Tsutomu Nishihata,
Tomoni Hamamichi Service Manager, Watari Branch,
Japan Workers’ Cooperative Union

1. Introduction

The Japan Workers’ Cooperative Union was commissioned to deliver an emergency job creation project in Watari Town, Miyagi Prefecture, a town which suffered tsunami damage across roughly half of its area in the Great East Japan Earthquake. In March 2013, we opened “Sanchoku (direct from the farm) Hamamichi”, which sold produce directly from farmers as well as lunch boxes and delicatessen items. The ending of the emergency job creation project in April 2015 prompted us to relaunch as a Transition into Employment Support and Work Continuation Support Type B Multifunctional Type Project (now a Work Continuation Support Type B Project with a capacity of 20 people) which was approved in May 2015, and we started doing business as “Tomoni (together) Hamamichi”. In February 2016, we moved our place of business to its current location and made a new start (with four users), and I joined as Service Manager at that time.

We then carried out initiatives to increase the number of users, which reached around 7 in the 2016 year and 23 in the 2017 year. Since then, we have always had more users than our quota. During a roughly five-year period, a total of 15 people have used “Tomoni Hamamichi” as a stepping stone into employment, moving on to new places, and there are currently 24 users and 8 union members (staff) working here. 

2. The activities of “Tomoni Hamamichi”

Our current work includes the production and sale of lunch boxes and delicatessen items and the sale of vegetables grown by local producers, work taken over from “Sanchoku Hamamichi”, and mobile sales from a station wagon which goes around the town selling these items, as well as the sale of craft items made by the users on their own initiative, agricultural tasks, and subcontracting from local companies.

In addition to selling lunch boxes in our shop, we deliver them to people in difficult circumstances in the local Watari Town community, such as elderly people living alone. We also carry out mobile sales three times a week, selling them at the homes of the elderly who live far from shops, as well as at day service centres, private companies, and public facilities such as town offices and schools. Everyone looks forward to our arrival, and there are people who make requests for us to bring particular things to sell. We sometimes receive small gifts or thank you letters. This work is rewarding for our users, too, because it is a chance for them to interact more closely with the people in the local community, who are very glad to see them. 

3. Outreach to the community

In another initiative to become more involved with the community, we invite the elderly people living locally who enjoy karaoke to an event called “Karaoke with Lunch”, at which we provide their lunch (four times a year). We also hold a “Hamamichi Festival” aimed at children (once a year). On the 20th of each month, we rent a community centre and hold the “Takaya (name of the area) Café” as a place for elderly people to get together and relax. These initiatives are very popular, and the numbers of participants were increasing. 

4. What is important to us

Our activities have been rooted in the local community in these ways, and we grew extremely smoothly as an open place of business, but then we became overwhelmed with measures in response to COVID.

Events such as “Karaoke with Lunch”, the “Hamamichi Festival”, and the “Takaya Café”, which we held in an effort to connect with the community, are currently cancelled in order to prevent the spread of infection.

When we thought about what we ought to do, what ought to be important to us now, in these circumstances, we confirmed amongst ourselves that the answer was safeguarding the lives, health, and daily lives of our colleagues, who are our users, and of our union members, as well as those of our families. All our events, including annual events such as “Cherry blossom viewing” and “Autumn potato stew party”, have been cancelled, and it is hard to maintain motivation in these circumstances, but this is a vital, precious place for everyone.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot carry out our activities in the way we would like to, but together with my colleagues, I intend to continue doing my best to “do work that benefits the people of the local community”, “work that is meaningful for the local community and for society”.

“Fureai (interaction) Festival” (in the lobby of the Prefectural Office)