Irodori is a company that revived a depopulated, aging town with a 'leaf business'—selling mountain leaves from Kamikatsu, Tokushima, as 'tsumamono' garnishes for Japanese cuisine—under the banner 'anyone can be a star.' In a town that lost its industry when a 1981 cold snap wiped out its mandarins, Tomoji Yokoishi, then an agricultural-co-op employee, saw a young woman customer take home autumn leaves garnishing a dish, saying 'how pretty,' and had a flash: 'let's sell leaves.' Light and easy to handle, leaves were ideal work for the elderly and women. Farmers grow them, the co-op handles ordering and distribution, and Irodori provides market analysis, sales, and an elderly-friendly 'Kamikatsu Information Network'—a three-in-one system. Annual sales are about 260 million yen, about 150 farm households take part, and the average age is around 70. Some grandmothers earn over 10 million yen a year. In this smallest town in Shikoku—1,500 people, an aging rate over 50%—elders work laughing, 'too busy to get sick.' Its medical costs are said to be among the lowest in the prefecture.
●●○ medium
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
Irodori: The 'leaf business,' making a town where grandmothers are the stars. The letter is B; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q3; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
An elderly woman in a depopulated, aging mountain village, who tended to lose both role and income after retirement age. Joining the leaf business, taking orders on a tablet and facing the market, she gained income and purpose and came to say 'this work has no retirement age; I want to stay active until 100' (producer Ms. Nishikage). The benefit appears as the collective of elderly and women producers—average age about 70, about 150 households.
Source nature: P2 Independent (NTT East / reporting). Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- Conceived in 1986, incorporated as a third-sector company in 1999. Elders and women grow and ship tsumamono, with Irodori supporting via market analysis/sales/systems (three-in-one with producers and the co-op). Annual sales about 260 million yen (FY2023), about 150 households, average age about 70, shipping 300-plus varieties year-round. It revived the smallest-population town in Shikoku—1,500 people, an aging rate over 50%.P2 Independent (reporting) / nippon.com
− effects (confirmed)
- No confirmed −.
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- Diversifying eating-out-dependence risk; succession and continuity after the founder's death; developing successors and migrants; verifying transferability to other regions.
A second look
The plus is meaningful work, income and health (low medical costs, prevention of becoming bedridden) for elders and women, and the revival and restored pride of the depopulated region itself (People), with 40 years of history, concrete figures (260 million yen in sales, about 150 households, producers earning over 10 million yen a year), and attention like Newsweek's '100 social entrepreneurs changing the world' and a film adaptation (quality over scale). Caveats: demand relies on eating out at restaurants/izakaya, so it is shock-prone like COVID (2020 fell to 150 million); business succession after the founder's death; conditions specific to Kamikatsu are large, with few successes elsewhere; and the aging of the farmers and successor shortage.
Sources
How to read this assessment
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the story an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q3 | Back to top