The survey revealed that of those surveyed, 420 were residents of Hyogo Prefecture, where visitors' homes were by far the most densely concentrated. Osaka Prefecture followed with 283 and third was Okayama Prefecture, the villa's home-town. The United States followed and Kyoto Prefecture was sixth with 129 guests. The result shows that more than half of those visitors residing in Japan came from three prefectures in the Kansai region, those three being home to more than 40 % of all visitors. I believe many of you come from local governments in the Kansai region and therefore it may be unwise to reveal our clients' data before you, but the fact is that we have been able to operate the International Villa in Okayama Prefecture thanks to the guests from Hyogo and Osaka Prefectures.
The questionnaire devised to investigate how visitors came to know of the International Villa revealed friends and acquaintances as the main source of information. Although Okayama Prefecture issues pamphlets about the villas other than the material handed to you, today and uses its own public relations media as well, these did not figure in the questionnaire results. It seems that distribution of pamphlets does not directly motivate people to visit the villas, rather, in most cases they are informed by word-of-mouth.
Today, the JET program, sponsored by the Ministries of Home Affairs and Education, and private English language schools have together enabled the placement of young working foreigners all over Japan, even in small towns. The number of foreign teachers in universities and colleges is also increasing. These people are part of a very influential network and they live unlike Japanese people, not caring about differences in occupation, age or home location, so that even though the International Villa is a relatively small organization, word of it is able to spread throughout the country disregarding such boundaries, once it is part of this network.
As I mentioned before that a quarter of the guests are from abroad. Although I do not go to the villa very often due to its distance from my house, whenever I do go I inquire as to how they know of the villa. A fair number of them had family or friends living either in Okayama or elsewhere in Japan who introduced them to it, highlighting it as an uniquely interesting spot amongst a number of sightseeing places. In this sense, word-of-mouth communication seems to be influential and informative.
The main reasons they used the International Villa, according to my personal survey and a questionnaire carried out by the International Exchange Department, were its very reasonable price and relaxed atmosphere. These two benefits stood out above all others. A housewife who helps manage the villa said, "Guests spend their days cycling, mountain climbing, sketching, swimming and reading but they do not spend money. They do not and probably will not watch traditional craftsmen and artists at work, unless they are shown free of charge." Please note that this is her opinion and, for your information, refers to the guests using the villa and does not necessarily hold true for all foreigners.
However, if the guests really are satisfied with their stay in the villa, then our project would exist only to provide an inexpensive cottage to foreigners living in the Kansai region. With this in mind, we conducted a further survey, through both one-to-one interviews and postal questionnaires. The results revealed many varying opinions. The guests who used the villa were in fact interested in Japan and they really wanted to participate in the local events and learn about the origin of the villages, nearby temples and shrines, and historical buildings.
With regard to the local events, a hometown festival is organized by the village administrative office and during an autumn festival guests can join in making rice cakes and carrying portable shrines together with the local residents. However, if these events are held on a regular basis, every week for example, it is very likely that the office staff will be worn out and the novelty will wear off for the villagers, thus jeopardizing the future of the festivals while they are still
