ShopTohoku.com

24/04/2018

WARNING!! The Shop Tohoku project has closed, and we have relinquished control of the original domain name for the project website: shoptohoku.com ... it is now owned by a separate entity unaffiliated with us. We have no relationship with the new owner of the website.

We hope you will continue to support projects associated with disaster relief and recovery in the Tohoku region of Japan and everywhere it is needed.

Best regards, Ian Chun
CEO, Matcha Latte Media KK

02/05/2013

Saki-pon, Kimono fabric straps made by 2011 Tsunami survivor Hina-san.
http://yunomi.us/shop/fashion/saki-pon-strap/

These straps were created by Hina-san with material and instruction from Kimono store Sakabun in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Material used came from undamaged portions of kimono fabric ruined in the tsunami. The student-led Saki-Pon project arranged for the fabric to be turned into these straps providing work for survivors currently living in temporary housing facilities.

07/12/2012

Magnitude 7.3, 10km deep, off shore in Miyagi prefecture near where the one in 2011 took place.

Quite a bit of shaking here in Tokyo...people in the coworking space ignored it for the first 15 seconds, then everyone started to look up and stand up, one group left the building but the shaking settled down so....back to work.

at 5:40 pm, there is a 1 meter tsunami warning in place for Miyagi Pref., 0.5 meter watch for surrounding prefectures.

08/11/2012

The Morita family are 10th generation tea farmers, but their tea production region, Sayama in Saitama prefecture, faces huge hurdles overcoming public fear of radiation contamination. Their tea is tested to be safe, so if you know a tea lover out there, do let th know of Sayamacha, a sencha green tea rarely seen outside of Japan!

Purchase here:
http://shoptohoku.com/shop/shelf/tea-products/

04/11/2012

At the Teatopia festival in southern Kyoto, I met tea farmers from Sayama, Saitama, and from Ishinomaki, Miyagi. Saitama is not a tohoku region but we'll carry the tea from there as the tea farmers were hit hard by the Fukushima nuclear power plant failure. Their tea has been tested to be radiation free, but it's hard to convince retailers to think differently. Meanwhile the Ishinomaki tea farmer just just escaped destruction of his tea field, the only one Miyagi with a long history.

27/10/2012

Konbu strip (kelp) that you eat just like mr Suzuki here. From a manufacturer in the city rikuzentakata, one of the hardest hit areas. coming soon for $7.50 per strip.

10/09/2012

The "okiagari" figurine from Aizu-Wakamatsu (Western part of Fukushima Prefecture, the Eastern part of which the nuclear plant incident occured).

09/09/2012

Just went to a trade show last weekend to recruit buisnesses for ShopTohoku.com ... very good response from 30+ businesses, and one "go away, we were ripped off by exporters before and won't do it again". Wow.

19/05/2012

New direction for ShopTohoku.com - we will use the funds raised earlier (about $500) to start buying and reselling items from Tohoku, with a focus on businesses who will benefit most from these sales.

The first candidate, Migoto, is selling a kind of marinated seaweed. Osugi-san owned a chinese restaurant before the tsunami washed it away. Fortunately for them, their supporter have been able to sell well in Japan, so they don't have much stock. We may work with them later.

Candidate 2 is a family who lost both their business and home. Now living in a temporary housing facility, they are slowly building a business around mulberry tea farmed and processed in Iwate Prefecture The city, Kesennuma, was one of the hardest hit areas and has someone blogging about its recovery in English here:
http://www.facebook.com/kesennuma

Kesennuma City

26/04/2012

Meeting with a business owner from Iwate Prefecture tomorrow morning to talk about the possibility of turning ShopTohoku.com into a true online store for disaster region businesses. -ian

04/04/2012

The folks at the Saccora Japan take used yukata and recycle them into coasters, tablecloths and other products using a traditional weaving method. The have a page: http://www.facebook.com/sansasakiori

「裂き織り」を素材にした各種アイテムを製作・販売。
　伝統工芸の技術と思いを、現代のライフスタイルの中で活かして、これからも継承していきたいと思います。、

30/03/2012

Funding site: http://www.indiegogo.com/ShopTohokucom?a=464424
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shoptohoku

45 hours left to the end of our first funding campaign for http://ShopTohoku.com - A site where we are introducing Japanese companies from quake-affected regions.

These first funds will be used to buy products from these companies and projects...then we will be reselling those products on the site.

If you have a few dollars to spare, we would really appreciate the capital to start purchasing. We haven't finalized the products yet, so aren't offering it as perks, but we'll be contacting each funder afterwards.

Thanks everyone!

Introducing Japanese companies in regions hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami to consumers around the world.