Shonan Beach-Seine Fishing — Ichigoro-maru / For overseas guests

The Sodegaura morning,
can it reach the world?
Let's find out together.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, four operators already sell beach-seine × BBQ experiences.
A fishing village in Kyoto, population 1,800, draws 530,000 visitors a year.
The Sodegaura morning may hold a similar possibility.
Let's test that hypothesis together, starting small.

Proposed toShonan Beach-Seine Fishing — Ichigoro-maru
DateMay 25, 2026
Prepared byLIM Inc.
Summary of this proposal

Four key points, in three minutes

01 / The market already exists
Beach-seine × BBQ is already a
¥6,000-per-person business in Kanagawa.
Tono-ami in Fujisawa (founded 140 years ago) charges ¥6,000 per person, Kanesa-ami in Chigasaki charges ¥130,000 per net, and Daishu in Oiso (150 years) charges ¥65,000 per net. Four operators run simultaneously in Kanagawa alone, so the price range for the product is already established.
02 / Social media responds, too
"Japanese fishermen" is, right now,
a popular search term on social media worldwide.
On TikTok, "fishing" + "japan" have racked up 260 billion views combined. A single fisherman's account in Hokkaido has 690,000 followers, and Ine Town in Kyoto has become a place that draws 270 times its population in visitors. The EGA Channel video featuring Ichigoro-maru is already proof of concept.
03 / Our setup
We add almost no new work
for Ichigoro-maru.
From attracting guests in the U.S., to licensed transport, to designing the post-experience hot-spring tour, to video production and payment collection — our team handles all of it. Ichigoro-maru simply does "the usual work, the usual way." English-speaking staff on site, booking management, and inquiry handling are all on us.
04 / How we'll test it
Rather than going straight to launch,
we start with a single test day.
On one weekend day next month or the month after, we invite just 5–8 overseas guests. The effort for Ichigoro-maru is the same as an ordinary beach-seine day. We decide what to do next together, after seeing the test results. Our own start-up costs may also qualify for a prefectural subsidy, so the financial risk to Ichigoro-maru is minimal.
What we want to find out

Through this project, we'll answer three questions.

We don't assume we already have the answers. Our stance is to pose three questions and go get the answers one by one through a test run.

?
QUESTION 01
Will overseas guests pay ¥10,000–¥20,000 per person for the morning experience at Sodegaura?
We've confirmed the price bands of comparable products (Ine, Chita, Mie, Setouchi, Tono-ami in Fujisawa). The question is how much guests will pay once you add "near Tokyo" and "starting at 6 a.m." to Sodegaura. We'll measure this through guests' reactions on the test day.
?
QUESTION 02
How many runs can Ichigoro-maru sustain comfortably with its current on-site setup?
This is something we can't know on our own. It's a point we want to decide together, based on hearing from you and on what the test run actually feels like. The cap on the number of groups is set by on-site capacity and the balance with existing bookings.
?
QUESTION 03
If we add an onward flow to Yugawara / Hakone after the experience, how does guest satisfaction change?
Our team also operates a licensed transport business, so we can build a full-day course that takes guests straight to a hot-spring town after the morning experience. We want to measure whether this raises the value of "spending another day in the Sodegaura area."
The demand is real (Part 1: macro data)

The fact that overseas guests want Japanese fishing-village
experiences can be confirmed in government data.

Every figure from here on is drawn solely from official statistics — government agencies, the Japan Tourism Agency, and JNTO.

42.7million
Inbound visitors / 2025
Source: JNTO official statistics
¥8.1trillion
Total inbound spending / 2024
Source: Japan Tourism Agency annual report
50.36million
Shonan-area visitors / 2024
Source: Kanagawa Pref. visitor survey
+10.5%
Shonan area, year on year
Source: Kanagawa Pref. visitor survey

Coverage of "Japanese fisherman experiences" in overseas media

  • CNN Travel: A feature on the experience at "Ena," a fishing village in Wakayama, introducing "the vanishing life of a fishing village" to Western readers.
  • Lonely Planet: Featured the ama (female free-diver) culture of the Shima Peninsula in Mie and dining experiences at ama huts.
  • National Geographic: Covered a project to preserve the ama tradition and its fishing.
  • Condé Nast Traveler: Released "Touring the old fishing villages of western Japan" on its official YouTube channel.
  • JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) official English site: actively promotes "fishing & farming experiences" and "visiting the ama" as official menu items.

