Founding Day: An Unexpected Reward After 19 Years of Bar Little Happiness
2026.10.05
In short: written on the 19th anniversary of Bar Little Happiness in Hiroshima (founded 13 July 2006). Owner Mika Tanimoto on an unexpected reward: the families of former staff visiting to say their time at the bar had helped them — and what it means that training people only shows its answer years later.
Today is the day Little Happiness was founded.
On 13 July 2006 I started this bar from zero — and before I knew it, 19 years have passed.Between late June this year and today, something a little mysterious happened.
The families of former staff members who once worked at this bar came in — three families in all.
Two of them said something like this to me:“He was still young back then and didn’t understand a lot of things…
but the experience he gained here really seems to be helping him now.”“I’m sure he was cheeky at times, but he says he’s truly glad you let him work here.”
To be honest, I was surprised.
Back then, far from being thanked, I was more often met with resistance —
“Is there any point in saying the same thing over and over again?”
“Is it really getting through?” —
Every night after closing, that was all I could think about.I felt that training people was a job that is hardly ever rewarded.
And yet, the day came when the families around them would thank me like this…!
Each of them had their own background…
and their own shape of happiness…But if their time at Little Happiness helped them even a little —
it felt like an unexpected answer to the me who once gave everything to training them.
You cannot tell right away what the right answer was.
But as time passed, I learned that by being involved, I had added a good influence to someone’s life, however small.
That was a reward beyond anything I had imagined.
Little Happiness has now entered its 20th year.
I am sure there will be many more things ahead that have no quick answers.
But I believe that one day, a day like this will come again.
People’s growth and changes in relationships are things you only understand afterwards.
So from here on, too, I hope to keep adding up each day in front of me with care, without rushing for answers.I have put together the twists and turns up to today here ⇩
[Feature] How the place called Little Happiness came to beEvery encounter is meant to be. Welcome to the world of Rum&Whisky.
Mika Tanimoto, Bar Little Happiness
** The photo was taken at the “Future of Life” pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
These words also touched my heart.
I would like to share them with all of you.
[About the author]
Mika Tanimoto
CEO, Little.m Inc. / Owner-bartender
Since 2006, I have run Bar Little Happiness, a whisky and rum bar in Nagarekawa, Hiroshima. I visit distilleries in Japan and around the world and write about the people who make the spirits. Recipient of the Hiroshima City Excellent Skilled Worker Award.
“Whisky and rum taste even better when you know the hearts of the people who make them.”
[Visit the bar] 📍 Bar Little Happiness
Rolling Nagarekawa 1F, 5-14 Nagarekawa-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Mon–Sat 7:00 pm – 12:30 am / Sun 7:00 pm – 12:00 am (closed when I travel to visit distilleries)
No cover charge, no reservation needed
