JAPAN TIMES



 

KOBE – A bakery and cafe company in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, is working to improve the wages of people with disabilities by offering knowhow on product development and sales of sweets.

Esquerre developed and started selling this spring Imoma:ru, buns with sweet potato paste filling. Sweet potatoes are cultivated and processed by workers at a welfare facility for people with disabilities in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, made into a paste at a factory in Kobe and then stuffed into buns at another welfare facility in Nishinomiya.

Takao Misawa, 55, who heads Esquerre, said it had been difficult for the facilities to sell products they made because they didn’t have the knowhow on product development and marketing. “They also tend to purchase machinery at the seller’s price, putting them at a disadvantage,” Misawa said.

There is a system under the law to let people with disabilities who have difficulty working at firms work part time without employment contracts, but the average monthly wage for such people is as low as ¥15,000, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

Misawa said he hopes to make the project feasible so people with disabilities will be given legal minimum wages and make a living on their own in the future.

The buns are sold online at ¥120 per piece.