Ichigo in the Community

A New Vision Unlocking
a City’s Possibilities
Ichigo Yokosuka Port Market - Part 1 -July 2023

A New Commercial Facility has Opened in Yokosuka,
a City Known as the Location Where Japan’s Opening ofDiplomatic and Trade Relations Began
Yokosuka is known as the city where Commodore Matthew C. Perry's
U.S. Navy fleet arrived at Uraga in 1853, paving the way for Japan toopen its ports to the world.
Surrounded on three sides by the sea and rugged terrain, Yokosuka
boasts unique natural resources and regional attractions, includingSarushima, the only natural island in Tokyo Bay, historical and cultural
assets tracing the history of the Miura clan and the diplomatic andtrade opening of Japan, and a multicultural environment with its many
foreign residents.
In fall 2022, a new retail facility opened along the coast of Yokosuka- the Ichigo Yokosuka Port Market.
The facility was originally built asa refrigeration warehouse, which
was subsequently converted intoa farmers’ market. Following theclosure of the farmers’ market,
Yokosuka City selected Ichigo torenovate and operate the market asa Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
An aerial view of the market, with Sarushima on the top left. Many shoppers lined up on opening day.

“We want to make the 10,000-meter longseaside promenade, Umikaze no Michi,
like Kalakaua Avenue in Hawaii, and theIchigo Yokosuka Port Market like the Ala
Moana Shopping Center.
We have finally taken the first step inrealizing this dream,” said Mayor Katsuaki
Kamiji at the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony was a city-widecelebration attended by the mayor ofYokosuka City and local government
officials, a sign of the local community’s
high hopes for the market.
The newly transformed market offers
visitors the opportunity to experience
Miura Peninsula’s rich food culture andaims to be a tourist attraction rooted in
the local community.

Yokosuka City Mayor Katsuaki Kamiji attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony
to celebrate the opening of the market.

Background of the Renovation
Hideki Takeuchi, a representative director of City Support
Yokosuka (CSY), a wholly-owned entity of Yokosuka City,
explains that the former market used to consist mainly offishing businesses. Mr. Takeuchi managed the former
market as a committee member of CSY, the owner andoperator at the time.
Originally built as a seafood refrigeration warehouse in 1987,
the former market opened in 2013 after undergoing renovations
as part of Yokosuka City’s initiatives to promote local
production and consumption, and served as the eastern
seafood counterpart to Sukanagosso, a large farmers’market in western Yokosuka. Although the number of annual
visitors were initially over 500,000, the number gradually
decreased to about 320,000 in 2018.

Hideki Takeuchi, CSY Representative Director (left) and
Jun Sasaki, Senior Manager, CSY Business Department (right)“We knew we had to do something to turn things around, but nothing waschanging, so we decided to close the farmers’ market in 2018. One mistake
was that we couldn’t clearly identify who our target customers were, thelocal community or tourists.”
Although the former market sold vegetables in addition to seafood products,
the market tenants would get caught in a price war with the nearby
supermarkets that opened and were subsequently unable to showcase
their unique advantages.
CSY decided to withdraw from market operations, and handed over operation
to its tenants for one year while it developed a restructuring plan.
When CSY conducted a market sounding*, operators of casual restaurants
and supermarkets visited the site, but none of them led to a successful
lease-up given the shape and size of the site, competitive environment of
the surrounding area, and the prerequisite of creating a tourist center
through a partnership with Yokosuka City.
The facility before the renewal*Market sounding: A survey conducted by the government in assessing how to use owned land. The government fields opinions andsuggestions from the private sector, and through such discussions, determines the feasibility of a project and whether it is marketable,
and establishes the conditions that would make it easier for businesses to participate.

It was then that CSY approached Ichigo, and the discussions began.
“Ichigo has a proven track record in real estate renovation as well as experience in supporting agriculture and engaging
in tourism businesses. We saw a good opportunity to utilize our expertise and decided to work with CSY,” Minoru Ishihara,
Ichigo Executive Vice President & COO, says of the facility restructuring.

Minoru Ishihara, Ichigo Executive Vice President & COO, being interviewed.

The Idea of a Food Experience“We offer visitors various experiences centered around food, showcasing the agricultural, fish, and livestock industries,
cooking, services, dining environments, marchés, and food education, and even focusing on environmental issues
and contributing to society.
These experiences also include the farm to table process as well as food presentation. We believe it is important
to show gratitude for animals and food naturally and want to show respect to primary industry workers by helping
them increase their income. With this in mind, we came up with the renewal concept of ‘food experience’.”In 2019, an Ichigo-led consortium was selected in an open public bid by CSY soliciting proposals from companies
to renovate and operate the facility as a public-private partnership (PPP).
Public-Private Partnership (“PPP”): A partnership between a government agency and a private sector company used to build,
maintain, and manage public facilities. The partnership aims to leverage the creativity of the private sector company, makeeffective use of funds, and streamline administrative work.

The Ichigo Yokosuka Port Market is home to a wide variety of shops and restaurants offering fish, meat and vegetables, as well as
hamburgers, ramen noodles, sausages, breads, sandwiches, puddings, local beers, wines, fresh seafood bowls, and Italian food.

Ichigo, in cooperation with its many partners, began its leasing activities
for tenants under the Covid environment. A total of 16 stores joined as
tenants offering “food experiences,” including a food specialty shop thatsells fish, meat, and vegetables, an established restaurant serving
Yokosuka Navy hamburgers, a local microbrewery, a famous pudding
store in the Yokosuka/Hayama area, a bakery, a sandwich store, and asouvenir shop.
“The facility became an attractive space worth visiting thanks to the clear‘food experience’ concept, a cohesive environment, and attractive tenants.
Also, local fishery associations and farmers decided to set up shop. This
really impressed me.” (Takeuchi)
The renovated market has gotten off to a good start towards its target of
1 million visitors per year.

