[Nationwide First] Tourism Attraction Project Using ARG x Experiential Mystery Featuring Popular Voice Actor Nobuhiko Okamoto Launches in Nishikawa Town, Yamagata Prefecture! Over 8,000 Players in 'Mystery Game' by a City at Risk of Disappearing
Creator's NEXT Inc. will host an experiential mystery event 'The Great Detective Who Lost His Memory' in Nishikawa Town, Yamagata Prefecture, starting April 26, 2026. Featuring voice actor Nobuhiko Okamoto and utilizing an ARG strategy, the online precursor game has already attracted over 8,000 players.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 14, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 14, 2026 at 10:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 19:07 (128h 35m after Collected)
Produced by Creator's NEXT Inc. (CEO: Nozomu Kubota), an experiential mystery event titled 'The Great Detective Who Lost His Memory' set in Nishikawa Town, Yamagata Prefecture, and featuring popular voice actor Nobuhiko Okamoto, will be held starting Sunday, April 26, 2026.
Participants in this event will dress as detectives and travel around the town by bus, using their deductive reasoning and teamwork to solve a difficult case that occurred in Nishikawa Town. The organizer, Nishikawa Town, conducted no conventional advertising for this event, adopting an 'ARG (Alternate Reality Game)' approach instead. They notified mystery fans nationwide by setting up a trap where playing a mysterious online game leads players to an inexplicable incident happening in Nishikawa Town.
The mysterious online game, secretly released on a social media account with only 3 followers, has already been played by over 8,000 people nationwide. To connect this enthusiasm to real tourism, an 'Immersive Trial Session & Press Conference' will be held for the media on Wednesday, April 22.
Three Innovative Aspects of This Project
[Narrative] Enjoy a mystery experience starting from a 'too scary diagnostic site' across online and real life.
[Experience] A super-limited mystery experience for only 8 people per day, touring the town dressed as a great detective.
[Social Impact] Turning 'vacant houses' and the 'Three Mountains Faith' into tourism resources. Regional revitalization through art.
[Narrative] Enjoy a mystery experience starting from a 'too scary name stroke diagnostic site' across online and real life
This project begins not with general advertising, but with 'inexplicable information' on social media. Triggered by learning about a 'too scary name stroke diagnosis' introduced by a certain fictional radio program, participants use the internet and social media to touch upon fragments of the incident occurring in Nishikawa Town. The experience where reality intermingles with a world recognized as fiction, gradually blurring the boundaries, has become a hot topic among mystery fans.
[Experience] A super-limited experience for 8 people a day, touring the town dressed as a great detective
In the experiential mystery event that only those who have cleared the online game can challenge, participants wear special detective costumes. Guided by a tour guide, they travel the town by bus, tackling the case relying on drama footage featuring professional actors and Nishikawa Town residents, as well as voice casting by Nobuhiko Okamoto.
[Social Impact] Turning 'vacant houses' and the 'Three Mountains Faith' into tourism resources. Regional revitalization through art
The stages for the story are 'vacant houses in the town' regenerated for the mystery experience, the mysterious 'Sky Stone Bridge' actually existing near the summit of Mt. Gassan, and unique spots in Nishikawa Town related to the Three Mountains Faith. Artists enrolled at Tokyo University of the Arts cooperated in spatial design, realizing high-value-added tourism content that fuses regional history, art, and entertainment.
[Planning Background] High-value-added tourism content capable of attracting customers from the three major metropolitan areas, beyond skiing and mountain climbing
Until now, tourism in Nishikawa Town has centered on skiing and mountain climbing. However, a touring puzzle-solving initiative started in 2023 saw over 6,000 participants and recorded an extremely high satisfaction rate with an NPS (Net Promoter Score) of 62. While surveys showed 78% 'came to like Nishikawa Town' and 89% answered they 'want to go to Nishikawa Town again', about 60% were residents of the Tohoku region. Therefore, this project aims to attract tourists from nationwide, including the three major metropolitan areas, using the ARG method.
[About Creator's NEXT Inc.]
