Interview with the head of Sakamoto Keiran and the director of Irodori Consultation Support Center
We spoke with Sakamoto Akiyoshi, president and CEO of Sakamoto Keiran Co., Ltd., and Sato Masakazu of Irodori Consultation Support Center about the background to the opening of the Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop and their plans for the future.
Their shared desire to revitalize Mizushima Shopping Street made it happen
Could you tell us how Sakamoto Keiran came to open a direct-sales shop in Mizushima Shopping Street?
Sakamoto (honorific omitted)
Sakamoto Keiran’s head office and factory were in Mizushima, so I had been familiar with Mizushima Shopping Street since I was a child.
As the shopping street, which had been lively when I was young, declined with the arrival of large shopping malls and other changes, I always carried the desire to bring back its former vitality.
In 2020, Sakamoto Keiran opened its first direct-sales shop at the Mizushima head office factory. At the time, we had also considered opening one in Mizushima Shopping Street.
However, due to circumstances, the Mizushima Head Office Factory Direct-Sales Shop, next to the head office factory, became our first location.
But I still wanted to open a direct-sales shop in Mizushima Shopping Street, and had been looking for a property. Then Sato suggested, “Would you consider opening a Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop at Irodori?”
Sato (honorific omitted)
Irodori Consultation Support Center began providing full services in April 2025.
However, a consultation support center is a place people visit when they need support, at the time they need it. Unlike a workshop, for example, people with disabilities are not here all the time.
So although we wanted people in the community to know about us, we couldn’t find a way to make that happen.
As I was wondering what to do, an acquaintance told me, “Sakamoto Keiran is looking for a place to open a direct-sales shop in Mizushima Shopping Street.”
At the neighboring employment transition support center irodori, users have been involved in the entire production process for Sakamoto Keiran’s organic fertilizer, from filling the bags to wrapping them, so we had known about Sakamoto Keiran from the beginning.
If we stocked Sakamoto Keiran products at Irodori, people in the community might feel comfortable stopping by. And while they were here to look at the products, they might start a conversation like, “Actually, someone in my family has a disability…”
Even people who are able-bodied now could become disabled due to illness or injury. That’s why, if a direct-sales shop opened in Mizushima Shopping Street, customers who visited—and people around them with disabilities—might think, “Maybe I’ll talk to Irodori.”
I felt that joining hands with Sakamoto Keiran could open up all kinds of possibilities for Irodori, too, so I asked if they would open a direct-sales shop here.
Sakamoto
After speaking with Sato just once, I immediately thought, “I want to run a direct-sales shop together with these people.”
For us, the direct-sales shop came with many challenges, including rent and labor costs. But using Irodori’s premises helped keep the rent down. And since Irodori staff would also sell the products, labor costs were lower than we had expected.
When I heard that the shop would benefit Irodori as well, preparations to open got underway in no time, and we successfully opened on Monday, April 21, 2025.
A direct-sales shop where the environment Irodori sought and the business environment Sakamoto Keiran sought overlap
Are there any initiatives unique to the Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop that set it apart from Sakamoto Keiran’s other direct-sales shops?
Sakamoto
We don’t have our own employees working as sales staff.
The Mizushima shop is next to our head office factory, so we can replenish products from the factory when stock runs low. The Bisei shop is similarly located in a way that makes inventory management easy.
But the Mizushima Shopping Street shop is a little way from our factory and other facilities, and our staff aren’t stationed there. So we had to figure out inventory management as we went.
Also, since people from outside the company would be selling the products, we changed the register setup to make it simple to operate. Everyone at Irodori is always working with us to figure out how things should be done, and our employees also make a point of stopping by regularly.
We hope to open direct-sales shops in various formats in the future, so I’m encouraged to see our employees working hard to think things through and run this shop themselves.
How does Irodori make use of the Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop?
Sato
Thanks to the Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop being set up inside Irodori, users of the neighboring irodori take turns working the register on Wednesdays, when egg sandwiches arrive once a week.
People come in to shop as usual, and it just so happens that the person at the register has a disability.
This gives people in the community a chance to interact with people with disabilities, and it also gives our users customer-service training. Having Sakamoto Keiran’s direct-sales shop inside our facility is extremely valuable to us as a welfare service provider.
When employment training takes place only inside a facility, it tends to become a simulation. But at the neighboring Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop, real customers come in, which is a major benefit for our users. Sakamoto Keiran also saves on labor costs, so it really is a win-win relationship.
