niime 百科

Encyclopedia of niime

‘The niime Village Concept’. After Ms Tamaki moved to ‘the Navel of Japan’ located at the foothills of Okanoyama in the Hie district, Nishiwaki City, she aspired to manufacture products from the centre of Japan with an eye towards the global environment. From the beginning, her efforts towards production and ‘The niime Village Concept’ have expanded into a vision of how humanity should thrive.

What is ‘The niime Village’? The concept was officially mentioned on the ‘tamaki niime’ channel last month. During my recent interview with Ms Tamaki, we talked about her vision for ‘The niime Village’, which has been gestating in her mind.

We held the interview in the square of ‘Shop & Lab’. We sat amid the comfortable greenery of Okanoyama. I’d like to share the idea of what ‘The niime Village’ is; from Ms Tamaki’s words and her internal argument.

Tamaki

I don’t raise my voice to appeal to what I want to say, right?

—— You don’t want to just say that.

Tamaki

That’s right. I don’t invite you to follow me, but I sound like I suggesting that if you want to go, why don’t you go there on your own.

—— You prefer not to verbalize…

Tamaki

I would instead ask you to follow your senses.

—— I understand you prefer to depend on ‘senses’.

Tamaki

I think it’s more humane to focus your senses, hearts, and feelings in the same direction. I am not good at writing and have proceeded with my senses without verbalising them for the past fifteen years. In my mind, it makes sense to me, and my ideas are expanding more and more as an extension of them. I feel like I have been clearing problems in front of me one by one and climbing upstairs, but newcomers may not know what I’ve thought, so I think we need some guidelines to make them easier to understand. Because of increasing staff numbers and focusing their awareness, I wrote out ‘the concepts of niime village’ that I could see as far as in my mind. I am glad if they could understand, “ah, I know now what the boss is thinking about!”, and hope it could be a textbook when they need to think about it. And if they don’t understand what I am saying and want to talk to me, I may explain in more detail.

—— I see.

Tamaki

I realised that I haven’t talked to everyone clearly about why I came to think of ‘The niime Village Concept’ and what guided me.

—— For now, you want to talk about ‘The niime Village Concept’, right?

Tamaki

Yeah, in my own way.

—— And after that, you want to see how they react?

Tamaki

Even in my mind, my thoughts are not verbalised. When I put my thoughts out, I may find some differences that I want to change or have conversations with myself to find better ways.

—— You just let the thoughts spill out.

Tamaki

Do you think I should start with the simple things?

—— I think so.

Tamaki

In my vision, we rotate things well, and people living there are all happy and excited, and they are in the condition of being sustainable.

—— I see.

Tamaki

Weaving, having vegetable patches, or what else do we have? …maybe supplying energy… they are all just parts of all.

—— I see.

Tamaki

After all, I think it’s better to have more options. Then you would feel secure and have more possibilities. You could have other options if one way doesn’t work. Even if we have ups and downs individually, it’s okay as long as we turn out well as a whole.

—— Diversity is one way of making a living.

Tamaki

It’s good to have animals and plants with our life, and humans need to give them an excellent environment to support them.

—— I see. There is a harmonious life together there.

Tamaki

It’s good to have an environment for us to be able to satisfy our necessities (clothing, food, homes) all by ourselves, that much talk of condition I can say, but they would ask me what we should do after. (laugh)

—— Ahh, (laugh)

Tamaki

So, I want you to think about that. (laugh) If it were a movie, think about which role you would like to be, I think it would be great if you thought about it and came to the inside of the screen. Not just watching from outside, whether you join to get the leading role or support them behind the screen, which options are various. My idea of ‘The niime Village Concept’ is to find your place and enjoy yourself by using your strengths.

—— I understand what you said about villagers.

Tamaki

Yeah. On the topic of diversity, there are many kinds of animals, and they can all live together with us. Considering how to take care of their animals, it’s better to have various types.

—— I see.

Tamaki

Eating meat or using animal wool, we humans can’t live by ourselves because we have to depend on what animals and plants have. It’s hard to express with words when we think about that. My goal is to make a speech on ‘The niime Village Concept’ within 3 minutes like a ‘Steve Jobs’ presentation.

