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COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Disaster and Emergency Medicine
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1414480
This article is part of the Research Topic Climate Change, Natural Resources, and Human Security in Governance and Society: Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Strategies View all 3 articles

Community Resilience through Partnership after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Cooking Classes by Iwate Co-op and a Food Company

Provisionally accepted
Naomi Ito Naomi Ito 1*Kayoko Konno Kayoko Konno 2Kumiko Nozaki Kumiko Nozaki 3Kumiko Fukushi Kumiko Fukushi 3Kasumi Kanno Kasumi Kanno 3Hiromi Kawamura Hiromi Kawamura 3Yayoi Nakamura Yayoi Nakamura 3Mikio Yamada Mikio Yamada 4Ai Kuroda Ai Kuroda 5Toshiya Kuchii Toshiya Kuchii 6Yuri Kinoshita Yuri Kinoshita 7Teru Nabetani Teru Nabetani 8Yoshiharu Fukuda Yoshiharu Fukuda 5
  • 1 Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
  • 2 Co-op, Iwate, Japan
  • 3 Other, Iwate, Japan
  • 4 The Ajinomoto Foundation, Tokyo, Japan
  • 5 Teikyo University, Itabashi, Tōkyō, Japan
  • 6 Other, Tokyo, Japan
  • 7 Tohoku Seikatsu Bunka College, Sendai, Japan
  • 8 Kurume University, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: This case study aimed to demonstrate how cooking class activities held in collaboration with the Ajinomoto Foundation (TAF) and a consumer cooperative after the Great East Japan Earthquake contributed to the resilience of the affected community. Methods: With reference to the logic model, evaluation indicators for the case study were established. We focused on the Iwate Seikatsu Kyodo Kumiai (Iwate Co-op). We organized 120 continuation cases out of the eight-and-ahalf-year activity records of the project owned by TAF (April 2012 to March 2020). The Iwate Co-op was one of the 120 continuing cases and had special features, including awareness that its members were responsible for the community. Results: The collaboration revealed three effects. First, owing to the encounter and collaboration with TAF, the cooking class was continuously conducted even after TAF withdrew from the disaster-affected areas. Second, the Iwate Co-op trained some of its members as food support staff to run the cooking class independently and was actively involved in obtaining the necessary budget for the operation, consequently leading to the independent activation of member activities. Third, they developed a cooking class project in inland areas other than disaster-stricken areas, assuming that they could incorporate the project into their existing activities, as food problems affected people beyond disaster victims. Conclusion: The collaborative food support project of the Iwate Co-op and TAF contributed to the resilience of the affected people and communities by strengthening bonds and solidarity among residents and organizations. The key to success was the fusion of a traditional sense of independence in the co-op with TAF's mission and technical know-how. The partnership between the Iwate Co-op and TAF allowed the former to aim towards developing food support activities in the affected areas, accelerating the resilience of the community in the Iwate Prefecture.

    Keywords: Great East Japan Earthquake, cooking class activities, Ajinomoto Foundation, Iwate Co-op, Community resilience, Post-disaster

    Received: 09 Apr 2024; Accepted: 15 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ito, Konno, Nozaki, Fukushi, Kanno, Kawamura, Nakamura, Yamada, Kuroda, Kuchii, Kinoshita, Nabetani and Fukuda. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Naomi Ito, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.