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Shop selling shark products hoping to revive tsunami-hit Japan city
Sharks, a store that sells products made from sharkskin, was opened after tsunami in 2011.
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Blue shark in South Africa. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he owner of a shop specializing in products made from sharkskin hopes it will help revitalize a northeastern Japanese city devastated by tsunami and fire in March 2011 following a powerful earthquake.
Makiko Kumagai, 58, opened the store "Sharks" in a make-shift shopping district in her hometown of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, in November that year after her home was washed away and the sharkskin processing company she worked for was destroyed.
The store, which sells colorful sharkskin goods such as wallets and bags, moved to its current location after relocations within the city following the closure of the shopping site.
"Kesennuma is all about sharks," Kumagai said. "I would like to promote this distinctive aspect through my store and revitalize the city."
The city is the leading hunter of sharks in Japan and is known for utilizing a whole shark without wasting any parts, amid growing criticism of shark fishing by environmentalists.
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The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry caps the annual quota of blue sharks and shortfin mako sharks landed at Kesennuma port and reports their hauls to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission which manages stocks of sharks in certain areas of the Pacific.
The hides of blue sharks landed at Kesennuma port are tanned at a factory in Tochigi Prefecture before they are processed into leather products in Kesennuma and Tokyo.
Kumagai's store has also been developing original merchandise, with a key case that looks like a shark's mouth, produced at the request of a customer from Yokohama, south of Tokyo, proving to be a popular item.
"I think I've found my calling," Kumagai said, referring to her work and the store. "Someday, I'd like to open a workshop in the store and hire local people. I'd like to give something back to my hometown that I dearly love."