A shop that showcases a company’s products × employment training for people with disabilities could be a replicable initiative for other shops and employment support facilities for people with disabilities.
Sakamoto
There still aren’t many places that run shops in partnership with welfare service providers like this, are there?
I like initiatives that are “not something people are doing much yet”, so I’m excited about it for that reason, too.
A direct-sales shop that serves as a catalyst for business, welfare, and community development to come together
What kind of response have you had from customers?
Sato
Many of us—including people seeking consultations, people with disabilities, and Irodori staff—are fans of Sakamoto Keiran.
Many people are tired after a consultation, so it’s nice to be able to buy something to go with a meal here.
Also, eggs are a necessity, aren’t they?
So the shop has become a place where our staff can pick up groceries, too, and many repeat customers come to buy eggs about once a week.
I think that for repeat customers, the fact that there’s a consultation support center in Mizushima Shopping Street and that people with disabilities serve customers for the egg sandwiches will become ordinary.
It would be wonderful if, as this becomes ordinary, the fact that people with disabilities live in Mizushima became a natural part of the community’s everyday landscape.
And I’d be happy if that, in turn, became part of what makes Mizushima appealing.
Sakamoto
At first, perhaps because not many people knew about us, there weren’t many visitors. But Mizushima has strong communities around individual shops, so we ask shops we’ve become friendly with to display our shop cards.
Then regular customers of those shops come to the Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop. We’re grateful. It feels like our customer base is gradually growing this way.
Also, the Mizushima Head Office Factory Direct-Sales Shop was a little far from town, so opening in the shopping street has brought in many more local residents.
How would you like to make use of the Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop going forward?
Sakamoto
When we opened the Mizushima Head Office Factory Direct-Sales Shop in 2020, I was shocked to find that people in town didn’t know our company existed. Even people at the factory behind us didn’t know about us.
That made me realize how little effort we had put into promotion, and I was frustrated.
Now we’re creating panels that tell people how Sakamoto Keiran has been involved with the town of Mizushima, and actively collaborating with local businesses and others.
Through this Mizushima Head Office Factory Direct-Sales Shop, I want even more people to learn about Sakamoto Keiran’s eggs and egg products.
Please come by and try our delicious eggs.
Sato
We’re involved in employment support for people with disabilities.
What we keep in mind is that they will inevitably become connected with society.
In that sense, we’re interested in community development.
We want to keep this Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop going so that it can become a place and a symbol that brings business, welfare, and community development together.
Do you have a message for our readers?
Sakamoto
At all our direct-sales shops, including the Mizushima Shopping Street shop, many customers first come to buy an egg sandwich, then return saying, “The eggs were delicious!” On their second visit or later, they buy eggs to take home.
Some people may feel our prices are high compared with supermarkets, but we produce delicious eggs using carefully selected feed, so please give them a try.
Sato
Sakamoto Keiran’s eggs are truly delicious, and I hope you’ll try them.
At the same time, there’s a welfare service facility for people with disabilities in Mizushima Shopping Street, and some of the sales staff serving customers have disabilities. I hope you’ll enjoy this part of the town’s everyday landscape.
From the Writer
What struck me during the interview was that neither of them once used the phrase “because people with disabilities are working hard” as a preface.
For the Wednesday egg sandwich sales involving people with disabilities, they made adjustments such as simplifying the register process and avoiding complicated sales methods like selling items in sets.
But they see these as means of enabling Sakamoto Keiran to try running direct-sales shops without employees permanently stationed there in the future, and as reasonable accommodations that take into account the possibility of people with various backgrounds working there.
It was striking to see Sakamoto and Sato passionately discussing the future of the direct-sales shop as business partners on an equal footing.
Starting with the Sakamoto Keiran Mizushima Shopping Street direct-sales shop, I hope that scenes of people with and without disabilities living together will become even more commonplace than they are today.
Sakamoto Keiran Mizushima Shopping Street Direct Sales Outlet Information
| Name | Sakamoto Keiran Mizushima Shopping Street Direct Sales Outlet |
|---|---|
| Address | 1-24 Mizushima Nishisakaemachi, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | 086-454-5700 |
| Parking | None Use of nearby paid parking is recommended |
| Business hours | 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. |
| Closed | Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays Sometimes open on Saturdays |
| Payment methods |
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| Website | Sakamoto Keiran |
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