How overseas guests book

  • 82.9% of inbound visitors book in advance online rather than on arrival (Japan Tourism Agency, 2024).
  • In an exit survey at Kansai Airport, Klook ranked #1 (42.1% share) among paid-experience booking sites used by inbound visitors — about three times the #2.
  • 67% of travelers worldwide seek "local experiences" and "less-crowded destinations" (Booking.com 2025 forecast; survey of 27,700 people across 33 countries).
  • In 2025, 69.7% of inbound overnight stays were concentrated in the top five prefectures — Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido, and Okinawa. In other words, "places just off the Golden Route" hold the greatest room to grow right now.
The demand is real (Part 2: comparable products)

Across Japan, large crowds already gather for "beach-seine,"
"fisherman experiences," and "seaside roadside stations."

These are not forecasts — they are real figures for visitor numbers, prices, and revenue from businesses operating right now. Even in the town next to Ichigoro-maru, a similar product is already selling.

Operator / Area Product Price Scale & track record
Tono-ami (Fujisawa, Katase-Nishihama)Founded 140 yrs ago · next door to Ichigoro-maru
 Beach-seine experience + BBQ set ¥6,000 / person Runs Apr–Oct. Many repeat guests. Active on Instagram
Kanesa-ami, Nishi-ami, Nii-ami (Chigasaki)Three operators running at once
 Beach-seine experience (BBQ separate) ¥132,000 / net For 10–70 people. Chigasaki City budgets for it every year
Oiso Beach-Seine "Daishu" (Oiso Town)150 years, since the Meiji era
 Beach-seine experience ¥65,000 / net For 10–70 people. Mainly weekends. Active on Instagram
Satoumi-an (Shima, Mie)Ama-hut experience
 Meal & talk with the ama ¥4,300 / person Lunch + tea-time format. A mature market with several operators side by side
Ine Town (Kyoto, funaya village)Fishing village of 1,800 people
 Funaya (boat-house) experience + sightseeing ¥4,500 / guest 535,000 visitors/yr · ¥2.41B tourism spend (record high, 2025)
Michi-no-Eki Munakata (Fukuoka)Direct from the Genkai-nada port
 Seaside roadside station & retail — 1.7M visitors/yr · ¥1.8B revenue
Nakaminato Osakana Market (Ibaraki)Market beside the fishing port
 Morning port sightseeing & retail — Approx. 1M visitors/yr
Katsuura Morning Market (Chiba)One of Japan's three great morning markets
 Fishing-port morning market & sightseeing — Approx. 100,000 visitors/yr
The figures from Ine Town in Kyoto are worth special attention. A fishing village of just 1,800 people draws 535,000 visitors a year and generates ¥2.4 billion in tourism spending (about 270 times its population). We're not expecting the same scale in the Sodegaura fishing town, but this is decisive data showing that "fishing village × tourism experience" can become a massive visitor magnet regardless of population.
And right next door to Ichigoro-maru (Fujisawa, Katase-Nishihama), a ¥6,000-per-person beach-seine × BBQ product is already running. The market isn't something to "build from scratch" — it's already there.
The demand is real (Part 3: the social-media response)

"Japanese fishermen" is a popular search term
on social media around the world right now.

Japanese fishermen are pulling in hundreds of millions of views on social media. People overseas are actively searching for "Japanese fishing villages." Ichigoro-maru, too, has already experienced one viral moment through an EGA Channel video.

TikTok / total views
260billion
Views related to
"fishing" + "japan"
"Japanese fishing" is a genre people worldwide actively search for — so much so that a dedicated "fishingjapan" tag exists in its own right.
TikTok / individual fisherman
690K followers
Hokkaido fisherman
"@masaya.84"
With no ads or promotion, a single everyday fishing video earned 1.7 million likes. Content from individual fishermen has explosive reach.
YouTube / viral videos
1M+ views
Iwate's "Shosaku" fisherman
Setouchi's "Masato" fisherman
There are multiple cases where ordinary everyday videos by Japanese fishermen have reached 1–6 million views, driven mainly by overseas viewers.
270×
Ine Town, Kyoto / Why it became a town that draws 270 times its population in visitors
This fishing village of 1,800 people drew about 480,000 visitors in 2024 and 535,000 in 2025. Several media outlets point to the explosive spread of Instagram and TikTok videos of "the funaya glowing in the sunset" across Asia as the direct cause. Overseas media now call Ine the "Venice of Japan." It's a proven case where "social-media buzz → real-world visitors" actually worked.
5.21million
Ichigoro-maru has already experienced one viral moment
The video featuring Ichigoro-maru on the EGA Channel (5.21 million subscribers · 1.3 billion total views) has already brought the Sodegaura beach-seine to audiences across Japan. The "online buzz → on-site visitors" loop is an existing advantage that only Ichigoro-maru holds. If we re-release a version translated and edited for overseas audiences, the same wave could happen on overseas social media too.
This is our strength

Minimal effort for Ichigoro-maru.
Our team takes on all four.

