根岸あすみ
Kiricafe celebrates its 3rd anniversary!
What we feel now, as kiricafe enters its third year
Trust is something you can’t buy with money.
And we’ve been nurturing the soil for that trust—right here at kiricafe.
Saying hello in the neighborhood.
Knowing more people by name, and calling each other by name.
If this circle grows, small acts of mutual help are born naturally.
That is what we’re aiming for: building real connections in the community.
ストーリー
Our story
Hello! We are NPO Kirigaoka Plat Home.
“Even if you don’t have a particular purpose, you can drop by—and meet someone.”
In 2022, with that hope, we rented an empty shop space.
Kirigaoka is a neighborhood where the population is aging and shrinking—and where many residents have diverse roots, including people from India and other countries.
We wanted to create a place where no one has to carry their “hard times” alone—where we can face life together, with warmth and positivity.
We started with JPY 5 million in funding we received through a Yokohama City community project contest, and we challenged ourselves to cover the remaining costs through crowdfunding.
With encouragement from so many people, Community Café kiricafe was born in this town.
What’s happening at kiricafe
Once kiricafe opened, three years passed in a flash.
And far beyond what we imagined, all kinds of people began to gather here.
Parents raising children
Seniors who have finished their careers
And many residents with overseas roots—including people from India—who live in Kirigaoka
People of different ages and backgrounds come to this café.
One of the most wonderful things about kiricafe is that we can enjoy our differences.
Each person has different strengths, weaknesses, and values.
For example:
Parents raising children are short on time—but they have energy.
Seniors have time—but less physical strength. Instead, they have life experience.
People with overseas roots bring different cultures and customs.
These differences are often seen as “seeds of trouble.”
But for instance, many people from overseas cultures have a strong tradition of gathering and helping one another.
They may carry a sense of reassurance and mutual support that those of us raising children in nuclear families sometimes lack.
Here at kiricafe, these people mix—then, through small moments, they begin to talk naturally.
They meet someone new, experience something new, and laugh together.
Connections are born that cross age and background—this has become kiricafe’s signature.
And kiricafe has many other “specialties,” too.
Homemade food that warms you from the inside
All of our lunches are handmade.
The flavors are gentle and comforting—so much so that some people come every business day just to eat here (really!).
We hope you’ll try it someday, too.
On Mondays, Indian moms will cook delicious spicy dishes for you.
Kiricafe is the organization that originally operated as KIC,
and is now operating under the same corporation. It has been attracting media attention by holding Japanese language classes and planning international exchange events.
We are blessed with an environment where people from many different countries live in the same city, and we want to create a city where people can learn about each other's cultural differences and live comfortably together, without forcing differences in lifestyles on others.
It costs money to run a place.
Right now it's all volunteer-run, but we're collecting donations to keep the place going for a long time to come.
If you think it's good to have "kiricafe" in this town, please help us out.
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