Photo/Illutration Risa Kase shares the appeal of Rausu Konbu kelp as the “mother of the beach.” Photo taken on Aug. 22 in Rausu, Hokkaido (Masafumi Kamimura)

RAUSU, Hokkaido--Risa Kase likens a couple of accidental encounters that changed the course of her life to being struck by lightning twice.

The first time was when Kase was 25 years old and she came across an article about the Shiretoko Rausu Tourism Association needing to fill a vacancy for secretary-general.

After graduating from prestigious Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Kase’s first job was with a start-up company. She quit after less than a year to start a wholesale business delivering quality foodstuffs from Hokkaido to the rest of Japan.

Kase, now 44, stumbled on the help wanted article while travelling across the Kansai region in western Japan. Even though she was working at something she loved, Kase had doubts about whether it meant much in the long run.

“Picking and shipping only the best parts (of Hokkaido) may be unfair,” Kase recalled thinking. “Genuine delicacies should be enjoyed together with the wind, water, sky, mountains and sea of the very region where they are produced.”

Kase applied for the position of secretary-general of the Shiretoko Rausu Tourism Association and landed the job. She was tasked with promoting eco-friendly tourism with a focus on the local fishery industry.

She then met and fell in love with a “konbu” kelp fisherman, quit her job and got married. Before she even realized it, Kase was known among locals as the “mother of the beach,” raising not only konbu but also three children.

Her second fateful encounter occurred when she turned 42 and was an integral part of her family’s kelp farming business and becoming increasingly alarmed about the future of fisheries due to the impact of global warming.

Kase began looking for a fresh source of income for her household. She had her eureka moment during a visit to a friend’s guesthouse in a neighboring town.

Her idea was to allow tourists from outside Rausu to “stay here as if they were live-in workers.” It would mean sharing the bounty of regional food and nature with guests.

Kase opened a specialized inn remodeled from a 40-year-old kelp farmhouse in February. The facility accepts one group of people per day.

The inn occupies the second floor. The first story offers a dedicated space for guests to experience kelp production firsthand with konbu fishermen.

Chefs and cooking enthusiasts have been flocking to Rausu in Japan’s northernmost main island from as far away as Tokyo, Copenhagen, Barcelona and all points of the compass to find the secret to the “most luxurious konbu for soup stock” in the world.

What she created in Rausu embodies the “genuine” form of local revitalization that Kase craved when she was 25.

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