Imabari's PR Video 'Our Hometown' Wins National PR Contest, New Version Released Featuring All 26 Elementary Schools

A PR video titled 'Bokura no Furusato' (Our Hometown), produced by Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, has won an award in the video category of the 2026 National PR Contest, hosted by the Public Relations Society of Japan. The song was born from the desire of local elementary school students to share the charm of Imabari. The video introduces the city's attractions through a chorus of the children who wrote the lyrics.

To bring the song to a wider audience, Imabari City has created a new 'All Elementary Schools Version' featuring participation from all 26 elementary schools in the city. This video, which unites the feelings for their hometown by weaving together the individual voices of the children, premiered on May 17 at the Imabari satellite venue of the '76th National Arbor Day Festival Ehime 2026' and has been available to the public on YouTube since May 19. The song, sung straightforwardly by elementary school students about their love for their hometown, is expanding a circle of empathy across generations.

A Song That Evokes the Scenery of Imabari—'Our Hometown' Spun by Elementary School Students 'Bokura no Furusato' originated from a project started by sixth-graders (in the 2024 school year) at Imabari City's Betsugu Elementary School with the idea, 'Let's make a song about the charm of Imabari!' With the help of singer-songwriter Shigeto Tanaka, the students discussed their favorite things about Imabari in a workshop and spun the charm of their 'hometown' in their own words. The lyrics encapsulate soft, fluffy towels, large ships, and time spent laughing with friends. It's not just about special tourist spots, but the essence of Imabari found in daily life. The children's words, sung to a somewhat nostalgic and catchy melody, also overlap with the hometown scenery in the listener's memory.

Winning an Award in the National PR Contest's Video Category as 'PR Through Song' The video for 'Bokura no Furusato' was produced by Imabari City's public relations staff with the hope that the song would not be a one-time effort but would be sung and passed down through generations. The work aims to foster attachment and pride in the community by weaving together scenes of Imabari's landscapes and charms with the sight of children expressing their hometown in their own words and singing together with smiling faces. The completed PR video won the top prize in the video category of the 2025 Ehime Prefecture City and Town PR Contest and won an award in the video category of the 2026 National PR Contest. This video, where the children's earnest voices and the scenery of their hometown overlap, has become a work that transcends the framework of municipal PR to convey the feeling of love for one's hometown as 'PR through song.'

Imabari's Sentiments Echo at the National Arbor Day Festival—New Version Connecting the Voices of All 26 Elementary Schools Released With the desire for more people to hear 'Bokura no Furusato' and for it to become a song passed down to the future with the children's voices, Imabari City produced a new 'All Elementary Schools Version' with the participation of all 26 elementary schools in the city. The completed video was premiered on May 17 at the Imabari satellite venue of the '76th National Arbor Day Festival Ehime 2026.' It was also presented as a message connecting the hometown to the future, riding on the children's voices, showing Imabari's journey towards recovery and reconstruction from the '2025 Imabari City Forest Fire' that occurred in March 2025. The new video has been publicly available on YouTube since May 19. A song born from one elementary school has spread throughout Imabari through the voices of children from 26 schools. While embedding everyday life laughing with friends, familiar seascapes and island views, and the feeling of cherishing their hometown into the song, Imabari City will continue to nurture 'Bokura no Furusato' as a piece to be sung across generations.

【Comments】 ■ Koudai Asano, former 6th-grade teacher at Betsugu Elementary School I am surprised that this song, born at Betsugu Elementary School, has reached so many people, who have sung and listened to it. I hope it will be a hometown song that those children will happen to hear when they grow up.

Shigeto Tanaka, Singer-songwriter, in charge of lyrics and composition I've come to think that we can also call the feeling of wanting to cherish the places where our dear friends were born and lived 'hometown.' Someday, I hope that everyone who sings this song...