Located in the heart of Japan, Nagano Prefecture is known for its majestic mountains, rich natural environment, and distinctive local products, including apples, sake, and other regional specialties. In recent years, the prefecture has been expanding its international outreach by promoting its food, beverages, tourism, and cultural appeal to overseas audiences.
As part of these efforts, Nagano Prefecture recently made its first appearance at the Perth Japan Festival and also hosted a special “Nagano Night” event in the city. The following contribution from Nagano Prefecture introduces these initiatives and shares the prefecture’s own observations on Western Australia, including the local business environment, community response, and opportunities for further engagement with Australia.
Nagano Prefecture Makes Its Debut at the Perth Japan Festival
Nagano Prefecture made its first-ever appearance at the Perth Japan Festival, Western Australia’s largest Japanese cultural event. This year’s participation was delivered in collaboration with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Australia–Japan friendship.
Set in a vast outdoor park in the heart of the city, the festival featured a temporary shrine and a traditional Bon Odori tower, creating an authentic Japanese atmosphere. Attendance reached a record high of approximately 27,000 visitors. Products brought over from Nagano, including apple juice and seasoned rice mixes infused with shichimi spice, sold out in no time.
Western Australia spans an area seven times the size of Japan yet is home to just 3.06 million people. Its capital, Perth, located on the state’s western edge, is widely recognized as one of the world’s most liveable cities. Driven by abundant natural resources such as iron ore and LNG, the region boasts the highest per capita GDP in Australia. The population has a relatively high proportion of residents of European descent, and the area has attracted migrants from a variety of backgrounds in recent years.
As of 2025, the Japanese resident population stands at 8,614. In addition, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has secured a contract for 11 Mogami-class frigates. While the first three vessels will be built in Japan, the remaining ships are scheduled for construction in Henderson, near Perth.
Looking ahead, several major Japan-related projects are lined up across Western Australia. These include one of the world’s largest hydrogen and ammonia initiatives led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in partnership with Wood Energy, as well as plans for a nuclear-powered submarine base that may host visits from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.
However, Perth faces a growing challenge in housing supply. Demand continues to outstrip availability, pushing prices steadily upward. Despite interest rates exceeding 6%, many investors are purchasing properties outright in cash, prompting the state government to consider regulatory measures.
One common observation among Japanese expatriates is the limited number of Japanese restaurants. Unlike Sydney and Melbourne on the east coast, where Japanese cuisine has firmly taken off, Perth is still catching up. That said, UDON noodle restaurants in the city are gaining popularity, often attracting long queues.
Interestingly, the coastline around Perth is rich in marine life. Sea urchins and abalone are found in abundance, while fish such as snapper and horse mackerel can reportedly be caught in large numbers, even without bait. For many Japanese residents, heading out for an evening fishing trip to catch dinner has become part of daily life. Western Australia truly offers a bounty from the sea.
Nagano Night in Perth
Alongside the daytime Japan Festival, a two-night “Nagano Night” event was held at a Japanese restaurant in the city. Tickets, priced at over ＄85, sold out on the very same day.
Guests were treated to a full-course Japanese dining experience showcasing premium ingredients from Nagano, paired with Nagano-produced apple juice, sake, and beer, an evening that truly captured the region’s flavors.
Highlights included English-language presentations by participating businesses from Nagano, along with a stunning 4K screening of promotional videos produced by the prefecture. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with many guests commenting on how genuinely moving and memorable the experience was.
We look forward to seeing the ties between Nagano Prefecture and Australia continue to grow even stronger.
Komei KONDO Chief International Strategies Officer Nagano Prefecture Government
📒✐Learn more about Nagano Prefecture:
▪Official Nagano promotional video:
https://nagano-brand.net/en/
▪Highlights from “Nagano Night in Perth”:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWEUmzhETMt/?igsh=MWs4dHk3dGFoeHZzeA==
No account of the history of nature conservation in Japan would be complete without mentioning the Japanese Crested Ibis, known as the toki in Japanese. It is widely regarded as one of Japan’s most symbolic birds, and its scientific name is Nipponia nippon.
The toki is a large waterbird measuring about 80 centimetres in length with a wingspan exceeding 130 centimetres.
Its plumage is mostly white in colour, and its appearance is somewhat reminiscent of the Australian White Ibis, a familiar sight in many Australian cities. The toki’s wings and tail feathers have a delicate pinkish hue, and watching it soar through the sky is truly a beautiful sight.
Historically, the species was found across Japan, China, the Korean Peninsula, and Taiwan. In Japan, the toki once widely inhabited rural areas, wetlands, and other natural environments.
However, from the late nineteenth century to the twentieth century, its population declined rapidly due to overhunting for its feathers, agricultural expansion, and a reduction in food sources caused by the widespread use of pesticides.
The habitats that once supported the toki were rich natural environments shared not only by the toki itself but also by a wide variety of other species.
For this reason, efforts to protect and breed the toki are still important not only from the perspective of conserving biodiversity, but also in terms of restoring the rich natural environments that once existed throughout Japan. Against this backdrop, Japan began full-scale conservation efforts for the toki around 1970.