—— That’s the speech, right?

Tamaki

Yes, eventually.

—— It would be great if you could keep it simple like Jobs.

Tamaki

I hope so. If I could do that, people might understand the fascination of ‘The niime Village’, but I still can’t do it.

—— I have often been hearing the word ‘niime village’ for about five years.

Tamaki

I have been saying that.

—— You haven’t said clearly “this is the ‘niime village'”, but rather it has been exposed as a part of the ‘niime village’, changing its shape like an ameba, right?

Tamaki

That’s right. We have some parts of that.

—— There must have been some people who would ask you, “Ms. village chief, please let us know what your visions are?”

Tamaki

I will reconsider the concepts of living, lifestyle, and the way of working, including myself and the staff.

—— My impression is that the initiative behind developing ‘The niime Village Concept’ was already part of your ideas for the ‘tamaki niime’ brand and manufacturing efforts. Ms Tamaki has basically wished to change society by solving social problems such as gender matters, easy living, and lifestyles. The ‘niime Village Concept’ is just an extension of that.

Tamaki

Yeah…

—— The easiest way to understand ‘The niime Village Concept’ is to compare it with ‘SDGs’.

Tamaki

I think that’s easy to understand.

—— Environmental problems, workplace styles, and gender issues are all included in the goals of 20 members of the United Nations needed to achieve a sustainable world.

Tamaki

I just happened to notice them, right? People may not be aware of them.

—— ….

Tamaki

The people who can notice them can see them, but the people who can’t detect them can’t see them. There are many issues in this world.

—— Yes, you are right. Ms Tamaki, you are a pioneer.

Tamaki

I quickly notice them.

—— You easily recognise issues. I heard your story before; when you were young, you faced barriers of society head-on. Your unique sensitivity may also help to be aware.

Tamaki

I was upset about the common sense of this society. It would depend on ways of people’s life.

—— There must have been Ms Tamaki’s strong desire to change the world. ‘The niime Village’ indicates that.

Tamaki

Ever since I started making shawls, I have been confident in myself. We never know how much demand for shawls we might have unless we actually sell them. We don’t know if they may end up selling only ten pieces or they will need them for a long time. So even though I didn’t know which way I would have, I just had to do it. But the only thing I had was confidence, and I believed in this product.

—— You had confidence.

Tamaki

Having confidence, I can still keep making, that looks like I have been having on my journey to know how many people like my products. I thought many people had the same ideas as I. It’s just like there are people who like my shawls. I don’t know what per cent of people suffer from being frustrated or regretful, but I am sure there are many.

—— Definitely, there are.

Tamaki

I hope I can encourage them, help their lives be more manageable, make them feel easier at work, or give them the motivation to do something. We are happy to exist for them if they could be cheered up with what we could offer. That’s why I am doing it.

—— I see.

Tamaki

Oh, well, the worst case is that no one will understand me, but I’ve convinced myself to do it, so there’s no problem. It’s best for me to be able to encourage so many people. For my mission to have meaning, I believe I always have to seek something.

—— You keep searching for something.

Tamaki

Because we live in a world that is not perfect. We have to go through experiences like being sad and regretful, and I wonder why the earth gets filthy under our social systems or why trash increases. We have many difficulties every day, like why our manufacturing isn’t doing well.

—— I see.

Tamaki

We have today, through the accumulation of efforts, to solve each problem.

tamaki niime’s steps are incomparable in the process of resetting while questioning the obvious and measuring themselves against the contradictions of society.

Tamaki

Well, compared to 15 years ago when we had nothing, it’s much easier for me to live now. All clothing that I wear is what we made with my conviction, and I can eat the food that people made with complete trust. So we really want to be thankful for having an environment which we can make on our own.

—— I see.

Tamaki

But, agricultural chemicals are still in great use, and weeds are killed with pesticides, which is more common. Fifteen years ago, I knew it and would like to have organic cotton and started growing organic vegetables. However, there are still many people who can’t reach that even now, 15 years later. Knowing the earth is harmed, it has not been stopped but done by force of habit. Thinking of such facts, it’s not easy to make the planet better. (laugh)

—— Hmmm.

