Article by: yana

Nonowa - a signing store is a store in which the first language is sign language.

Starbucks opened a new store in a building directly connected to Kunitachi Station in June last year. Sixteen of the 22 employees are deaf, but all are in the customer service business.
It is a permanent store that is positioned as the mainstay of the area around the station, not for a limited time.
In mid-March, 80% of the seats were occupied in the store at noon.
At the cashier counter, point to the menu written on the "pointing menu" and tell them the size of the coffee, whether it is hot or iced, and so on. If there is something you can't say or explain, you can write it on the tablet device with an electronic pen.
At the Kunitachi store, various ideas have been tried, so that hearing-impaired people can work easily and customers will not be confused.
For example, a digital watch worn by all baristas informs the timing of coffee bean replacement by vibration instead of sound. The order number is written on the receipt received by the customer. This is to display the number on the digital signage in the store to let you know that your drink is ready.
The nonowa Kunitachi store was created by a group work for hearing-impaired partners, which was opened at the head office in August 2017. After discussing what they wanted to do for each group, all the groups came to the "signing store". A signing store is a store in which the first language is sign language. At that time, Malaysia's first Starbucks signing store was open.
"I was wondering if I could really do it." Ayako Hayashi of the Social Impact Team of the Marketing Headquarters, who was in charge of in-house diversity and inclusion and was involved in the launch of the signing store, says.

For people with hearing impairments, it is difficult to serve customers. Kohei Nomura, who works at the nonowa national store, recalls, "There are many people who don't know that I can't hear, so it's difficult for them to communicate smoothly and some customers get angry while being served." Some people don't write even if they are given a writing board.
There is also the frustration of not being able to read the movement of the mouth of the visitor because everyone is wearing a mask due to the corona.
Looking at Japanese companies as a whole, the employment of people with disabilities is difficult. In March, the country raised the statutory employment rate, which requires more than a certain percentage of workers to hire people with disabilities. Private companies rose 0.1 points to 2.3%. Companies that are obliged to hire one person with a disability have expanded from more than 45.5 employees to more than 43.5 employees.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, as of June 1, 2020, the number of employees in companies was 578,292, increasing for the 17th consecutive year. However, only 48.6% of companies have achieved the statutory employment rate.
By the way, the employment rate of people with disabilities at Starbucks Coffee Japan is 3.15%. The number of visits from companies and local governments has increased, as they want to refer to the nonowa national store, which is the “front line of diversity”.
The nonowa national store will celebrate its first anniversary in June. Over the past year, it has become widely known in the region and is visited by a wide variety of people. People in wheelchairs, the elderly, and "dyslexic" people who have difficulty reading and writing. "We are proud to have a store in a national city that values ​​diversity." Says the store manager, Mr. Ito.

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