The area around the project site lost 32 houses out of 119 for the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The community representative, Hanahama LLP, propose to renovate the old grain drying plant building into a seafood processing plant/public market/restaurant. The plant was closed 10 years ago, and vacant for a while. After the March 2011 quake, the building was used as a emergency shelter. After the shelter was closed, local fishermen who were out of work started making hammocks there by using their skills to make fishing nets. The fishermen sold 900 hammocks in a couple of months before they shut down the operation. Their entrepreneurship provided them some income before they returned fishing.
The building was scheduled to be demolished, but Hanahama LLP saved it by proposing to use the steel-framing and creating their new business. By renovating the existing building that many locals are now familiar with, this project is going to become the symbol of the reconstruction of the community by giving a new life to the old building. It will also introduce new employment opportunities to the area. The aim is to introduce the new business model of locavore –- locally consume food that is locally grown –- and promote the sustainable eco-tourism to the area. We also would like to develop the education program to teach the fishery and farming.
