STAY HUMAN
When I think about the seven years that have passed, I feel deeply grateful that JIYUCHO has continued to exist as a place and retain the shape of a shop. That it has somehow sustained itself as a business. That we have opened another shop and welcomed more people to work with us. Most of all, I am very happy that we have made it through another year together, everyone a little healthier than the year before.
Today, fifteen people work with us.
Some have left for reasons of their own. Their departure has sometimes led us to people we might otherwise never have met. Through all these turns of fate, we have arrived at this number.
We each have our own roles. Every one of us is an irreplaceable human being with a will and an awareness of our own. Because of that, mistakes and struggles arise every day. Still, little by little, we continue improving the care and skill with which we do our work. Work formed from the sum of so many tasks that never existed in this world before.
When something we do ends up causing sadness to a customer, or leaves us with something we cannot help but regret, we take each instance to heart. We allow ourselves to truly receive that sadness too.
Then we look directly at what went wrong. We address it so that no one else will ever have to experience the same sadness. We grow not only as individuals, but together as all of us.
The way we happily welcome those who come to us. The way we grieve and struggle when something goes wrong. The way we sincerely try to communicate through words even when the air around us feels heavy. The familiar way we laugh together over the most ordinary things.
Every one of these moments comes together, overlaps and carries into the next. In their accumulation, they form the way we carry ourselves and gradually shape who we will become.
Perhaps we will never be perfect. Still, we will continue striving for perfection.
Perhaps our work will never be complete. Still, we will continue working towards completion.
We will not take on something new simply because it is all right to fail. We will continue taking on new challenges while sincerely hoping never to make another mistake. And when we do fail, I hope we will always have hearts capable of feeling true regret.
As we move forward, I hope we will never weigh the thousands and tens of thousands of people who have found joy through us against each individual who has felt sorrow because of us. I hope we will never compare one with the other through numbers, but continue to grow by allowing ourselves to be moved by every joy and every sorrow.
We are turning work that did not exist before into work we can be glad exists in this world. We are turning ways of living that did not exist before into something we can be glad now exists.
Little by little, we are helping guide the world in a better direction. Cultivating it in our own way.
Another year passed along that path. We lived an irreplaceable year filled with joy, anger, sorrow and delight. That fact makes me deeply happy.
The world shifts. Society changes. Rumours never cease. Trends and talking points keep rushing past. Still, we remain here.
We bring together hope and kindness. We dream of a world where each of us can live true to ourselves. We savour our honest feelings and the days we are given. We walk towards where hope shines.
In the coming year, I hope we can continue growing older together, greeting all the newness we cannot yet imagine with a warm hello.
Thank you so very much for our seventh year.
Once again, it was a year in which all of us kept working to improve so many things. Our days overflowed with joy, anger, sorrow and delight, and with the fullness of being human.
We made many mistakes too. Not one of them was made because we thought it was all right to fail. That is precisely why they left us with regret and reflection. We will carry those lessons into our eighth year.
One step at a time, we will keep learning through trial and error together. With hope in our hearts, we will stay human and continue nurturing culture.
As we walk into another summer, autumn, winter and spring, we would be so glad to have you with us.
If you would like, come walk beside us.