Founded in 2004. Developing an AI business utilizing proprietary patented technologies, tackling a wide range of fields including a price estimation AI in the power trading market and dynamic pricing utilizing AI in the food wholesale industry. The company won 1st place in the 'JAPAN DX Player AWARD 2024 Industry Division', evaluated for its initiatives such as successfully building an AI that recognizes Yamagata Prefecture dialects with an accuracy about 1.6 times higher than ChatGPT, and a puzzle-solving game utilizing AI in depopulated areas suffering from severe labor shortages.
Location: Tokyo
Participants in this event will dress as detectives and travel around the town by bus, using their deductive reasoning and teamwork to solve a difficult case that occurred in Nishikawa Town. The organizer, Nishikawa Town, conducted no conventional advertising for this event, adopting an 'ARG (Alternate Reality Game)' approach instead. They notified mystery fans nationwide by setting up a trap where playing a mysterious online game leads players to an inexplicable incident happening in Nishikawa Town.
The mysterious online game, secretly released on a social media account with only 3 followers, has already been played by over 8,000 people nationwide. To connect this enthusiasm to real tourism, an 'Immersive Trial Session & Press Conference' will be held for the media on Wednesday, April 22.
Three Innovative Aspects of This Project
[Narrative] Enjoy a mystery experience starting from a 'too scary diagnostic site' across online and real life.
[Experience] A super-limited mystery experience for only 8 people per day, touring the town dressed as a great detective.
[Social Impact] Turning 'vacant houses' and the 'Three Mountains Faith' into tourism resources. Regional revitalization through art.
[Narrative] Enjoy a mystery experience starting from a 'too scary name stroke diagnostic site' across online and real life
This project begins not with general advertising, but with 'inexplicable information' on social media. Triggered by learning about a 'too scary name stroke diagnosis' introduced by a certain fictional radio program, participants use the internet and social media to touch upon fragments of the incident occurring in Nishikawa Town. The experience where reality intermingles with a world recognized as fiction, gradually blurring the boundaries, has become a hot topic among mystery fans.
[Experience] A super-limited experience for 8 people a day, touring the town dressed as a great detective
In the experiential mystery event that only those who have cleared the online game can challenge, participants wear special detective costumes. Guided by a tour guide, they travel the town by bus, tackling the case relying on drama footage featuring professional actors and Nishikawa Town residents, as well as voice casting by Nobuhiko Okamoto.
[Social Impact] Turning 'vacant houses' and the 'Three Mountains Faith' into tourism resources. Regional revitalization through art
The stages for the story are 'vacant houses in the town' regenerated for the mystery experience, the mysterious 'Sky Stone Bridge' actually existing near the summit of Mt. Gassan, and unique spots in Nishikawa Town related to the Three Mountains Faith. Artists enrolled at Tokyo University of the Arts cooperated in spatial design, realizing high-value-added tourism content that fuses regional history, art, and entertainment.
[Planning Background] High-value-added tourism content capable of attracting customers from the three major metropolitan areas, beyond skiing and mountain climbing
Until now, tourism in Nishikawa Town has centered on skiing and mountain climbing. However, a touring puzzle-solving initiative started in 2023 saw over 6,000 participants and recorded an extremely high satisfaction rate with an NPS (Net Promoter Score) of 62. While surveys showed 78% 'came to like Nishikawa Town' and 89% answered they 'want to go to Nishikawa Town again', about 60% were residents of the Tohoku region. Therefore, this project aims to attract tourists from nationwide, including the three major metropolitan areas, using the ARG method.
[About Creator's NEXT Inc.]
Founded in 2004. Developing an AI business utilizing proprietary patented technologies, tackling a wide range of fields including a price estimation AI in the power trading market and dynamic pricing utilizing AI in the food wholesale industry. The company won 1st place in the 'JAPAN DX Player AWARD 2024 Industry Division', evaluated for its initiatives such as successfully building an AI that recognizes Yamagata Prefecture dialects with an accuracy about 1.6 times higher than ChatGPT, and a puzzle-solving game utilizing AI in depopulated areas suffering from severe labor shortages.
Location: Tokyo