OK: As you said before, one of your selling points is of the friendly grandmother making the yuzu. Does your workforce consist only of older people or are there young people working for you also?

MT: There are about 60 young people working at the factory in sales, processing, and packing.

OK: Presently, there has been a lot of talk concerning gappei (the consolidation of towns and villages into larger cities, mostly for economic gain). If Umaji were to consolidate, the village name would disappear to possibly become Umaji Town. What effect do you think this would have?

MT: The Agricultural Cooperative Association will not consolidate. We haven't thought too much about if the village will consolidate, but even if the present administrative area becomes part of a larger city, I don't think that our business practices will change. Even if we lose the village name, we'll still be selling our product. I don't think that will change, but I can't say with certainty what will happen.