Comachiplus is a non-profit organization, found in 2012. We operate a “community café” called “Comachi Café” and “Coyorido Cafe”. It is a café which focuses on the social problem of mothers who are deeply isolated in the Japanese society.
【Problem we face in Japan】
In Japan, 77% of mothers thought that they were or on the edge of postpartum depression, where only 4.6% diagnosed as so. I was one of the mothers who I did not recognize myself as being in depression, but was having a great hardship. One pregnant/baby mothers commit suicide per year- and you can see how this is a hidden issue and a critical one. So, here is the question- “How can a mother in isolation, get the support they really need?” This is difficult for two reasons- one is because of the social pressures where people think “Everyone can do it, why can’t you?”. Another is that you have no or less social connections with the society, or past friends or colleagues since their lifestyles are so different, you rarely have no one to talk about your difficulties. And now, 70% of mothers in Japan say they feel isolated after COVID-19.
【What We have Been Doing in 10 years】
We strongly believe non-profit community-based cafés are most effective to solve this, since cafes are safe havens you can go to without recognizing you need help. So, We have been running a café called “Comachi-Café” and “Coyorido-Café” in Yokohama, Japan, for 12years with 50 staffs and over 300 volunteers in my organization. This café is unique for 3 reasons, one is that we have been sending free baby gifts to the baby’s homes from the community, so that they can feel that they are welcomed, and secondly, that we have volunteers to cuddle/play with the babies so that parents can eat meals while it is hot, with both hands. Thirdly, we have 40 events a month, for mothers to spend time as the person she is, not as a role of mothers/wives, and gain back their confidence, meet and build trust to people-which is an important recovery process and empowerment for them.
We are one of the few non-profit cafés who have paid workers in Japan, therefore we have many people visit all over from Japan to make this “community café” on their own. We have been delivering our programs for people who want to start such cafes to over 100 people since 2018, all over Japan. Also we started to make ecosystem for 100 people in Japan in 10 areas total since 2023, with the fund from crowdfunding of 2 million yen.
Our dream is to have a café in every single neighborhood where needed, in the walking distance, so that all parents have a community to raise a child- and this is exactly what we needed when we started.
【Details about our cafes】
Our acitiviteis are run by 50 staffs and 300 volunteers, ages from 10s to 60s. In our cafes, On week-days, there is always a volunteer to look after the babies and children. Café provides healthy lunches and desserts with no flour, no eggs, and with no dairy products, and with no white sugar, and with no meat, so that people with any beliefs or likes in food or with allergy can enjoy the same meals together.
The open-hours are from 10am -17 pm, Monday to Saturday, lunch hours from 11am-14pm, and due to the capacity of the space and the tables are often fully booked, it is better to make reservation.
Comachicafe official instagram (@comachi_cafe)
Coyoridocafe official instragram(@coyorido_cafe/)
For reservation in English- contact us here https://comachiplus.org/contact/
Everyone is welcome, of any age, sex, nor the status of child-raising, and would be grateful if you could enjoy the laughter and the crying of the babies and children in the café, and having warm words to the mothers with us in the café.
Except for this café, our organization runs an information center for child-raising, with over 10,000 visitors per year, and we also run seminars and workshops for starting community cafes.
Also, we serve as an innovation center, matching the needs of mothers and the resources of private and public sectors. For example, in March of 2017, we released a Japan first-diaper vending machine with 2 companies, which has diapers and drinks in the same machine, now spreading over few hundreds all over Japan.
For More Info, See our Youtube with English Subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTulIqKkCiE