Hometown Stories S2021E2: Connecting People in a Pandemic

Overview

Minami Shintaro is a young man with a special knack of attracting people. He runs a guest house in Seto City in central Japan, renowned as a major producer of ceramics. But the Covid-19 pandemic led to a sharp decline in guests. Also, an annual ceramics festival, the town's biggest tourist attraction, was canceled. But he never gives up. He launched a project called "Seto People-Tour" to revitalize the community by connecting people while avoiding close-contact settings. Life during the pandemic calls for distance between people, yet he is trying to connect them. We wanted to know why.