Me and Kobe Shimbun Kaikan (Special Edition) - 70 years together, committed to the place where it was founded.

Founded 70 years ago in the former Kobe Shimbun Kaikan and the underground Shumi-gai (now M Kitchen), they worked together through the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. We interviewed three business owners who returned to Mint Kobe after the reconstruction of the building about the time of its founding and its 70-year history.

 

Founded on the 3rd basement floor, a pioneer in the industry / Adhering to a hands-on approach

Tsutomu Ishihara, 81, Chairman of Ishihara Amenitech

Founded by Tsutomu's father Takuro, Ishihara Shokai was originally established in May 1956 in a 13-square-meter space on the third basement floor of the former Kobe Shimbun Kaikan, which had just been completed, next to a coal storage facility for boilers.

He was a janitor at the former Kobe Shimbun Kaikan, but he was also in charge of building repairs, repairing doorknobs, welding, carpentry, and any other work related to building upkeep. At the time, building maintenance was still a rarity, and he was a pioneer in the industry.

Takuro, the founder of the company, attended Kobe First Middle School (now Kobe High School) and Kyoto Imperial University before becoming a teacher. However, the shipbuilding industry went bankrupt due to the shipbuilding recession, and he turned his attention to the building maintenance business as a new type of business. The company grew rapidly, and Takuro served as president of the industry association.

Tsutomu is Takuro's third son and was engaged in the company on a part-time basis while studying mechanical engineering at Doshisha University. He joined the company in 1966 after Takuro's health failed and he dropped out of school. He has always put the work site first and has become well versed in the actual work site. He once retrieved a cigarette butt that had been thrown down the dust chute and nearly caught fire by climbing into the dust chute. When I went to clean up at a newspaper office, I found a bottle of cigarettes strewn all over the place. When I went to clean up at the newspaper office, I found bottles strewn about and ashtrays full of cigarette butts. My hands were blackened from the ink."

The former Kobe Newspaper Hall was completely destroyed by the earthquake. The company rented a corner of the Kobe University Hospital and secured a building in front of Kobe Station to continue its business. Although 30% of the buildings under long-term contracts were terminated or suspended mid-term, the company focused on protecting the employment of its employees by changing their work locations. At the hospital, employees went beyond their primary duties to help carry water, which is essential for medical care. Then, in 2006, the long-awaited Mint Kobe was completed. He made the decision to return first and moved in one month before the grand opening. This is the place where the company was founded. I was determined to move into this building. He did not want to give up the telephone number he had used when he lived in the building, but returned it to the number he had used before the earthquake after moving in.

 


(Photo) Chairman Tsutomu Ishihara says, "I was particular about the place where the company was founded.

 

 

Sixty years together with the store, "I'll be back" in the face of the earthquake.

Charcoal-grilled chicken Fumi Tomoko Kitagawa, 74

At the urging of her father, who was a government employee, her mother's sister founded the restaurant in 1957. Ms. Kitagawa also started helping out at the store after school when she was 14 years old, and at the age of 25

He took over the store at

The restaurant was in ruins, with dishes scattered all over the place, but miraculously, the sauce jar for the yakitori was safe and sound. The restaurant's owner was encouraged to "stay here. Immediately after the earthquake, a person in charge at the former Kobe Shimbun Kaikan, who was concerned about his immediate financial situation, offered to return the security deposit, but Mr. Kitagawa refused, saying, "I will definitely come back. During the closure, he set up a food stall nearby and sold not only food but also various other goods. Fortunately, the structure of Shumi-gai is safe. Since water and electricity were shared with the hall, air conditioning equipment and an emergency generator were installed above ground, and an electricity room was built in the basement, and business resumed about one year and five months later. While the building was closed again from February 2004 for construction, he worked as a temporary employee of Nishinomiya City and waited for the opening.

Mr. Kitagawa has worked with the restaurant for 60 years. Even when it was hard, I could see the faces of the regulars, and I didn't want to lose the connection with them," he says.

 


(Photo) Tomoko Kitagawa

 

 

Master's curtain is protected by husband and wife, parent and child.

Eel Marutaka Terumi Okada, 89

The eel specialty restaurant Marutaka was founded by Takashi Tanaka, and the previous owner, Hidenobu Okada (passed away in 2024), apprenticed to him and trained him hard. Mr. Okada inherited the secret sauce and started a wholesale eel business in Nada Ward under the trade name Yamashin. However, the store was completely destroyed in the earthquake, and he was rescued four hours later. Fortunately, the secret sauce was safe and well water came to the rescue. He served eels to the victims in a tent and was encouraged by the joy on their faces.

Around that time, the owner of Marutaka, who had succeeded Mr. Tanaka, asked Hidenobu to take over the store. Hidenobu returned to Mint Kobe not under his own name, but under the Marutaka name left by his mentor. His wife Terumi, who supported Eishin, says, "I wanted to preserve the taste and goodwill of Marutaka, which is well known for its delicious and inexpensive food.

Terumi now runs Nada, and her daughter Chie, 61, is the fourth generation to run Marutaka. Terumi says with a smile, "We have regular customers overseas, too, who drop by when they come to Japan.

 


(Photo) Terumi Okada

 

(Completed)