Takamori Town
Nozomi Ono,
Seisuke Kato

General Incorporated Association “TAKAraMORI” was established to push forward the town-making project which uses the vitality of the private sector to the full rather than being led by local administrative organ.

Treasure forest “Takamori” is livened up by the community’s “beloved”

The underlying message of the name TAKAraMORI is that Takamori-machi is full of takara , meaning treasure in Japanese. There are four members working for the townmaking project including Nozomi Ono, the town-making planner and Seisuke Kato, an French cuisine cook. All of them are members of Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad of Takamori-machi. Ono is from Kurume City of Fukuoka Prefecture. She plans and operates Takamori Jikan, a hands-on learning program to revitalize Takamorimachi.
Takamori Jikan consists of local people working as tutors to tell what “everyday life” of Takamori—its culture, food, history and nature—is like through the activities such as trekking, tasting the meat of wild game and cooking dengaku (skewered food glazed with miso paste grilled over a fire).
Seisuke Kato, an french-cuisine cook, is from Kumamoto Prefecture. He mastered the cooking technique through various restaurants in and outside the prefecture before moving over to Takamori by chance. Visitors can enjoy his dishes using local produce full of vegetables at Water Forest, a café much loved by the locals.
“One of the great values of Takamori-machi is the good water. Good water nurtures good vegetables and rice. I grew up in Kumamoto, so the life style and the working style of Takamori fit me.”
“I worked in the severe world of cookery where I could not truly enjoy cooking. I came all the way to Takamori to remember once again that I loved cooking. It is the true honor for a cook to be able to work in this town,” says Kato in a relaxed manner.
“The local housewives come to the café to see him,” says Ono, “because Kato is very popular.”

Interviewed in January, 2017
Writer : Hideko Takahashi / Photographer : Hiroyuki Tamura