A significant development came in 1981, when seven wild toki, previously believed to be extinct, were discovered in China. Conservation and breeding efforts soon began there as well, and in 1999, China presented Japan with a breeding pair of toki, which produced Japan’s first captive-bred chick.
Despite these efforts, the last wild-born toki in Japan died in 2003, marking the extinction of the country’s wild population.
However, Japan subsequently established successful captive-breeding techniques and the species also bega
n breeding successfully in the wild in Sado, the last refuge of the species in Japan before its extinction in the wild. Today, the wild population has recovered to an estimated 500 or more individuals, and the toki can once again be seen flying freely, particularly over Sado.
Until recently, captive-bred toki had been released only in Sado. However, because the long-term survival of the species in Japan depends on having populations distributed across multiple regions rather than concentrated in a single area, release efforts have now been extended beyond Sado.
In May 2026, the first release of the toki outside Sado took place in the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture. Noto was the last place on the Japanese mainland where the toki survived in the wild until 1970. More than half a century later, many people in Japan have been deeply moved to see the toki flying once again over Noto.
Once lost from Japan’s skies, Nipponia nippon now flies there again, its beautiful, pink-tinted feathers catching the light. The return of a species once extinct in the wild stands as a testament to decades of dedicated conservation efforts. It also reminds us of the importance of preserving a world in which people and nature can coexist in harmony for future generations to come.
Photo sources:
Ministry of the Environment, Japan
Ishikawa Prefectural Government
６月23日から25日にかけて、オーストラリア（豪州）の首都キャンベラにおいて、「全豪地方自治体協会（ALGA）2026年次会合」が開催され、1,100人を超える豪州各地の首長や議員など地方行政関係者が一堂に会し、地方行政を取り巻く諸課題に関する講演や意見交換が行われました。
特に、豪州の自治体が直面している喫緊の課題の一つである財政危機については、国から自治体に対する使途を限定しない交付金が十分に確保されていないことが、自治体の存続を脅かしているとして、豪州連邦議会に対し、交付金の増額による公平な財源配分を求める緊急動議が採択されました。
クレアシドニー事務所は、会場内のブースにおいて、事務所の活動内容を紹介するとともに、日本・豪州・ニュージーランド（NZ）の地方行政関係者が事例発表や意見交換を行う「クレアフォーラム」（2026年12月2日にシドニー市内で開催予定）及び豪州・NZの自治体幹部が日本の地方自治行政を現地で学ぶ「海外自治体幹部交流協力セミナー」（来年２月に茨城県五霞町で開催予定）をＰＲしました。
最終日のガラディナーでは、アンソニー・アルバニージ―首相が登壇し、自治体は、道路や橋梁などのインフラ整備、コミュニティ施設や図書館などのサービス提供、災害対応などを通じて地域社会を支える重要な存在であり、連邦政府として、財政支援等を行い、ともに国を発展させていく旨の演説を行いました。
今回の年次会合への参加は、豪州の地方行政をめぐる諸課題への理解を深めるとともに、豪州各地の地方行政関係者とのネットワークを構築する有意義な機会となりました。
１.日本、オーストラリア、ニュージーランドの地方自治体関係者が、地方行政における共通の課題について意見交換を行う年次イベントです。
２.日本の地方自治体を訪問し、日本の地方自治制度について学ぶとともに、優良事例や先進的な取組について理解を深めることができる、7日間の研修プログラムです。
6月1日、バーウッド市との間で勉強会を開催しました。同市との勉強会は、2024年から毎年開催しており、今回で３回目となります。
クレアシドニー事務所からは、まず、当事務所の所長補佐の派遣元の１つである山梨県北杜市で実施されている高校生と地域事業者が協働して特産品の開発に取り組む事業を説明したところ、バーウッド市からは、参加する事業者の決め方などについて、ご質問をいただきました。続いて、地域の知名度やブランド力の向上、行政施策のわかりやすい発信などの役割を担っている日本の自治体のキャラクター、いわゆる「ゆるキャラ」について、参加した所長補佐それぞれの派遣元のキャラクターを中心に紹介したところ、バーウッド市からは、キャラクターのデザインの募集方法や選定方法などについての質問が寄せられました。
バーウッド市からは、同市はシドニー中心部から電車で15分程度と利便性が高く、現在約4.5万人の人口が今後10年で倍増する見込みであること、2032年には市内に地下鉄の新駅が整備される予定であることなども踏まえ、将来の人口増を見据えた高密度な都市開発と公共空間の整備を進めていることが紹介されました。具体的には、例えば、芸術・文化の拠点となる新たな文化施設の整備、パブリックアートの展示や夜間経済の推進による賑わい創出などの取組について説明がありました。また、まちづくりに住民の意見を反映させるため、地域住民で構成される諮問委員会の設置やオンラインでの意見募集などを通じて、幅広く住民の意見を収集していることも紹介されました。
ひとしきり意見交換を行った後は、バーウッド市の皆様のご案内の下、パブリックアートを活用した公共空間整備や夜間経済の推進に向けた取組現場を視察しました。市内の多くの箇所で開発や整備が進められており、進行中のまちづくりの様子を確認することができました。
貴重な学びの機会をご提供いただいたバーウッド市の皆様に心から感謝申し上げます。
