What designers believe is that we always pursue every possible opportunities to explore and broaden our perspective of the relationship between the art, beauty and people. During these 12 days, I definitely went through a whole new experience to redefine how design affects people's behavior. Frankly, before the program, I was insecure about how to produce good-quality design which has enough influences in such a short period of time. However, once the program started, all my concerns had gradually been disappearing. Thanks to DTA team, they organized the program in a very nimble way that helped me to quickly immerse myself into the Tohoku community.

It was never easy for me to image the real situation in Tohoku cities after the tsunami disaster. However, The DTA team arranged several activities to assisted the designers to understand a general picture of the disaster area. In Rikuzentakata city, the instructor explained the urban reconstruction plan at the information center where contains tons of images and texts narrate the entire story before and after the disaster. I was impressed while the instructor told us his new-born baby is a symbol of the future to connect different generations and create the unique bonding in the local community. That was the moment I realized that, as a designer, our mission is creating a bridge between young generations and the local people. Moreover, during the workshop which was hold by Ayumi, I could feel there were lots of pure and vivid energies from the local children, when we made the design work together. Yukino, the girl who likes to play the basketball, was my partner. She told me “I want to come back here after I graduate from the university. Because here is my hometown.” She looked determined and you might forgot the real age she is as a 14 years-old girl who has such strong bonding with her homeland and family. It reminds me, as a designer, how I could make more people to empathize with the local people who identify themselves with the local environment, culture and history.

With the following days, finally, here was the matching dinner with the local company. I was fascinated by the conversation with Kazu San, the owner of Kanema. He is the third-generation owner who specializes in fish purchasing and products. The whole journey began by visiting the early fish market where is the main location for the fish industry in Kesennuma city. Danis, Mai and me followed Kazu San to witness how the fish bidding works and the professional techniques to select the best quality of Bonito (smaill tuna); It's the tradition embedded in Kanema's company philosophy: Once you acquire the ability of Mekiki, you're good to go. "Mekiki" is an artistic concept that describes the professions are able to precisely distinguish the quality of goods in a short period of time. It was also presented at the moment that Kazu San made the decision to purchase a huge tank of Bonito simply based on a piece of fish sample from the same tank. We had substantial lessons with Kanema during three-days homestay in Kasennuma city. Not only knowing how Kanama operates, but also the vision that Kazu san values the relationships between Kanama and the local community.

When I worked with Mai and Danis, I felt both energetic and comfortable at the same time. Mai is a wonderful coordinator who delicately knows the distance between people. She always reminds me of the Japanese culture and how to read the air around. That's why I felt comfortable when I worked around her. Danis is a professional designer who can produce high-quality design efficiently. I enjoy the moment when we discussed the structure of the final presentation. He exactly knew what we needed and approached the target amazingly. Once I knew his design apporacing, I could take another path to different directions and made the proposal as complete as possible. Therefore, I decided to expand a new product line "QuFi" that attempts to arouse the young females to have a new lifestyle of consuming fish products. As a female designer, this is also the fish product I would like to have in my daily life. A design only comes into existence when it becomes designer's' desire. That's why I believe "QuFi" could activize the existing product lines and expand the new markets.

Everything happened so fast in 12 days that I couldn't capture each moment perfectly. However, the most beautiful thing is how people cherish their cultures, nature and relationships. I was so touched to see many local companies are willing to rebuild the system back to the disaster area. This vitality is what I want to maintain and keep when I'm back to Taiwan. Thank you, DTA team, all the designers, Kanema people and everything back in Tohoku. We will eat shoyu soft serve together someday.