After organising our own residency program in rural Japan in 2015, we had some thoughts and question about the effects and actual results of organising an AIR program. To learn about the different AIR formats and exchange experiences with other organisers, we travelled from Tokyo to Kyushu by car for about 3 weeks. We met organisers of AIR and other culture-led urban/rural development projects in (amongst others): Kobe, Onomichi, Kamiyama, Fukushima Island (in Nagasaki Prefecture), Arita, and Ukiha City.