Butterfly Table Tennis Signs Regional Revitalization Partnership Agreement with Birthplace Yanai City, Yamaguchi Prefecture
Tamasu Co., Ltd. (Butterfly brand) signed a regional revitalization partnership with its birthplace, Yanai City. They will utilize vacant stores to open 'Machitaku Yanai', a table tennis space.
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- 📰 Published: April 23, 2026 at 20:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 23, 2026 at 11:31
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Tamasu Co., Ltd., which operates the 'Butterfly' brand, has signed a partnership agreement regarding regional revitalization with its birthplace, Yanai City in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The agreement was signed by the city and the company at a ceremony held in Yanai City on Saturday, April 18.
Under the brand philosophy of making the world a happier place through table tennis, our company has been considering activities that contribute to local communities and society by utilizing vacant houses and stores, which are social issues. In this initiative, we will collaborate with Yanai City, with which we have deep ties as our birthplace, and utilize a property located in the city's famous tourist spot, the white-walled townscape, as 'Machitaku Yanai'. We will create a space for table tennis and Butterfly that blends into the elegant townscape and serves as a place of relaxation for many people, thereby engaging in regional revitalization.
[Comment from Kentaro Ihara, Mayor of Yanai City]
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for this partnership agreement and your continuous support. It is deeply meaningful to us that Butterfly, which has grown from the former Yanai Town's 'Tamasu Sporting Goods Store' into a global enterprise, is bringing light to a store in the white-walled townscape.
Beyond simply addressing the issue of vacant houses, we aim to work together so that various interactions connecting this place to the world are born here. We hope that you will continue to lend us your strength for a long time to come, so that this land, this place, and this store will become a sacred place for table tennis lovers and a place cherished by many people.
[Comment from Takako Osawa, President and Representative Director of Tamasu Co., Ltd.]
Under our message 'Open the World ~Making the world a happier place through table tennis~', we believe in the potential of table tennis and are engaging in activities that contribute to society and local communities. We hear that population drain in rural areas is a social issue in Japan, and Yanai City is no exception. We wondered if we could solve these issues with the power of table tennis, and decided to start creating a space where many people can easily enjoy table tennis in Yanai City, our birthplace.
We would be delighted if we could be of service in helping the people of Yanai City connect with each other, and the people of Yanai City connect with people from other regions through table tennis, further enlivening Yanai City.
About Tamasu Co., Ltd.
Headquarters building in Suginami-ku, Tokyo.
It is a comprehensive manufacturer of table tennis equipment founded in 1950 by Hikosuke Tamasu, an All-Japan table tennis champion, with the desire to 'make better table tennis equipment, to create ideal equipment with my own hands.'
In recent years, not limited to manufacturing and selling table tennis equipment, we have been focusing on activities to popularize table tennis under the slogan 'Open the World' to 'make the world a happier place through table tennis', and will serve as the official supplier for the Japanese men's and women's national teams from April 2025.
The brand name Butterfly contains the thought that 'if players are compared to flowers, we want to be the butterflies that serve those flowers.' With its high quality embodying 'Made in Japan', it has spread to 198 countries and regions and is used by more than half of the players participating in the World Table Tennis Championships.
Under the brand philosophy of making the world a happier place through table tennis, our company has been considering activities that contribute to local communities and society by utilizing vacant houses and stores, which are social issues. In this initiative, we will collaborate with Yanai City, with which we have deep ties as our birthplace, and utilize a property located in the city's famous tourist spot, the white-walled townscape, as 'Machitaku Yanai'. We will create a space for table tennis and Butterfly that blends into the elegant townscape and serves as a place of relaxation for many people, thereby engaging in regional revitalization.
[Comment from Kentaro Ihara, Mayor of Yanai City]
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for this partnership agreement and your continuous support. It is deeply meaningful to us that Butterfly, which has grown from the former Yanai Town's 'Tamasu Sporting Goods Store' into a global enterprise, is bringing light to a store in the white-walled townscape.
Beyond simply addressing the issue of vacant houses, we aim to work together so that various interactions connecting this place to the world are born here. We hope that you will continue to lend us your strength for a long time to come, so that this land, this place, and this store will become a sacred place for table tennis lovers and a place cherished by many people.
[Comment from Takako Osawa, President and Representative Director of Tamasu Co., Ltd.]
Under our message 'Open the World ~Making the world a happier place through table tennis~', we believe in the potential of table tennis and are engaging in activities that contribute to society and local communities. We hear that population drain in rural areas is a social issue in Japan, and Yanai City is no exception. We wondered if we could solve these issues with the power of table tennis, and decided to start creating a space where many people can easily enjoy table tennis in Yanai City, our birthplace.
We would be delighted if we could be of service in helping the people of Yanai City connect with each other, and the people of Yanai City connect with people from other regions through table tennis, further enlivening Yanai City.
About Tamasu Co., Ltd.
Headquarters building in Suginami-ku, Tokyo.
It is a comprehensive manufacturer of table tennis equipment founded in 1950 by Hikosuke Tamasu, an All-Japan table tennis champion, with the desire to 'make better table tennis equipment, to create ideal equipment with my own hands.'
In recent years, not limited to manufacturing and selling table tennis equipment, we have been focusing on activities to popularize table tennis under the slogan 'Open the World' to 'make the world a happier place through table tennis', and will serve as the official supplier for the Japanese men's and women's national teams from April 2025.
The brand name Butterfly contains the thought that 'if players are compared to flowers, we want to be the butterflies that serve those flowers.' With its high quality embodying 'Made in Japan', it has spread to 198 countries and regions and is used by more than half of the players participating in the World Table Tennis Championships.