A Tokyo baker, moved by the unfolding disaster in northern Japan, is hiring people who lost their jobs in the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami or accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
A Tokyo baker, moved by the unfolding disaster in northern Japan, is hiring people who lost their jobs in the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami or accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Mitsuo Hirose, 60, who runs Lisdor Mitsu organic bakery in Tokyo's Suginami Ward, has already hired Masaki Yatsuhashi, a baker from Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, and four more people are expected to start soon.
Adding five employees to a workforce of 13 is not financially easy, but Hirose said he's determined to help people harmed by the disaster.
The baker knows firsthand how difficult it is to lose people close to you.
He lost his mother, 84, in September 2010. Two months later, a 54-year-old male employee who had worked for him for 10 years died, and his son, 34, succumbed to a brain tumor on Feb. 27.
Hirose said about a month after each death he was suddenly overwhelmed by grief.
He decided to hire the new workers after seeing news reports of people whose relatives and friends were killed in the March 11 disaster.
"For people who've lost their family members, a sense of grief wells up about a month after the event," he said. "I want to help them move forward so that they can rebuild their lives."
Before the calamity, Yatsuhashi, 39, ran his own bakery, Aljanon.
Although the shop remained largely unscathed, he was forced to leave his community because it is located about 16 kilometers from the embattled plant.
Residents in a 20-km radius have been ordered by the central government to evacuate due to possible radiation exposure.
Yatsuhashi was staying at a relative's home in Chuo Ward in the capital when Hirose asked him if he wanted to work at his bakery.
They became acquainted when Yatsuhashi participated in Hirose's workshop on how to bake bread without additives about eight years ago.
"Honestly, I was so happy," Yatsuhashi said, speaking of Hirose's offer.
Yatsuhashi's main responsibility at Lisdor Mitsu is to mold pastry dough.
He said he was encouraged by Hirose's offer to help him return to Fukushima when the time is right. In the meantime, he is learning everything he can about the intricacies of pastry making, under Hirose's tutelage.
To help more people displaced by the disaster, Hirose offered jobs on his website on April 9.
He received about 20 inquiries.
After conducting interviews, he decided to employ four people from Fukushima and Iwate prefectures, including one who has no baking experience at all.
Two of the hires are expected to start next month.