Mone house's Hand-Printed T-shirts, Each Made with Care

The creator of the "Yubari Melon Logo T-shirt" is Motoyo Sugawara of mone house.

At mone house, they create and sell a variety of products, including T-shirts, with the hope that people will add different sensibilities to their daily lives and cherish their individual sense of "like."

The charm of mone house's T-shirts lies in the warm texture of being hand-printed one by one using silk-screening. The cute designs and impressive color schemes are also very appealing, making you want to collect different designs or wear them with your whole family.

We spoke with Ms. Sugawara, who aims to create a new image of the town and a connection to it through her T-shirts.

"Changing Yubari's Image" with a T-shirt

Ms. Sugawara says she has always been fascinated by how clothing can dramatically change a person's impression. She has long wanted to create T-shirts for her hometown of Yubari to 'change its image.'

"The theme of 'changing Yubari's image' has always been on my mind. When I thought about promoting Yubari, I realized that a T-shirt can travel far, even overseas. What's more, just by being worn, a T-shirt serves as constant promotion. Even if it's just loungewear, the person wearing it is always carrying Yubari with them, so they might occasionally think of Yubari. In a way, 'Yubari' is always close by."

The Domingo editorial team learned about wonderful Yubari initiatives like "Shimizu Sour" and "Yutetsu-ken" through mone house's T-shirts, so the idea of getting to know a town through a T-shirt really resonates.

She insists on hand-printing the T-shirts because she wants to deliver what she believes is good to people who also think it's good.

"I've outsourced T-shirt printing before, but when I saw the finished product, I thought, 'Ah, this is completely different.' The colors and balance were slightly off from what I had imagined. But I didn't have the money to have it redone, and it was difficult to communicate my vision. I realized that the best way to create exactly what I envision is to hand-print it myself, so I've been doing it for four years."
Currently, all T-shirts for sale are handled by Ms. Sugawara herself, from the graphic design to screen creation and printing.

From Hating Her Hometown to Taking Pride in It

Ms. Sugawara, who is from Yubari, left her hometown after graduating high school and worked as a nursery school teacher in Nara and Kagoshima. What were her feelings toward Yubari back then?

"I lived in Yubari until high school, but I couldn't wait to get out. I thought Hokkaido was boring with nothing but nature. I was the kind of person who would belittle my hometown, saying things like, 'It's just Yubari.'
But when I was working in childcare in Kagoshima, I experienced a huge culture shock seeing how the people of Kagoshima took pride in their own town."

Due to her job, Ms. Sugawara often recalled her life in Yubari while talking with children. This made her wonder, "I've been connected to Yubari from childhood through high school, so why don't I like it? Why do I know so little about Yubari and why the Yubari Melon is so famous?" This moved her to quit her job in Kagoshima and decide to return to Yubari for a while.

The first thing she wanted to know upon returning to Yubari was, "Why are Yubari Melons considered so luxurious?"
Ms. Sugawara says that working for one season as a "demen-san" (a seasonal farm worker) in Yubari Melon cultivation drastically changed many of her values.

"My image of 'agriculture' from the outside was that it was 'tough' and 'hard work.' But once I was on the inside, I saw the veteran ladies working efficiently and powerfully, and heard the words of the part-time farmer, 'Mocchan, farming is like a gamble.' Especially with Yubari Melons, the importance of temperature control and the sight of the farming couple earnestly facing the 'hardship of working with nature' and learning the history of how Yubari Melons came to be, made me think, 'This is something Yubari can be proud of!' At the same time, I truly understood why Yubari Melons are so expensive. That year, after realizing 'there's so much hard work behind these delicious Yubari Melons,' I sent melons to the people in Kagoshima who had taken care of me, along with a photo of the 'cool, hardworking hands of the producers.'"

This was a major event that changed Ms. Sugawara's own perception of her hometown, Yubari. From then on, her perspective broadened to include Yubari's long history and people's feelings for the town. Having experienced this significant shift in her own image of Yubari, she says she came to want to change the image of Yubari for many more people.

"Somehow, I felt a sadness for having said I hated my hometown, and I didn't like that. At the same time, I started thinking that I wished I could do something to change people's perceptions like that."

With a strong interest in design and clothing, Ms. Sugawara left Yubari once more to study design professionally at a school, and then returned to Yubari again.

Opening Up Hand-Printed T-shirts to the World

She says that many people she has built relationships with while living in Yubari have told her the same thing.

"Many people tell me to 'just try it for 10 years,' that it will definitely be more interesting if it lasts for 10 years. I plan to eventually return to childcare, so I'm thinking of continuing T-shirt making while balancing both.
I also want more people to experience 'silk-screening,'" she adds.

She's not just talking about a workshop for visitors, but also preparing to pass it on as a job.

"The place I'm currently renting as a studio is managed by the General Incorporated Association Laplus, which utilizes a former school. In the future, I hope to shape it into something that can become work for Laplus, which focuses on community development through disability welfare services. I've been doing this for four years, and the more I do it, the more I realize its depth. So it will be after I study a bit more, but it's one of the things I want to do."
And her feelings towards Yubari, which she once hated, have also changed dramatically.

"I often think recently that I really love Yubari. And I've come to realize that nature itself is a fascinating environment where no two scenes are ever the same."

View from the studio

With her passionate feelings for Yubari and her proactive attitude, Ms. Sugawara is definitely someone to watch. Keep an eye on mone house's activities and products, updated on their Instagram and website!
Also, the T-shirts are available as a return gift for Yubari City's Furusato Nozei (Hometown Tax Donation Program), so be sure to check them out.