Ryo Yonehara is the 30-year-old president of Tabi-ji, a Nara-based company making and selling tabi (traditional Japanese split-toe footwear).
Now a thriving enterprise, Yonehara says he came up with the idea for his business while pulling rickshaws around Nara for a couple of years in his late teens. Then, as he showed the ancient city's highlights to foreign tourists, he recalls how he was often asked where they could buy a pair of tabi like the ones he wore.
After doing some market research, including polling a number of foreigners around JR Nara Station, he opened his shop in March 2007. He offers a wide variety of tabi, including a few originally designed lines with plum-flower patterns, and aims to turn what's typically the footwear of construction workers and farmers into a fashion item for young people.