Chizu Town
Itaru & Mariko Watanabe

“Talmarly” has attracted attention not just for the deliciousness of its homemade natural yeast bread and beer, but also for its written works. “The more bread we make, the better our communities and environment are.” Now, the two of them are currently focusing on sustainable urban development to realize such a world.

“Town development” leading to delicious bread and beer.

Speaking of Talmary, because it became a hot topic for its new perspective on capitalism and economics that it proposed through the works, such as “‘The Rotten Economy’ Found by a Rural Baker” and “Listen to the Voice of Bacteria”, there may be more people who have books in hand before bread. However, at Chizu’s bakery and cafe “Talmarly”, Mariko busily takes orders and Itaru stars at his tablet saying, “Today I’m going to try being a cashier.” This place is the home base of the two people’s challenge to change the world through their “bacteria-oriented” activities.
They started their business in Isumi City, Chiba Prefecture, moved to Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture, and then to Chizu Town, Tottori Prefecture. Furthermore, although they have moved within the town from the Nagi area to the center of Chizu in 2023, each of them had different circumstances, and there were conflicts due to being their “home base”.
“We have been concerned about the rapid depopulation for some time, but we were shocked that the operation of the town’s Circuit bus and taxi ceased in 2022. Chizu Station is because we want our customers to be able to enjoy beer as well as bread,” says Mariko. Of course, Talmarly has many supporters and online store users who regularly order home delivery of bread. Still, as the cafe is an actual store where they can visit, we cannot ignore the issue of serious population decline, including in the surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, in the Chizu area, which has been their living base, they had already developed strong relationships with their friends. Especially, Mariko established the Chizu Yadorigi Council with four female business owners. Activities have also begun to promote long-stay tourism that takes advantage of local resources. These movements also seem to have encouraged the relocation to the Chizu area.
Itaru describes this series of movements as a “revolution from the center of the outlying area” and says: “When I wrote ‘Rotten Economy,’ I truly believed that “a revolution would start from the outlying area.” However, as his practice continued, it became clear that Talmari alone could not bring about a revolution. The world will not change unless local area, people, and immigrants work together to create new industries and create towns where people can live and earn a certain level of respect.”

Interviewed in January, 2024
Writer : Mikiko Tamaki / Photographer : Kenta Sasaki