Iitate Village
Miyuki Ichizawa

“Live with coffee and roasting.”

The roasted coffee house 'Aguri' has resumed business but now has relocated to Fukushima City, 40 km from Iitate Village. Although the coffee shop in Iitate has been closed due to the evacuation after the nuclear disaster, she still considers the Iitate shop to be the main shop and the newly opened shop in Fukushima a branch shop.
“My coffee shop was located in the beautiful village centre with a peaceful view of the mountains. We really appreciated the setting. However, the community which we have been nurturing carefully over many generations was devastated by the disaster.”
The role of the coffee shop was not only to serve a good cup of coffee to the customers, but also to sell local products directly to them. At that time, this method of selling directly was not common as most farmers sold their products to the agricultural cooperative and the producers had no contact with the consumers. However, she thought that having direct contact with consumers and delivering the products directly to them was as important as producing them.　
In 1992, she opened Coffee Shop Aguri selling agricultural products grown by her parents, and since then has contributed greatly to the community. “I thought it would be great if I could create a place where people can rest and socialise”
”Wherever I go, I alway wants to serve good coffee and bake beautiful bread. However, without our community and beautiful scenery of Iitate village, Aguri cannot be perfect.”

Interviewed in February, 2014
Photographer : Hiroyuki Tamura