Making Fukuoka a City Digital Nomads Return To — yugyo Leads the City's Year-Round Reception Program
From "Come Visit" to "Come Back"
Digital nomads — people who work while moving around the world, unbound by place. Rather than leaving after a few days like tourists, they stay for weeks or months, living as residents of a place. With its compact urban functions, proximity to the airport, and rich food and nature, Fukuoka is already one of the cities drawing attention from nomads worldwide.
yugyo inc. has been entrusted with Fukuoka City's "year-round digital nomad reception program." Rather than a one-off surge tied to events, we are laying the groundwork for a city that can welcome nomads throughout the year. Our goal is a Fukuoka that makes a nomad who has come once want to come back — and the key to that is the people and businesses who do the welcoming.
CIC Fukuoka, the Hub of the Program
The hub that anchors this year-round reception program is CIC Fukuoka, located in ONE FUKUOKA BLDG. in Tenjin. Every week, ahead of the "Thursday Gathering" run by Venture Café Fukuoka, yugyo hosts "Thursday Coworking." It has become the everyday base for digital nomads living in Fukuoka.
This is more than a networking spot. Thursday Coworking has even contributed to new membership sign-ups at CIC Fukuoka, and the economic impact is beginning to ripple out to businesses well beyond tourism. Welcoming digital nomads reaches past "tourism" to bring new value to fields such as office space, real estate, and startup support — and in Fukuoka, that possibility is becoming real.
Developing the People Who Welcome — the Community Manager Academy
The people who connect staying nomads with the local community are community managers. Welcoming visitors of different languages and cultures and bridging them to local people and places — the Japan Digital Nomad Association (JDNA)'s Community Manager Academy (CMA) develops these facilitators systematically.
In Fukuoka, too, we want to grow the number of these hosts. If you are interested in connecting local people with international visitors, or want to learn community management in English, this is a program to join.
Raising Fukuoka's Hosting Capacity Together — Business Study Sessions
The other pillar is business study sessions for local operators. Lodging, transport, dining, coworking, experiences — a nomad's stay touches a remarkable range of businesses. Who are nomads, and what do they want? How do they differ from inbound tourists? How can your own service connect with them? Learn the latest market trends and attraction know-how alongside leading instructors.
Fukuoka's capacity to host cannot rise through government or any single company alone. As each business in the city prepares, little by little, to welcome nomads, Fukuoka as a whole becomes a city the world chooses. That is what we believe.
We Welcome Participants from Fukuoka
Both the Community Manager Academy and the business study sessions are open doorways for anyone in Fukuoka who wants to be part of welcoming digital nomads. If you want to get involved in city-making, or expand your service toward nomads, please join us from Fukuoka. Details to follow (inquiries via the yugyo website).
With the marketing insight into European, US, and Australian travelers built through digital nomad attraction, and the on-the-ground experience accumulated through Colive Fukuoka, yugyo will walk alongside Fukuoka as it builds its capacity to host. This October, Colive Fukuoka 2026 takes place in Fukuoka.