In the summer of 2016, Seina Otsuki and Satoshi Miura traveled from their homes in Miyagi Prefecture to rural Mai Chau in northwestern Vietnam to help the local community develop handy and fashionable products for the Vietnamese market.
Otsuki, now 17, and other teenagers designed earrings using local traditional crafts. Miura, now 18, helped create pen cases made of local cloth that are tied to suction cups so students can attach them to desks or walls.
The products were created in cooperation with Mai Chau-based Hoa Ban Plus, a firm run by women from the Tay minority ethnic group inhabiting the hilly region, and supporting people with disabilities within the group. The firm also promotes traditional crafts.