Store Selling Specialties of Quake-Hit Ishikawa Opens in Tokyo; Promote Local Attractions ahead of an Extended Section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Bullet Train Line

Jiji Press

12:56 JST, March 10, 2024

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A store that sells food and other specialties and promote culture of Ishikawa Prefecture opened in Tokyo on Saturday, offering about 1,000 items including products from the earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula in the prefecture.

At an opening ceremony for the shop, Yaesu Ishikawa Terrace, in Chuo Ward, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he hopes the store will become a base for supporting the revitalization of areas hit hard by the Jan. 1 quake and other parts of the Hokuriku region.

“I want people all over Japan to support disaster-hit areas by consuming products from Ishikawa,” Hiroshi Hase, governor of the prefecture, said.

The store has a section for supporting the quake-hit Noto region and an eat-in area where customers can enjoy local sake, tea and sweets.

It also offers a concierge service to promote local attractions ahead of the March 16 opening of an extended section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line between Kanazawa Station in Ishikawa and Tsuruga Station in neighboring Fukui Prefecture.

On Saturday, about 500 numbered tickets were distributed to people who came to the shop before the opening.

A company employee, 35, who hails from the Okunoto region in Ishikawa and currently lives in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, bought a ramen noodle product. “Ishikawa has many attractions such as food and sake. I want people to know about that through the store,” he said.

Takao Shimura, a 51-year-old corporate worker in Tokyo, said he visited the store because he wanted to do something for Ishikawa.