"How many groups the site can handle" and "whether the groups actually come" are two different things. We handle all of it — attracting guests, bringing them in, and collecting payment.

1
We have a channel to bring
guests directly from the U.S.
Our team includes a business partner that directly attracts U.S. travelers heading to Japan. Rather than just listing on a booking site and waiting, we're positioned to proactively recommend: "If you're going to Japan, come to the Sodegaura morning."
Where we differ from operators that rely entirely on major booking sites
2
We hold a tour-bus license, and
handle transport end to end.
From a Tokyo hotel to Ninomiya Station and back again, we can properly handle transport as a licensed transport business. Worries like "will I get lost changing trains?" or "can I get moving at 4:30 a.m.?" disappear for overseas guests.
Ichigoro-maru no longer has to worry about arranging rides from the station to the beach
3
After the experience, we can build
a full-day tour to Yugawara or Hakone.
After the morning experience, we can design an extension tour that takes guests straight to the hot-spring towns of Yugawara or Hakone. Instead of ending at "breakfast at Sodegaura," it can be sold as a full-day story: "a quintessentially Japanese breakfast → hot springs → back to Tokyo."
Potential to roughly double per-guest spend. Easier to sell overseas than Sodegaura alone
4
Video production, guest acquisition, and
payment collection — we take it all on.
Overseas promo videos, an English landing page, listings on four booking sites, credit-card payments, inquiry handling, and weather-call notifications — we ask nothing of Ichigoro-maru. Just keep doing "the usual beach-seine and breakfast," the usual way.
Designed so that "we can't speak English" or "booking management is a hassle" are never an issue
Only when all four come together can "an authentic fisherman experience within an hour of Tokyo" be sold to overseas guests without strain.
When even one is missing, similar projects have stalled all over the country.
What happens on the day

4:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. And if we take guests on
to the hot springs, it becomes a full-day course until evening.

Two patterns are possible: one that ends with "the fisherman's morning," and a full-day one that connects "the fisherman's morning + the hot springs of Yugawara / Hakone."

1 04:30 Depart by shuttle From a Tokyo hotel 2 06:00 Meet at the beach Greetings & briefing 3 06:30 Pull the net As always 4 07:30 Cook & plate Sashimi & tempura 5 08:00 Breakfast Under the roof 6 10:00 Yugawara or Hakone Hot-spring tour 7 17:00 Back to Tokyo By shuttle
Ichigoro-maru's part ends at 9:30 a.m. The extension tour is handed off to our transport team.
Ichigoro-maru's workload ends with the morning beach-seine and breakfast. The hot-spring tour afterward is taken over by our transport team, so no additional work falls on Ichigoro-maru. The extension tour is added at a separate fee (which raises per-guest spend).
Our read on the selling price

Three provisional ranges, worked back from comparable prices.
The real price will be set by guests' reactions on the test day.

These are "provisional estimates" based on the prices at which similar fishing experiences are already sold elsewhere. They are not proven data, so expect them to move up or down.

PROVISIONAL RANGE A / Entry
Morning experience only
¥10,000 approx. / adult
6:00–9:30 a.m. / for 4–16 guests
Beach-seine experience + breakfast + English-speaking staff on site.
Starting from the ¥6,000 / person that neighboring Tono-ami in Fujisawa charges, with English support, transport guidance, and booking handling added on top.
PROVISIONAL RANGE B / Standard
Morning experience + transport
¥15,000 approx. / adult
Incl. Tokyo-hotel transfer / for 4–12 guests
Everything in Range A + a tour-bus transfer from a Tokyo hotel + an upgraded breakfast menu (local sake, a tempura chef).
A price range equivalent to the Satoumi-an ama hut's ¥4,300 / person plus transport.
PROVISIONAL RANGE C / Full-day course
Morning + Yugawara or Hakone
¥28,000 approx. / adult
Morning + transport + hot-spring tour / for 4–10 guests
Everything in Range B + a post-breakfast transfer tour to Yugawara or Hakone + hot-spring facility arrangements + a return to Tokyo in the evening.
Pitched at roughly half the price of comparable cases (Setouchi full-day tours at ¥58,000–¥120,000).
* All of the above are provisional estimates. We'll set the real pricing after seeing guests' reactions, the cancellation rate, and the content of reviews on the test day. The standard playbook is a two-step approach: launch "a little cheap" to gather review ratings, then raise prices once the ratings stack up.
If it lands, here's the picture we could paint

We've laid out a rough range of take-home revenue across three scenarios.

