Nishiawakura Village has a population of roughly fifteen hundred and a reputation, among people interested in rural regeneration, that is disproportionate to its size. The village adopted a '100-year forest' plan in the early 2000s — a commitment to managing its mountain forests sustainably over a century — and used this as the foundation for attracting entrepreneurs who would build businesses around the forest economy. The result, twenty years later, is a village with more than twenty local venture companies, a steady stream of young people moving in, and a model that has been studied by rural communities across Japan. The Local Venture School and associated programs offer short-term immersion experiences: working with local businesses, meeting the people who chose to come here, understanding how the forest plan became an economic strategy. Nishiawakura is not a tourism destination in the conventional sense. The experience it offers is the experience of a community that has made unusual decisions and is living with the consequences. For people considering rural relocation, it is evidence. For people not considering it, it is a perspective on what is possible when a small community decides to take its future seriously.