15 Years On: Fukushima Pass-On-Kindness Initiative Gaining Popularity

Fukushima, March 5 (Jiji Press)–An “otagaisama” pass-on-kindness initiative is gaining popularity years after it was launched in the northeastern Japan city of Fukushima, which accepted many evacuees from coastal municipalities following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear accident. Under the initiative, customers at eateries and other shops purchase tickets to pay on behalf of future customers. The program’s ethos of helping others in times of need has steadily gained support, and the scheme has been introduced at around 130 stores in Japan and abroad. The program was initiated in 2020 at the suggestion of Hirohaku Yoshinari, the late owner of the “BLT Cafe” hamburger shop in Fukushima, the capital of the namesake prefecture. Yoshinari, who had been involved in support programs for children since before the 2011 disaster, introduced tickets that customers could pay for in advance and leave at the store, so that struggling children could use them to order items for free or at low prices. The scheme was created based on the concept of serial reciprocity, in which people who receive kindness pass it on to others rather than repaying the benefactor. Shortly after the initiative began, however, Yoshinari died suddenly at the age of 49 in 2021. Since then, Team Fukushima, a nonprofit organization for which Yoshinari had served as deputy leader, has taken over the task of promoting the program. The late founder said before his death that he wanted to transform Fukushima, which was showered with sympathy after the 2011 disaster, into a community full of gratitude. “It was a shot in the dark at first, but we realized that it was helpful for people in need, so we thought we shouldn’t let (Yoshinari’s) wish fade away,” Team Fukushima chief Shinji Handa, 48, said. Users of the tickets can post messages of thanks inside stores, allowing ticket buyers to confirm that their support has reached others. The initiative also boosts shop sales, as some ticket buyers return to check whether their tickets have been used. The scheme has gradually spread to beauty salons, chiropractic clinics and stationery stores, as well as eateries. A total of 131 shops in the country have joined the program, including a cafe in the city of Nanao in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, which was battered by the January 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. It has also been adopted in Taiwan and Vietnam. “We want to pass on kindness to people outside Fukushima, because they helped us at the time of the (2011) disaster,” Handa said. Team Fukushima plans to publish an English-language book detailing the initiative in the fiscal year starting April. Handa, who wants to spread the scheme outside Japan as well, said he hopes the Japanese word “otagaisama,” or reciprocal support, will become common around the world, like the Japanese word “mottainai,” expressing a feeling of regret over waste, which was promoted at the United Nations by the late Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]