These are not "this will definitely happen" figures — they're "if this happens" simulations. The real numbers will emerge from the test run and the first few months. Scenarios that miss, and scenarios that genuinely land, are both possible.
Conservative / Wait-and-see
Minimum scenario
2 groups × 5 people per month / during the season (8 months)
Mostly Range A; reviews still few
Est. take-home
approx. ¥700K / yr
16 groups × 5 people avg × ¥10,000 = ¥800,000 (about ¥640,000 after a 20% booking-site fee). Sits on top of current domestic revenue.
Standard / Gaining traction
Mid scenario
5 groups × 8 people per month / during the season (8 months)
Mostly Range B; over 30 reviews
Est. take-home
approx. ¥3.8M / yr
40 groups × 8 people avg × ¥15,000 = ¥4.8M (about ¥3.8M after a 20% booking-site fee). Added to domestic revenue, a business on the order of ¥7M a year.
Upside / If it lands
Best-case scenario
8 groups × 10 people per month / during the season (8 months)
The Range C full-day course becomes the flagship
Est. take-home
approx. ¥12M / yr
64 groups × 10 people avg × ¥22,500 (blended A/B/C average) = ¥14.4M (about ¥11.5M after a 20% fee). Added to domestic revenue, a business on the order of ¥15M a year.
Our read is that the "real number" most likely falls somewhere between the three scenarios. That said, the chance of "coming in even below the conservative scenario" isn't zero. Let's judge together which scenario it's trending toward, after seeing the test-run results.
Industry rates for this kind of project

When launching a similar overseas-facing experience
business, this is roughly what it costs in the industry.

The figures below are industry going-rates. Our formal quotation will be issued separately after the hearing. The amount changes greatly depending on which items you combine and how, whether subsidies are used, whether it's structured as performance-based, and so on. For now, please read this as reference for "this is roughly what things cost out there."
Initial setup cost
Launch / one-time (industry rate)
Market price to start a similar overseas-facing experience business
Overseas promo video production90-sec main cut + 3-min detailed version
¥800K–1.5M
English landing page (LP)Including a custom domain
¥400K–800K
Listing prep for 4 overseas booking sitesPhotography, translation, applications
¥300K–500K
Setting up transport operationsHotel partnerships, fixed road routes
¥200K–300K
Initial cost, industry-rate guide
¥1.7M–3.1M
Monthly running cost
Operations / monthly (industry rate)
Market price of the monthly cost during live operation
English guide dispatchAssuming 10 groups/mo, 2 staff per group
¥150K–250K
Booking management & inquiry handlingEnglish-language desk, weather-call notifications
¥80K–150K
Photo & social-media asset updatesSeasonal additions
¥50K–100K
Tour-bus transport operationPassed to guest pricing; billed at cost
At cost
Monthly cost, industry-rate guide
¥280K–500K
* A Kanagawa Prefecture inbound-support subsidy may be available. Kanagawa offers subsidies for launching inbound experience businesses, multilingual support, and SDGs initiatives, and up to 50% of the initial cost above may be eligible. We can also help with the application, so your out-of-pocket cost can be compressed further. We'll sort out the details after the hearing.
Our formal quotation will be issued separately after the hearing. After working out the actual approach together — on-site setup, the number of videos needed, transport frequency, whether subsidies can be used, how to structure performance-based fees, and so on — we'll present a formal quotation in the form that carries the least financial risk for Ichigoro-maru.
What we'd like to ask you

To set the assumptions for this project,
we need answers to eight questions.

Rather than deciding the number of groups or capacity on our own, these are points we want to settle together — based on Ichigoro-maru's on-site setup, existing bookings, and real feel. We'd like to hear your answers at the next meeting.

