Project Report
| Dec 30, 2021
Looking ahead to 2022
By Charles E. McJilton | CEO
In April 2020 none of us thought marugohan would remain closed for as long as it has. At that time we expected, most of the world did, for business to return to normal by the fall. The decision to shift operations was correct and remaining "closed" proved to be a wise decision.
As the number of case in Japan have declined dramatically and the country remains virtually closed, we have concluded it is time to take steps to reopen marugohan. Beginning on January 4th we will introduce a "choice system" so that users can select what they want. This was one of the more appealing aspects of marugohan.
We have consciously chosen to not officially reopen marugohan as it was orginally designed for at least another three month. One of the key differentiating aspect of marugohan was the concept of ongaeshi (repaying a favor). We asked recipients to "pay" for ther services by giving back to society in some fashion. We still believe this is valuable and have seen the influence of marugohan on our operations in Okinawa. However, we believe it is still too early to reboot that part of the program.
By spring I hope we have better news.
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Sep 2, 2021
Continued Support During COVID19 Pandemic
By Charles McJilton | CEO
On April 16, 2020, we reluctantly had to shift to a "drive-thru" distribution system in order to mitigate any risks related to COVID19.
We continue to provide services to those who seek assistance. Currenlty 60% are foreigners in need with China, Mongolia and the Philippines making up the top three countries represetned. 40% are Japanese with single-mothers, the elderly, and low-income househods making up those who seek our asssitance.
We recently entered into a rental agreement for space directly in front of marugohan. It is our hope we can find a way to use this space to give back some autonomy to users choosing their own food as was the case with marugohan. However, with Tokyo and other prefectures under a state of emergency due to the rising number of COVID19 cases, we do not foresee this happening until late November or early December at the earliest.
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May 6, 2021
Tokyo under state of emergency
By Charles McJilton | CEO
On April 24th Prime Minister Suga called a state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo Prefecture. This will last until May 11th but may be extended if cases continue to increase.
We continue to provide food assistance from marugohan market. However, as we wrote in our previous reports, it is still not safe to allow people to come in and "shop" for what they need. We understand that this aspect of the project was very appealing to our users and we are continually asked, "When are you going to reopen?" As much as we would like reopen and allow people to shop for what they need, we still feel it is not completely safe for our users and volunteers. The space is very small compared to supermarkets that are open.
Our coupon system which we introduced last year has greatly increased our ability to handle large numbers in a short period of time. This greatly reduces the number of people waiting to receive assistance.
In my January dispatch I wrote that May would be the earliest for us to re-open marugohan. With less than 0.8% of the population vaccinated and roll-out not to take place for several months, it is quite likely we will not be able to re-open marugohan in 2021.
We will continue to keep you updated.
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