Potential for the Growth of a Community“We wanted to convey the inherent power of the space through the interior design and create an energetic community
where diverse people come together,” said Tsukasa Horiuchi of Flowstone Creative Industries, in charge of all design
aspects of the market renovation project, including the renovation plans and customer touch points. Having worked ona number of Ichigo projects in the past, he says the Ichigo Yokosuka Port Market project had alignment with a theme hehas been working on recently.
“In recent years, we have been working on the theme of reassessing
the primary industries that are firmly rooted in people’s lives.
A rural lifestyle that maximizes the potential of raw materials, suchas the rice, sake, miso, vegetables, and bowls made with waterand soil. Based on this fundamental philosophy, we wanted to createa lifestyle that focuses on not only the present, but also the future,and decided to acquire and renovate an old farmhouse in a ruralarea in Ishikawa Prefecture.”

Tsukasa Horiuchi of Flowstone Creative Industries

This farmhouse, called “Takigahara Farm,” has attracted recent
college graduates from not only Japan, but also Europe, who now
live in the house and farm with the local people.

“I believe that such a project will pave the way for the next generation’s
way of life and creating small but meaningful businesses. We had worked
with Ichigo in the past, and when we heard about the Yokosuka project,
we thought we could leverage our experience from this project.”With agriculture at the core, people of different generations, nationalities,
and lifestyles come together in one place, building a community whilefeeling the gifts of nature and appeal of the local area. The starting pointof this project was the acceptance and blending of different people anvalues.
“Although located in the same Miura Peninsula, Yokosuka has a distinct
culture unlike other areas such as Miura, Zushi, and Hayama. Yokosuka
has both an American feel and deep local culture, with people comingand going.
We thought this mix of cultures was unique, and felt the potential to create
a community. In addition, by incorporating elements from farmers’ markets
we observed when we travelled overseas and the United Nations University
Farmers’ Market that we operate in Aoyama, we thought we could createa vibrant space with the food experience concept at its core.
Making the most of the high ceilings in the 900-tsubo (2,975㎡) former
seafood refrigeration warehouse, we transformed the space into a retailfacility full of vibrancy and where different elements mix. As we all
worked on store design, architecture, and operations while imagining
this end result, we felt that everyone working on this project started tocome together as one,” Horinouchi recalled.

Synergies With Music
Visitors to the Ichigo Yokosuka Port Market are people of allages and genders. They browse the store displays, buy groceries,and enjoy food while sitting on the benches in the dining areaor the outdoor terrace in order to enjoy an ocean view.
In one area with a ship-shaped cutout board and a bench,
visitors take pictures of their children to remember their visit.
Inspired by Yokosuka’s history and coastal atmosphere, themarket has jazz music playing in the background, inspired by
Brazilian music and slow R&B.

Recently, concerts are held during the day and at night.CSY is also involved in cultural development projects, with
its Sunset Live concerts being one such project. Takeuchi says it is planning to promote music and sports events aspart of Yokosuka City’s tourism efforts.

A concert held in collaboration with classic and jazz musicians and a local junior high school band

In Yokosuka, where the mayor strongly supports musical activities, CSY focuses on organizing concerts and collaboratingwith local musicians in order to cultivate a foundation with deep local roots.
In addition, as part of its support for sports activities, CSY has hosted the BMX world championships, and offered training
fields in Kurihama and Oppama for a J.League club team and a professional baseball team, respectively. It is rare in
Japan for one city to have training bases for both professional soccer and baseball teams.

Contributing to Community Revitalization With a Focus on Agriculture and Tourism
As projects to revitalize the Yokosuka area via culture, food, music and sports make progress, those involved inthese projects are turning their attention to new challenges.
“We want to create a new lifestyle through agriculture
and grow the community of people who share thisvision. By connecting the entire production anddistribution processes and sharing ideas, we areproposing a new way of living.
We are creating a community by bringing together
the connections made with people. Ichigo Yokosuka
Port Market is the starting point and origin for thismission.
This is not the end of our efforts; we will continue torevitalize Yokosuka from this perspective.”(Horinouchi)“More than 90% of visitors to Yokosuka are day-trippers, including to nearby Kamakura. To achieve greater
economic benefits, we need to capture tourism demand including trips with overnight stays. The areas around theMiura Peninsula, including Kamakura and Yokosuka, have many tourist attractions. Yokosuka can become a popular
multicultural inbound destination through growing the night market, given that some retailers accept USD as payment.
I think Yokosuka City can achieve its goal of increasing tourists, and we want to contribute to that goal.” (Ishihara)“We want to popularize visits to nearby Mikasa Park and Sarushima, followed by eating at the Ichigo Yokosuka PortMarket. There are also other facilities with value-add potential located near the ocean. We want the area more
attractive for visitors to enjoy a whole day here.” (Takeuchi)

The new tourism asset established in Yokosuka aims to create synergies between agriculture and tourism byintegrating the local region’s attractions into new lifestyles. With the Miura Peninsula as the stage, the challenge
has only just begun.

More Information（*Japanese Only）

Ichigo Yokosuka Port Market*
City Support Yokosuka*
TAKIGAHARA FARM
Farmers Market @UNU*h t t p s:// yo ko s u k a p o r t-m a r ke t .c o mh t t p s://w w w.c s-yo ko s u k a.c o mh t t p s://t a k i g a h a r a f a r m.c o m /e n
h t t p://f a r m e r s m a r ke t s .j p