1
What's the maximum number of groups
you can comfortably take in a month?
Given the balance with existing domestic bookings and your on-site setup, please tell us the line beyond which it starts to feel too much. We'll re-set the scenario group counts starting from this number.
2
How can we best avoid clashes
with existing domestic bookings?
Please tell us your preferred approach — prioritizing weekday-morning slots for overseas guests, clustering them in the first half of the month, limiting to certain days, and so on. Prioritizing existing customers is the basic premise.
3
What's the realistic maximum
number of people per group?
Based on the size of the covered area, cooking capacity, and how many you can keep an eye on, please tell us the "any more is impossible" line. Where you land between 4 and 15 people greatly changes the revenue structure.
4
How far can you accommodate
a rainy-day backup plan?
Options like "just do the BBQ under the roof," "cancel," or "offer a reschedule date." Since for overseas guests "cancellation = loss of trust" is common, we need to set rules in advance.
5
What minimum party size
makes a run viable?
Will it run with just 2 people per group, or do you want 4 or more? The lower the minimum, the lower the cancellation rate — but there's a balance with the on-site workload.
6
What's your acceptable range
for food-allergy accommodation?
Please confirm what you can accommodate — e.g., "swap to grilled fish for those who can't eat raw fish," "use rice flour instead of tempura flour for wheat allergies," "halal: yes / no," and so on.
7
When is a realistic day
for the test run?
Some weekend day in June or July. We'll prioritize existing bookings and fit around your open days. Please tell us "definitely avoid this day" or "this day actually works well."
8
What's the non-negotiable
way of doing things for Ichigoro-maru?
Please tell us the principles Ichigoro-maru holds dear — e.g., "we don't change how the fishing work is done," "we don't treat guests like a tourist attraction." We'll lock those in first as the project's constraints.
Failure patterns from earlier cases

Not just the good news — we'll also share
real examples of where things went wrong.

We honestly list four failures that actually happened to domestic inbound operators, along with how our setup guards against each.

Failure 01 / Trouble from miscommunication
"I want to reschedule" being taken as "cancel," or intentions not coming through in emails from overseas guests — trouble from language and cultural differences is common in earlier cases.
How we guard against it: Our English-speaking staff are the single point of contact for all bookings and inquiries. Ichigoro-maru receives only a Japanese notice: "Tomorrow, X groups / X people are coming."
Failure 02 / Repeated weather cancellations choke off bookings
For sea-based activities, weather cancellations are unavoidable. Several operators have fallen into the loop of "cancel → refund → rating drop → bookings collapse."
How we guard against it: We build rainy-day backups (BBQ-only under the roof, switching to the hot-spring tour) into the product from the start. We also set the 6 p.m.-the-day-before decision rule in advance.
Failure 03 / A single last-minute cancellation hurts
For small-group experience businesses, one no-show lands hard. There are cases where the "books but doesn't show up" rate hit 15–20%.
How we guard against it: Credit-card prepayment at the time of booking. We present from the outset a rule of no 100% refund for same-day cancellations. This brings irresponsible bookings to nearly zero.
Failure 04 / Staff training and manuals can't keep up
Hiring one English-speaking staff member isn't enough to run things. If "multilingual operating manuals" — covering reception, guiding, filming, and trouble handling — are missing, quality drops every time staff turn over.
How we guard against it: We prepare operating manuals, the booking flow, and guest-communication templates up front — building a system that keeps quality consistent even as staff change.
How we'll proceed

Rather than going straight to launch, we proceed in four stages.

At the end of each stage, we decide together whether to "go or stop." Even if we stop partway, there's no financial risk to Ichigoro-maru.

STEP 1
Now
Hearing
  • Your thoughts on this proposal
  • Answers to the 8 hearing items
  • An initial "do it / don't" decision
  • If continuing, set the test date
STEP 2
Jun–Jul
A single test run
  • Invite just 5–8 Western guests
  • Ichigoro-maru works as usual
  • Film the promo video the same day
  • Take home reactions, timing, feedback
STEP 3
End of Jul
Review & go/no-go
  • Review the test results together
  • Decide "go / stop"
  • If go, finalize price and group counts
  • If stop, stop entirely (no penalties)
STEP 4
Sep onward
Scale up gradually
  • List on 4 booking sites at once
  • Start with 2–3 groups/mo and watch
  • Re-evaluate pricing at 30 reviews
  • Full ramp-up for next March's spring season

To start, could we have a 60-minute meeting?

Using this proposal as a starting point, please let us talk for about 60 minutes — in person or by phone — about whether this is genuinely doable and free of strain.
If, after hearing us out, you think "this won't work," it's perfectly fine to end it right there.

1
A 60-minute meeting
In person or by phone. We'll ask about the 8 hearing items and the principles Ichigoro-maru wants to hold dear.
2
Set the test date
We'll pick an open weekend day in June or July together. We gather the guests, too.
3
Review together
After the test run, we look at the results and decide "do it / don't." The decision is led by Ichigoro-maru.