Partnership with Dr. Emi Kiyota and Ibasho

• The Center on Aging was excited to partner with Dr. Emi Kiyota, the founder of Ibasho, which means “a place you can feel like yourself.” It is both a physical place and a mindset in which people of all ages can live in safety, comfort and dignity.

  With input from elders in Japan, Kiyota helped build the first Ibasho project in Japan in 2012 after the devastating tsunami and earthquake that destroyed vast areas of eastern Japan. Out of this tragedy, an elder-created community “hub” emerged where older people could come together for mutual support, socialization and productive hands-on activities. The elders not only had a say in designing the Ibasho, but they were also responsible for operating it on a day to day basis. Eventually they started a cafe, a vegetable garden, a farmers’ market, a ramen noodle shop, a daycare, an evacuation center, and a community resource center. It is a multi-generational space where young and old have the opportunity to intermingle.