FINDINGNEWVALUE
IN FUKUSHIMA’S DORMANT RESOURCES
Business trips took KOBAYASHI Miai to Fukushima, where she encountered bountiful nature and lifestyles thatchanged her perceptions and led her to become an entrepreneur. There, she devised a way to distribute so-called
substandard fruit, then developed a femtech (female-technology) product using kaki (Asian persimmon) peels thatare normally discarded. Dormant local resources came to life through her magic, linking urban and rural areas andpointing to a future in which society shares its wealth.
“It was a tingly feeling—the kind
you get when you meet someone
you want to spend the rest of yourlife with. In any case, it felt likehome.” That is how KOBAYASHI
Miai describes her encounter withKunimi, a small town of around
9,000 in Fukushima Prefecture,
where she launched a startup
called “Hitobito”—a name thatcombines the Japanese words
for “sun” (hi), “and” (to) and“people” (hito, sequentially voiced
as bito). Kunimi Town is a placeof fruit growers who welcomed
Kobayashi with open arms,
leading her to establish a businessbased on agricultural producethat is normally discarded.
Kobayashi was once a gungho career woman in Tokyo.
Harboring a strong desire toserve society, her first job after
graduating from college was atthe House of Representatives
ResearchBureau,
which
undertakes the research anddocument preparation needed
for legislation in the lower houseof the Japanese National Diet.
In March 2011, toward the endof her first year with the bureau,a giant earthquake (officiallytermed the Great East JapanEarthquake) struck the northeastof the country. She then tooka leave of absence to engage involunteer rubble-clearing workin post-disaster Tohoku (a hardhit region in northern Japan), but
collapsed from exhaustion andbecame painfully aware that theonly way to be of any use to theregion was to “do something [sheis] really good at.”Four years later, Kobayashi
switched careers and started
working for a consulting firm,
where she could assist regional
businesses on the ground in finding
solutions. She actively began

The people of Kunimi say that “work means
working for the family” and that “children aren’t
supposed to be raised; they grow up naturally.”
Such words motivated Kobayashi to rethink her
own ideas about work and life.

volunteering for jobs involving
post-disaster reconstruction in
the devastated areas of Fukushima
Prefecture. Visiting the prefecture
on a regular basis, she eventually
decided to launch her own
business. “I can do more for
Fukushima,” she reasoned. “I cando something the region reallyneeds, on my own initiative.” She
was confident in the skills that
she had gained through her workwith the government and theconsulting firm.
The place that she chose was
Kunimi, a town where she felt
at home. She spoke with thefarmers there to learn about
their problems, and began byfocusing on the distribution ofpeaches, a major product of theregion. Ordinary distributors do

Kaki peels are said to contain substanceswith excellent deodorizing andmoisturizing qualities. Although they arenormally discarded during the anpo-gaki
production process, Hitobito has usedthem to develop feminine-care products.

The name of the feminine-care products
Kobayashi came up with is “Tomorrow I will
climb a kaki tree.” It exhorts women to live theirlives at their own pace, choosing their own way.

not accept substandard produce:that is, fruit of the wrong size or
shape, or with slightly blemishedskin. Kobayashi bought suchpeaches directly from farmers,
she then devised a system thatmade the fruit available to city
consumers at a reasonable price,
together with messages from theproducers and other pertinent
information. Her next focus wason “anpo-gaki” (luscious semidried persimmons), another wellknown product of Kunimi. The
fruit is peeled before drying, withthe peels normally being thrown
away, but Kobayashi learned
that these peels are endowedwith deodorant and antisepticqualities. She then spent threeyears developing kaki-basedskin-care products for women’s
intimate areas, and successfully
brought them to the market in
January 2020. It was an idea thatcame to her because she herself
had been prone to skin problems
and had irregular periods
whenever she felt emotionally or
physically stressed by her formerly
irregular lifestyle.
The Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry (METI)
recognized Hitobito two years in a
row for a subsidy initiative known
as the Demonstration Project for
Femtech and Similar Support
Services. This autumn, Hitobito isset to launch an “active-learning”
demonstration project aimed atbusiness enterprises, with the goalof removing unconscious biases
regarding women’s minds andbodies. “I think femtech will be thetrump card for achieving diversity
and inclusion,” asserts Kobayashi.

Top: KOBAYASHI Miai now shuttles between
her two bases, Tokyo and Fukushima, sharing
childcare tasks with her husband. She staysbalanced by remaining receptive to the issues
surrounding regional resources and city needs, aswell as to different sets of values.
Bottom: A husband-and-wife team in Kunimi
producing both peaches and anpo-gaki provide
the kaki peels for Hitobito products. Warmhearted and conscientious, they are vital partners
for Kobayashi and Hitobito.

“New femtech products will
give people the chance to learn
together about women’s healthissues, and we plan to focus onawareness-building, letting bothmen and women think more
about their own health.”“We want to build anenvironment in which all womencan cherish the balance of theirown minds and bodies and maketheir own choices,” she adds.
Kobayashi believed in her own
potential and cleared a path for
herself. Her energy is as bright as
the sun and lights the way towarda shining future for women inFukushima and in Japan as awhole.