Cocoro-ya & best pickled cucmber I've ever eaten

This morning first we went to the the Public Health & Welfare office for southern Fukushima. A lady there explain about their job function there and the services they provide for PWDs. That place also provides services for elderly & children.

Next we went to Nagomi-No-Ie (pict below) It's under Cocoron and is a sheltered workshop for Mental Disable. They get contract work there and the place is also used to cook food to be sold at Cocoro-ya. In case you are wondering... Cocoron stands for (Voice of the Heart).

One of the staff showing us the food they cooked to be sold at Cocoro-ya

The kitchen. Small one. No need to have a big one to start a food business. They only need to get a license.
This has got to be the BEST pickled cucumber I've ever tasted. It's pickled in sake husk....the leftovers after sake is produced from the rice.
This is Niko niko ya. A market near town. Many shops in town are closed down due to de-population. So Cocoron together with another group rented this shop and opens it only on thursday to sell fresh products. I bought a pack of sake pickled cucmber here. 350 yen but worth it. Sorry no preservatives is used so I can't keep it and bring it back to Malaysia....Guess I'll have to eat it here.....

Matsuura is happy to see all the fresh veggies.

Next we went to Cocoro-ya. This place is builted by Cocoron but they have to pay rental to the landowner. Only qualified farmers can sell their products here...those who use less chemicals on the veggies. Cocoro-ya has develop quite a reputation for selling quality products.

Nice place!

There's a cafe inside too. That's where we had our lunch. Bento box with plenty of fresh veggies from their farm! I told Keiko that if I eat this everyday I will lose weight! hahahaha Just for your info all the lunch we had are not free, we have to pay for it but it's worth every yen!

Guess what is this? Sake pickled cucumber! I asked the staff at the cafe to help me cut the pack of cucumbers I bought at niko niko ya and asked the others to try! Good food alwiz taste better when you share it! That's my philosophy! oh... the taste of the cucumber.....Can you imagine, the sake infused into the cucumber and when you put it in your mouth the taste of sake fills your entire mouth and combine the crunchiness of the cucumber.....hmmmm

After lunch we went to Cocoron center. There we try our hands at Calligraphy! They have it once a month there and a "sensei" (who is over 80 years old) comes and teach them. It's not a therapy session but just something for the members to do.
The sensei saw my name and asked me to write this 4 letters..."Flower, Bird, Wind, Month" and my name on the side. She wrote a sample for me....guess which one is mine and which one is her's?
Zhou of course has no problem writing chinese but he says calligraphy is different, difficult to write! hahahaha
Nerand trying calligraphy..... not bad... his chinese writing better than mine! Was thinking hmmm maybe Moses (a UV member working in EP. Has autism and non-verbal. ANd he likes to write things on paper) can do this. Maybe it will calm him down and he is able to communicate with us better..........
After that we visited a group home that's just beside Cocoron. About 8 people stays there. Group home is for the members to stay and learn how to live independently. The take turns to clean up, learn how to prepare food and learn how to stay with each other.