The starting point was a hypothesis: that Saga’s mountains are “already there, yet invisible because they blend in.” Rather than simply raising awareness of the project name or promoting hiking, the goal was to make visible the value of the mountains already woven into life across the prefecture——and to help people feel their connection to the richness of everyday life in Saga.

Saga already had many existing media platforms introducing local spots, people, and initiatives, as well as infrastructure supporting access to the mountains. Rather than creating something that would simply sit alongside these efforts, I felt the role of this project was to cultivate a “gaze toward the mountains”——a presence that could quietly support and amplify what was already there.

With that in mind, we chose not to pursue large-scale advertising such as wrapped buses or television commercials. Instead, we worked with local creatives whose perspectives felt close to those of the people we were trying to reach——residents of Saga themselves. The content was kept honest and grounded, drawing on real stories and relatable examples from the region, with the hope that readers would feel a sense of ownership. By filtering the mountains through the eyes of local creatives, we aimed to create a quiet ripple of recognition——the feeling that a familiar landscape suddenly looks different, that there was something worth noticing all along.

For the posters, Instagram, and website——likely the first point of contact with YAMAOSM——the aim was to evoke a sense of wonder for Saga’s mountains. We started by building an image: bright illustrated posters featuring motifs from the mountains of Saga, and a film made with sounds captured through field recording. Alongside these visuals, the posters and website conveyed the essential value of Saga’s mountains in concise body copy, drawn from our research.

On Instagram, rather than limiting posts to project announcements, we invited local creatives to share their own perspectives on the mountains——content that felt genuine and easy to connect with.

Events were conceived as spaces where the world built through these media could be experienced in person. The main YAMAOSM event drew several hundred attendees, featuring food-themed programs, hands-on craft workshops using natural materials, talks, and live music etc.——going well beyond the typical hiking-focused mountain event. The result was a crowd that looked quite different from the usual mountain event audience. Alongside this, we held smaller, more intimate gatherings such as “Sake and Mountains,” a casual drop-in bar event, and workshops exploring local plant life for the intellectually curious.

For more information on the video and events, please visit the URL below.

For the tabloid, I was responsible for editing and writing.

Saga’s mountains have connections to many aspects of daily life: food, craft, agriculture. The basic editorial approach was to gently unravel those connections and present them from many angles.

I imagined that distributing a mountain-themed tabloid in Saga might prompt the question: “Why mountains in Saga?” The editorial team itself wasn’t particularly experienced in mountain activities either, so rather than work around that, we leaned into it. “What do mountains actually mean to us?”——that honest question became the spine of vol. 1. The aim was for the process of finding an answer, reflected in the pages themselves, to gradually shape what an image of Saga’s mountains could look like.

From vol. 2 onward, we kept the same multi-layered approach while introducing the five senses, hearing, seeing, touching…, as editorial themes.Mountain enthusiasts often talk about the feeling of the senses opening up outdoors, and we wanted to find a way to bring that onto the page.

Throughout, we paid attention to making something visually inviting enough that even those with little connection to the outdoors would want to pick it up. My hope is that readers find their own relationship with the mountains or discover a new one.

The tabloid is 20 pages, in tabloid format, distributed primarily at partner shops and facilities in Saga Prefecture, with some distribution in neighboring regions. Print runs grew from an initial 3,000 copies to 5,000.

PDFs of each issue are available via the link below.