Tamaki

It is not common in many cases for what I believe and do because it is much better to be absolutely better or become happy. After all, Sakai and I found out after speaking that the people who choose to live based on information have different values.

—— You shouldn’t believe everything you hear…

Tamaki

We have been working by hand rather than just thinking about it for the last 15 years. When we hit on a good idea, we try it first. While doing that, I think about doing more of this, or more of that, and finally, I land on this. We do not make a detailed plan in our head and don’t begin after planning “okay, it’s perfect! Let’s do it”. We instead just try it because it looks good.

—— You build it while you go.

Tamaki

That’s right. We build it as we do it.

—— Not doing after building plans.

Tamaki

That’s right. Because it’s not fun if you make plans.

—— You can create systems. But it’s faster for you to do with your hands than thinking about it. (laugh).

Tamaki

I can’t explain it because I tend to do it with my hands first. I do not see the finished products. For example, I am thinking about a garden in the backyard here, and if I was asked what kind of garden I want, I would say I don’t know yet. I would say, “a pleasant garden, perhaps “. (laugh)

—— Do you have a picture of ‘The niime Village’ in your head?

Tamaki

I have a vague one.

—— Vague?

Tamaki

I have an idea of a collage-like mix of ‘Princess Mononoke’ and ‘Castle in the Sky’ and getting the good parts out of them.

—— ….

Tamaki

But, I can’t draw nor verbalise either, and I am adding some ideas more and more, which seem interesting for ‘The niime Village’.

—— Are you getting rid of some ideas?

Tamaki

Absolutely! I do that a lot, this one looks better, so get rid of that one.

—— (laugh) Oh, you do!

Tamaki

So, you see, I can’t draw it in a rough sketch, but it looks like a dream while sleeping.

—— Don’t you try to wake up to take notes?

Tamaki

No. Not at all. If I don’t remember them, that means I don’t need them.

—— Do you mean that only things you remember are essential?

Tamaki

I think I want to do the most exciting things out of all the ideas.

—— I see.

Tamaki

I feel I am not getting ideas on my own, including ones in my dream.

—— What do you mean?

Tamaki

Including ‘The niime Village Concept’, I feel like someone has been giving or showing me ideas during my sleep.

—— …. Who do you think?

Tamaki

May be my ancestors or messengers from this earth. It feels not a kind of individual request but a general request. That’s why I can’t have any of my personal feelings on this. For example, I am not good at keeping silk warm, hunting, cutting fish, bugs, or being in a dark place. If my life choices are decided by the surroundings I have been raised in, I probably don’t want such things like country life, but I have been receiving such messages, in my dream mostly.

—— Hmmm….

Tamaki

The message doesn’t say specifically, such as, “you should like insects”, but the scene I am in nature just came to my mind.

—— So, you receive the messages in fragments.

Tamaki

I have had them in bits and pieces, and I have one of those times when I happened to meet a person who is excellent in the field, and I could be taught by that person every chance. (laugh) One of them is Mr Yano for ‘earth recycling’.

—— Hmmm.

Tamaki

It doesn’t look like “I went to see them because I wanted to know certain things”, but they appear unexpectedly. Without knowing when I feel like being swept away.

—— Feeling like being swept away?

Tamaki

Yeah, when I was anti-world, I worked hard with so much energy.

—— When you created the shawls?

Tamaki

I used so much energy when I created the shawls, my strong will against opposition by many people, but since we came here, probably when deciding to move here to the ‘Navel of Japan’, I’ve felt we are at the right place.

—— It’s the right place?

Tamaki

I feel this is the right place for me and everyone. I feel like I was called, but that good feeling didn’t come from me.

—— This place called to you?

Tamaki

I feel like this place welcomes me. I make more decisions by feeling comfortable with others perspectives.

—— You feel like you were guided by something?

Tamaki

Yeah, so I feel like having things happening not as an individual. They may be our ancestors, or our staff or something. This may be different from men. You know, guys speak like the main person?

—— They insist “I” after “I”.

Tamaki

Yeah, both good and bad meanings.

—— They speak energetically with the first-person pronoun used.

