This report describes and assesses the experience of Ofunato, Japan, which was devastated by the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. After the GEJE, older people wanted to do something useful to help Ofunato recover. With facilitation by the NGO Ibasho, elders and other community members planned and built the Ibasho Café, which now acts as a hub that is restoring the fabric of a community still badly damaged by the disaster. With elders leading the operation of Ibasho Café, the space is strengthening social capital and resilience, while at the same time changing people’s mindsets about aging.

– 2015 The World Bank