"Watatsumi", seashell jewelry, officially goes on sales!

The Association of Miyagi Fisheries Cooperative's Women's Group, or FCWG, has developed "Watatsumi", seashell fashion accessories, and officially started selling them.

【"Watatsumi", handcrafted fashion accessories made of abalone young shell】



JEN has worked on helping FCWG resume their activities since Spring 2012.
FCWG, a voluntary organization serving as "fishing community supporters", promotes local production for local consumption, dietary education to children, assistance activities for children of marine accident victims, wearing life jackets and so forth. However FCWG, affected by the disaster, has been facing troubles: its members were forced to leave their home town; it had to give up collecting membership dues and so on, as has made it difficult to continue its efforts. Therefore it had to search for some income-generating opportunities.
Each Watatsumi product is made by hand, being manufactured in small quantities, and so at first the members used events as opportunities to sell their products. Now that they could get production off the ground, they have started selling the products over counter as well as through order. Customers can buy them at "Roman Kaiyuu 21" by the Ishinomaki station, a tourism and commercial museum, and also place orders through fax.




The members use the money from the sale to resume their activities.

【Members are making fashion accessories.】



JEN asked Mr. Yusuke Honda, a metalworking artist from the city of Higashimatsushima who runs a studio called POPPO, to teach the members how to design and make fashion accessories. Raised in the sea and living with the sea, the female members, who are generous-hearted but resilient, put their prayers for the tsunami victims into their products' name "Watatsumi(the god of the sea that appears in Japanese mythology)"

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