Turning Jealousy Into a Bid for the Bullet Train / Kaga City "Kaga City Shinkansen Countermeasures Office"

The problem

In 2015, the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened all the way to Kanazawa, and the city boomed as a major tourist destination. Kaga City, on the other hand, remained just a candidate for an intermediate stop when the line extends in 2023, and hasn't enjoyed anywhere near the same benefits. There's actually a department inside the city hall called the "Kaga City Shinkansen Countermeasures Office," and alongside lobbying JR and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, they needed to rally the city's own residents and get Kaga's name known nationwide. Simply saying "we want the bullet train to stop here" wasn't enough on its own. So Yoshihiko Yoshida and the team at Dentsu came up with the idea of invoking well-known Kanazawa, and getting people to recognize that Kaga was losing out to it. What they wanted to create was a mood and a narrative where people would root for Kaga and say "Go, Kaga!"

The insight

The reason they deliberately went with a self-deprecating approach was to get even people in Kanazawa cheering for Kaga. Instead of hiding the kind of jealousy you'd normally want to keep hidden, they put it right out in front. The envy and jealousy toward Kanazawa, which got its Shinkansen first and boomed as a tourist city, along with the citizens' passionate, desperate wish to somehow get the Hokuriku Shinkansen to stop at Kaga-Onsen Station — all of this gets poured into a documentary-style drama. This captures the essence of how the underdog fights. You can't win by challenging the stronger side head-on. So instead, you show your weakness and your frustration, just as they are. That honesty is what builds sympathy and brings people to your side.

The idea

A total of 50 people took part as cast members, including Kaga City Hall staff, Kaga residents, and the PR unit LADY KAGA. The story unfolds in four parts: Activity Report 1 introduces the sudden appearance of the office chief, Teitaro Kaga; Activity Report 2 features a great idea thought up by an inn's proprietress; Activity Report 3 is about searching for tourist spots in Kaga; and Activity Report 4 leads to a moving final chapter. The documentary-style filming combined with a drama-like structure creates a unique atmosphere that feels genuine rather than staged, while still being properly entertaining. It's also a clever touch that the story was inspired by the existence of the real "Kaga City Shinkansen Countermeasures Office" department.

What happened

After the videos were released, social media filled with positive comments like "Just let the train stop in Kaga already," "I can't stop thinking about the Kaga City Shinkansen Countermeasures Office," and "It's so touching, I burst out laughing." The campaign took first place in a TV program's "Local PR Video Grand Prix," and won the Grand Prix at the HCC Awards in 2018. The project continued after that too, with Season 2 featuring a showdown with Komatsu City, Season 3 bringing an original song, and Season 4 proposing a professional baseball team. And then in 2024, the Hokuriku Shinkansen really did start stopping at Kaga-Onsen Station.

Afterthought

Turning jealousy into a bid for the bullet train — that sums it up perfectly. Showing negative feelings so openly is usually a scary thing to do. But when those feelings and that wish are genuine, people end up wanting to cheer you on. I'm the same way. Seeing someone trying their hardest makes me want to root for them. Kaga City has shown us a new shape for local PR. And more than anything, I want to give heartfelt applause to the passion of Kaga City and Dentsu for keeping this project going for six years.

Tags