Sponsor Fellows for Tohoku and Japan's Recovery

Oshika Peninsula is a secluded area in Tohoku. It takes an hour to get there from Ishinomaki-city by car. It is too far for aid goods and people to reach. People couldn't get enough help because of living in such an isolated place.

Tomoya Tada had been working at a global management consulting firm for two years. He wanted to do something for Tohoku’s recovery. However, as he was very busy with his work at the firm, he could finally visit Mr. Yuichi Tomohiro in Oshika in July 2011. They have known each other for a long time, since their university days.  Tomoya found that all of those he met there took pride in their work. This made him want to help them. On his way home, he send a email to his boss, telling that he would like to quit his job for heading to Tohoku.

From September 2011, Tomoya  took a leave of absence and from his job, and started to launch a new business in Oshika with Mr. Tomohiro. They hired women in Oshika, and started to make accessories using local materials such as fishing nets and antlers. Tomoya is in charge of the product development, production management, sales promotion, and accounting.

Tomoya said that the project is not only for business and job creation, but also for community building. Oshika is thinly-populated place with a little chance for the local to get together. Tomoya said, "I’m really happy to see local people working with  positive attitudes. Our goal is to create sustainable business and community. I’m thinking that I will be here for a long-term, at least 3 years.”

Profile: Tomoya worked for two years in the consulting firm in charge of marketing strategy, operation turnaround and new business development. He works for a job creation project through production of accessories using local materials. Mr. Tomohiro, the leader of the project, has studied in the same university. 

Ofunato is a major seaport city in Iwate with about 40,000 people. The terrible tsunami swept and ruined buildings and housings in the town. About 1,800 temporary housings have been built. However, it is often a challenge to build a new community of people from different areas. Imagine staying with whom you don't know or are not familiar with. You would be much stressed.

In order to ensure a healthy and comfortable life to all inhabitants, the local government hired 89 local staff. However, as the governmental function was heavily damaged, there were few people who could manage such a large number of staff effectively.

Mr. Hiroto Kikuchi, a nonprofit leader in Iwate, started a project to manage communities of temporary housings, in partnership with the local government and various support organizations. And, in the late of September, Mr. Yoshitaka Narita, who had worked as a manager of an IT company, joined in the project as a Fellow to support Mr. Kikuchi.

With his experiences in corporate planning, project management, human resources management, etc., Mr. Narita has been supervising local staff hired by the government’s budget so that they can address various issues in temporary housing communities. Mr. Kikuchi said, “Thanks to his contribution, I became able to secure my time for other important works.”

Mr. Narita believes it is important for the local people themselves to discuss and rethink how to they rebuild their own community. “In partnership with the local government, we will promote such kind of resident participation in the recovery,” he added.