Tamaki

I don’t know how to say, but it should be okay with, either way, success or failure, yes or no, and right or left as long as you have fun. Failures are experiences that motivate us to take the next step, and we never know pain if we never fail.

—— Since you came here, do you feel settled down and your mind became more neutral?

Tamaki

I don’t know about that.

—— You have started yoga and meditation since you came here, right? You have lived a vegan life for a few years.

Tamaki

I’ve expanded my horizons. I feel I have been bound by the word successful. These are the values within this limited world. I wanted to win in the competitive world, or I worked harder with my anger because I was told that I was just a woman.

—— I see.

Tamaki

I became aware that they don’t matter.

—— You were freed from yourself.

Tamaki

Yeah, I realised that there’s no meaning to fighting over the tiniest things, but more than that, I’ve got to know that there are big things that I need to fight for.

—— At ‘Encyclopedia of niime’, back at the beginning when I interviewed you, we talked about the earth. About the same time, I think I heard the word ‘niime village’.

Tamaki

You are right. It’s about that time.

—— I thought so.

Tamaki

I thought I understood it, but I didn’t. Just for eating meat, the fact was to the contrary. There is so much we don’t know about in this world.

—— Indeed.

Tamaki

We want to know this and that…we will never end it in life. (laugh) But, just one thing I think is as much as you expand your horizons, there’s less chance to make mistakes. We get to know ourselves that we don’t cause trouble to others.

—— ‘niime village’ came to mind when you decided on this place as headquarters and is satisfied with your decision, right?

Tamaki

Yeah.

—— So, I think ‘niime village’ means ‘place’ and ‘villagers’, and also ‘community’.

Tamaki

That’s right.

—— They are not separate. I think they are one in Ms Tamaki.

Tamaki

It started from a question of how Ms Tamaki Niime should be. It grew to how the company, including staff, should be, and then we connected with the community and considered how that should be. When we see the earth on the connecting line, it looks enormous, but the ground we stand on is still a part of the earth. That means it’s the closest existence to us. I was shocked to realise that we should have looked at the planet; first, I felt sorry.

—— Hmmm…

Tamaki

It is also essential to pay attention to our ancestors. We were able to be born because of them. So we must appreciate all our unseen roots. I’ve observed that we are so busy with our daily lives that we don’t have room to think about ancestors and all. But if you could be aware of them, there’s so much difference. That’s what Sakai and I talk about a lot.

—— I see.

Tamaki

Of course it’s essential to work hard and make an effort to get good results, which we should do while we were young. But, when you are on the next stage, you can’t always expect good results even though you worked hard.

—— That’s right.

Tamaki

Having failures and adversaries, when you wonder why you have to live if you have love and appreciation, or some considerable warmth, I think you could crawl up and hang on one more time. Our community could help. We’re looking for a chance … how can we build such opportunity?

—— You have been saying that you want to increase your group members for a long time. You are getting more and more people you can communicate with. You spoke to Mr Sakai about ‘The niime Village Concept’ you sent on the last LINE message.

Tamaki

Yeah, I did. I talked about energy and also self-sufficiency.

—— It means diversity, sharing group values, which doesn’t mean they have all 1 through 10, the same complete thoughts.

Tamaki

No, they don’t. In extreme terms, anything is fine. If we have a movie ‘ niime Village’, we can… oh, here she comes!

Sakai appears with his beloved pet dog, Rimo.

Tamaki

She got her hair cut.

—— Yeah, she got a nice haircut. Well, we are going to have Mr Sakai’s speech about ‘the niime Village Concept’.

Sakai

I don’t have anything particular to talk about.

Tamaki

Why not?

—— (laugh)He would end it.

Tamaki

I already talked all about it but didn’t give any details.

—— Right.

Sakai

But, well, that’s about it.

Tamaki

Yeah…

Sakai

It’s always wrapped around, and we can’t see it very clearly.

Tamaki

Now your turn to talk about ‘The niime Village’ with Mr Sakai’s interpretation.

〈 continued 〉

How does Mr Sakai express ‘The niime Village’, which is different from what Ms Tamaki says? They talk about ‘The niime Village Concept’ closely related to their ideal vision of how ‘tamaki niime’ should be. A free exchange of candid and vigorous conversation will continue next time.

Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.