was resurrected as well.

In April 2004, with the goal to help revitalization through music, gardening and other activities, the multi-purpose hall and studio [SITE KOBE] was built. With its birth, Sun Television in collaboration with Yoshimoto Kogyo started the public live broadcast of “Yoshimoto Sun-Sun TV”. (At present, it continues as “Waraimeshi-Chidori no Bero Bero Tan Tan”) And in 2006, also with the goal to help revitalize the town, the then-SITE hall producer organized the “KOBE Tetsujin PROJECT”.

Beginning with last years' construction of “Tetsujin 28-go Monument”, other projects with “Sangokushi,” - another famous work created by the Kobe native manga artist, Mitsuteru Yokoyama - are underway to help stimulate the town.
Life-size stone statues and galleries have been established, as well as various events. Presently, the whole town is involved, with cosplay, puppet shows and developing original merchandise. You could say the area is becoming a new and ‘unique’ town.
But, although visitors have increased with the help of Tetsujin 28-go related projects, Shin Nagata’s fundamental ‘goodness’ and ‘fun’ element hasn’t been promoted. And without that, you can’t say the real spirit of the town has returned.

Our involvement with the area started with the hall, but before we knew it, we have become ‘neck-deep in Shin Nagata’.
From the outside, the locality might be seen as cheeky, but once you join in, communication is great and it’s easy to get along. Most of all, the local hypersensitivity to ‘anything fun’ and their ‘overdoing’ charm is something we would definitely like to share and expose to the whole country, to help along the fun revitalization.

Love of my hometown: Kyoto is famous for its historical architectures and culture, but that’s not all there is!
Kyoto’s unique ambience, the gentle flow of the Kamo River…we’re all proud of each characteristic.
The reason why so many books and songs about Kyoto are popular is because everybody loves Kyoto!

We might be young, but we’re confident that we know the awesomeness of Kyoto!!
We’re so happy we were born in Kyoto ^^ I LOVE KYOTO!!
文化の町　I　LOVE　KYOTO　!!

We would like to propose a CM that not only promotes the ‘ordinary, common knowledge of Kyoto,’ but the ‘helpless fascination of Kyoto’ so others from different prefectures can fall in love with our hometown as well.

Love of my hometown: “There’s nothing in Kagawa!”

That used to be my usual introduction of Kagawa to others, but that was completely wrong.
Once I moved out to the big city, I realized there were so many ‘great things’ about my hometown.

Just a short walk and there are mountains. From the mountain, you can see the Seto Inland Sea. You can swim to that little island, enjoy a bit of fishing and BBQ your catch. If you’re hungry, have 3 helpings of udon. Gather with friends and talk about the good old times…．
The mountains, the sea, the island, the people - everything is Kagawa’s pride and joy.

Love of my hometown: The total yield of hot springs in Oita prefecture exceeds that of Hokkaido, so it's definitely number 1 in Japan!
I would like everyone to know that Oita might be a minor prefecture, but it’s amazing.

And, I want them to experience the hot springs.
Although the Beppu and Yufuin hot springs are famous, I can’t stand the fact that people don’t know these springs are actually in Oita.
There are white, red, blue, carbonated… just so many different types of hot springs in Oita!

Also, being located along the coastline with the graceful Seto Inland Sea, the seafood is great. The Seki horse mackerel and Seki mackerel are famous brands of fish, but tuna and blowfish are also local specialties.
So I believe that one shouldn’t just come for a visit here. I think Oita should be the number one place to come and live.

Love of my hometown: Okinawa is highly regarded for its quality of hospitality.

The midsection of Okinawa City, commonly known as Koza, is an area which historically developed from an intercultural mix. This chanpuru (mixture) culture held and painfully nurtured the common value that ‘people are different and that’s OK’.
Even in Okinawa, this especially stands out here and it has a wonderful healing effect on those who have grown weary in the big cities.

I hope that by having people know more about Koza, it will help stop the decline in the central town areas, and rediscover Koza’s best points.
Please bring a new wind into the town of performing arts and music.