Masahiko YAMAMOTO（The chairperson, NPO ONBOARD）

“Twiddle Muff” spreading rapidly throughout Japan

Now, the use of “Twiddle Muff” is spreading rapidly in the field of nursing care and medical care in Japan. A volunteer group of housewives give Twiddle Muffs to local facilities, and some hospitals organize their own paid and free production groups.

I actually learned about this Twiddle Muff when I visited the UK in 2016 and brought it back home to introduce it in Japan. I wondered if I could use this cute knitted accessory as a tool to help build an Alzheimer-friendly community. 

Currently, the volunteer groups that produce Twiddle Muffs in Japan are spreading in many cities like Shibuya Ward/Shinjuku Ward/Fuchu City(Tokyo Met.), Sagamihara City(Kanagawa Pref.), Shijonawate City(Osaka Pref.), Ashiya City(Hyogo Pref.), Okayama City(Okayama Pref.), Takamatsu City(Kagawa Pref.), Fukuoka City(Fukuoka Pref.), etc. . Overall, I think there are probably nearly 100 volunteer groups, and there are many people who produce it individually.

【Members of the volunteer group “Mikkii Muff” in Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture】

In Shizuoka Prefecture, students of Prefectural Fugakukan High School produce Twiddle Muffs as club activities and give them to local elderly facilities. Students present them and find out how users actually use  muffs. Kyoko Yamaguchi, who teaches at the school, said, “It maybe the real pleasure of Alzheimers Muff that students deepen their understanding of Alzheimer through community contribution activities and experience and participate in local social resources. It is positioned as a social action by high school students.”

【Students of Fugakukan High School】

3C (Cute, Casual、Contribution) charms

To be honest, I couldn’t expect that Twiddle Muff would attract so much interest in Japan. So why are people interested in Twiddle Muff? I strongly feel that the charm of Twiddle Muff is 3C “Cute”, “Casual ” and “Contribution”. The first reason is that no matter who sees the Twiddle Muff with colorful colors everyone would say “cute!” . In fact, I was 59 years old at the time and I myself was fascinated by this cute appearance. I think the second one is that the structure is simple and easy to knit even for beginners. The third one is that I think this is the most important, but it is that you can make Alzheimer’s people smile with the Twiddle Muff you made. I think that a participatory experience that is different from conventional welfare is stuck in people’s hearts.

Encounter in England

I met Twiddle Muff in Bradford, northern England. At that time, I belonged to the Welfare Culture Corporation, the welfare department of the Asahi Shinbun, the Japanese major newspaper company, and I visited to observe the implementation of the British Alzheimer measures by covering a feature article of the ADI International Conference held in Kyoto in 2017. This town was honored as a dementia-friendly city by the British Alzheimer’s Association in 2016, and we gathered and interviewed the people concerned. At that time, a volunteer man showed me Twiddle Muff.

【I first met Twiddle Muff in Bradford, England (October 2016)】

In England, in addition to Bradford, I visited Plymouth in the southwest and a hospital in London where the interior of the hospital has been renovated into an Alzheimer-friendly design, and everywhere I went, “Do you know this?” And I was shown Twiddle Muff.

Start in Japan with members of “Dan-Dan”

After returning home, I wanted to introduce Twiddle Muff in Japan as soon as possible, but to do so, I had to find a lecturer who would actually make Twiddle Muff. So I talked to the Ninchisho support group “Dan-Dan”, which runs a Ninchisho cafe in Fuchu-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture, which I have been close to for a long time. The members of the group were about 20 retired nurses and housewives, and a few months later, they made dozens of Twiddle Muffs made of fleece material considering the Japanese climate and ease of washing.

【Member of the Ninchisho support group “Dan-Dan(Gradually)”, which produced muffs ahead of it as a volunteer group in Japan (February 2020)】

“Ninchisho Muff” Naming and Mayumi Nose’s instructing workshop

The muffs were ready, but the next thing that bothered me was the naming. Japanese people have no idea what Twiddle Muff is. I named it “Ninchisho Muff” because I thought it would have to convey directly that this cute knitted accessory is related to Ninchisho(Alzheimer).

And in 2019, we asked Mayumi Nose, a professional knit artist who appears on the NHK E-TV program “Suteki ni Handmade(Nicely handmade)”, to be a production instructor and started a Ninchisho muff workshop. Ms. Nose was interested in contributing to society and came up with a knitting diagram that even beginners can easily knit. Since then, Ms. Nose has been the lecturer in the workshop.