Marukuma, a restaurant with a theme of "medicinal cuisine, fermentation, and sake," opened in Muroran City on December 12, 2022. The interior of the restaurant, which was renovated from an old restaurant using DIY methods, is a comfortable space with warm downlights.

It all started with a part-time job on Ishigaki Island

Kanae Fukushima, the owner of the restaurant, says that ever since she was a student, she has been fascinated by the fun and depth of the service industry. What sealed her fate was the famous restaurant "Usagiya" that she came across while working at a resort in Ishigaki Island. While Fukushima was working at Usagiya, a mother and daughter tourist couple came into the restaurant.

Upon hearing more about it, it turns out that the mother had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had only one month left to live, and that the daughter had planned the trip to create some memories. Despite their difficult circumstances, the mother and daughter laughed together as they ate together and left the restaurant happily. Fukushima-san was struck by the importance of "time to eat" in life.

This is how the idea of "not just serving food, but connecting with each and every customer through food and drinks" was born.

Gain more experience and open your own shop!

He initially planned to live on Ishigaki Island for two months, but before he knew it, it had been two years. He then returned to his hometown of Muroran and served as manager of the popular Muroran yakitori restaurant "Isehiro" for five years until March 2022.

Fukushima-san put the feelings he had gained at Usagiya into practice at Isehiro, while also studying medicinal cuisine and obtaining qualifications. When his eldest daughter started elementary school, he left Isehiro and opened the predecessor of the current business, iroha medicinal cuisine rice porridge, and later began operating a pop-up store selling medicinal cuisine rice porridge under the name Marukuma.

They gained experience renting space in commercial facilities and restaurants, and setting up stalls at various events, and steadily gained a fan base, mainly women in their 30s and 40s.

Regular customers from that time have said, "Of course the food is delicious and the medicinal ingredients are appealing, but (Fukushima's) personality and smile are the most attractive," "He has a great ability to charm people, in a good way," and "He always works hard, so it makes me want to work hard too!" and have their hearts firmly captured by him.

And on Monday, December 12th, the long-awaited Marukuma physical store finally opened!

He says that his friend helped him every day with things like setting up the electricity and toilets, and he says with an apologetic look on his face, "I really couldn't survive without the help of the people around me," but we're sure his friend just wanted to open a shop together with Fukushima.