Togoshi is a quiet neighborhood. Although half of the shops are shuttered, there’s some foot traffic along the Miyakawa shopping street, and a few cyclists whizzing through with bikes full of groceries and small children. Recently, some signs of entrepreneurship are beginning to stir, including a small shop called Okomeya, which literally means “rice store.”

The business was conceptualized by Atsuo Otsuka, who runs Owan, a small branding and design firm in the neighborhood. Saddened by his local neighborhood’s decline, he started Okomeya with an eye to revitalizing the area. “My grandparents lived in Togoshi, but after they passed, their house was vacant. That’s where my office—and Okomeya—began.”

Otsuka is interested in selling not only rice, but rice-based products too. “The rice sold at Okomeya is the Koshihikari variety from Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture, grown by my relatives,” says Otsuka. “There, farmers are exploring new applications for rice. Things like makeup, accessories, iPhone cases and brown rice coffee.”

Atsushi Kabasawa, who sells fermented rice products out of the shop, heralds Otsuka’s efforts to make Togoshi a little livelier. “Togoshi was a shuttered town, so how do we open the shutters?” he says. “That was the thought process at the beginning.”

Okomeya
4-8-6 Togoshi
Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo 142-0041