Do you know what miçanga is? It’s like a bracelet knitted of a bundle of thread. People say our wishes would come true when it is broken. This miçanga in a picture above, however, would never be snapped.
Ryo Arahata, the owner of RARA Plus, had kept asking himself “anything I can do?” after the earthquake hit the Tohoku region.

I had been thinking how could I engage in reconstruction support through sports.

It is said that Miçanga was originally born in Brazil by soccer players to pray for win. On the other hand, Arahata makes his products special by knitting ropes used to mend fishing net.

Arahata says,

After the earthquake, an elderly woman was so devastated that walked by the seashore alone. Then she happened to pick up a bunch of fishing net left at the beach. As she started knitting a miçanga with the rope, it caught many attentions from other old women who lived in the same provisional housing. That’s how they get started.

Arahata aims to support people in Tohoku restarting new life. Their miçanga is not just knitted with the finishing net, but hope. It should never be snapped because their products are a symbol of ‘kizuna’ — tight community connection, emotional ties, and circle of support.

Now, the circle is spread to famous soccer players as well.
Shinji Ono and Keisuke Iwata show their support for this project.
What would you make a wish with this miçanga? Whatever it is, this would always remind you of people who make an effort in Tohoku.　
[Via Greenz.jp written by Hitomi Ito]
[English text by Masafumi Kawachi]

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