Crypto Village News Letter #2 - 10/31

Oct 30, 2023

Welcome back to our News Letter!

Huge thanks to all the new subscribers - thank you for joining along for the ride! This is produced by Crypto Village and we’re writing this newsletter with the latest news of the Nishikigoi NFT project and Japanese local NFT projects and more.

The News of the Week:

Memorial Service in Yamakoshi
Crypto Village’s Online Seminar
IRL Event with WagumiDAO in Shibuya
Crypto Residency Program of Taiwan

1. Memorial Service in Yamakoshi -19 Years After the Chuetsu Earthquake-

On October 23, it has been 19 years since the Chuetsu Earthquake(2004), and we had this memorial event in Yamakoshi. Some of you might know but this Nishikigoi NFT project was originally started with this earthquake as a major turning point.

2,200 candles, the same number as those who lived in the Yamakoshi area at the time, were prepared, and at 5:56 p.m. when the earthquake hit, the "Bell of Hope" with the names of the five people who died in Yamakoshi Village on it, was rung and people prayed in silence.

<What is Chuetsu Earthquake?>
Occurred at 5:56 pm on October 23, 2004 with an epicenter in the Chuetsu region of Niigata Prefecture. For about a month, tremors above 5 occurred intermittently, and the entire Yamakoshi village was evacuated. A total of approximately 100,000 people were evacuated, 120,000 houses were damaged, and 68 people died. One of the biggest earthquakes in Japan.

We also have a metaverse for all of our digital villagers who are not living in Yamakoshi but wants to stay together. It was absolutely amazing to see many digital villagers actually come together in the Neo Yamakoshi metaverse.

Haruka Takeuchi, a Nishikigoi NFT founder, the head of Yamakoshi Public Meeting

A Comment from Haruka, One of the Nishikigoi NFT Founder:
"It was a day when we were able to share the same time together with Yamakoshi residents, digital villagers, and many others who really love Yamakoshi. It was also a day when I became confident to say that we together can create "Our Yamakoshi". Let's go onto a new chapter of Yamakoshi together!"

2. Crypto Village’s Online Seminar

On October 5, We, Crypto Village, have hosted an online seminar for Japanese local authorities and all of those who are involved in local communities, with the theme of "Learning from the Nishikigoi NFT project: How Local Authorities Should Create Digital Populations".

<Who is Crypto Village?>
Headquartered in Yamakoshi, Nagaoka City, Niigata. We the team connect the locals with technology to support their diverse communities and cultures. We‘ve launched the Nishikigoi NFT project in December 2021.(First LocalDAO project)

In recent years, there have been many local projects in Japan involving in and talking about “related population”, in fact we are the first local project in Japan successfully increasing the number of people involved in a village. In the seminar, we’ve shared all the lessons that we’ve learned through the Nishikigoi NFT project mostly about "How the local authorities should think about related population".

If you’re interested in creating a local DAO in your place, please reach out to us from here!

3. IRL Event with WagumiDAO in Shibuya

We had an IRL event with one of the best Japanese web3 community, Wagumi DAO, in Shibuya.

<What is WagumiDAO?>
WagumiDAO is an open community for sharing and discussing the latest Web3 news in Japan, with thousands of members participating in the Discord community. Their main vision is “making Japan a Web3 country“. The name Wagumi comes from “wagmi(we’re all gonna make it!)“, a crypto slang.

Three digital villagers from Yamakoshi DAO were joining the event and had the opportunity to share the views and thoughts on the challenges of DAO as well as the further possibilities. Not only did we have the discussion, but we also ran an ideathon on how to use the tips to improve DAOs in Japan. That was absolutely an amazing day for the community.

A Comment from Taka of wagumi DAO:
"It was a great opportunity to learn about what makes each DAO unique and what people enjoy working as a DAO. We were able to see many ideas and outputs, and I hope that the event gave people an opportunity to think more deeply about DAOs. This was a wonderful event that made me realize the importance of the work we do for a better future.

4. Crypto Residency Program of Taiwan

Since October, we have been participating in the "CRYPTO RESIDENCY PROGRAM," a Taiwanese Web3 art program. The idea of this project is to have 10 artists selected from across the world actually join the Yamakoshi DAO and create art based on their experiences there. Please see below for the two artists who are currently in the Yamakoshi DAO.

■ DAOs

VolumeDAO
From Taiwan. DAO focused on making art, collecting art, exhibition, education and NFT with artists and collectors.
FAB DAO
”Formosa Art Bank”. Non-profit DAO dedicate to public good in Taiwan.
da0
A global DAO from Taiwan, joined by Audrey Tan, Director of Taiwan's Department of Digital Development. g0v, a civic tech community, working together with them to develop a variety of projects internationally.
4seas
a crypto-nomad startup society, building with on-chain governance.
Yamakoshi DAO
DAO, an accidental outcome of the Nishikigoi NFT project, a community of digital villagers who share a common vision and passion for Yamakoshi, beyond any social status, or physical boundaries.