Market HintsInnovations, Marketing and New Business Ideas from Japan

Japanese food maker Haisky Food Corporation has made an announcement to release a unique imitation food made of konnyaku, a jelly-like food made from the starch of konjac.

Image picture by yto via flickr

The imitation food is a liver sashimi called Man-nan Liver. Haisky Food has created the imitation liver in reaction to the recent outbreak of E. coli bacteria in raw meats, which had been served at Japanese barbeque restaurant in Toyama, Japan.

In Japan, there is a culture of eating raw meats and livers of beefs and horses. In fact, raw meat dishes are very popular at Japanese barbeque and Izakaya restaurants.

Since the lethal food poisoning from eating raw beef meats in April, an opinion of administration is leaning towards regulating consumption of raw parts of beef at restaurants. Prefectural government offices are also calling out to general public to refrain from consuming raw meats.

Unlike the real raw liver, Man-nan Liver is perfectly safe to be eaten raw because it is a plant food. Haisky Food have added liver-like color and flavor to the deodorized konnyku made by their original method. They claim that the texture and taste of their imitation liver resemble real beef liver sashimi.

Man-nan Liver will be available for commercial purposes in late August 2011. A package of 20 slices (400 grams) will be sold for 960 yen (about 12 USD).

Haisky Foods has also developed imitation caviar and tuna using the same method. It is already available for sale to restaurants.

The image of Man-nan Liver can be found on Haisky Food Press Release (PDF in Japanese)
The image of other imitation foods are found here.

Haisky Food Corporation (Japanese)
Phone: 087-898-1125
Fax: 087-898-6027
Emal: hishitani(at)haisky.co.jp

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While major beverage manufacturers in Japan have been releasing wines in plastic bottles, Japanese winery, Hakodate Wine is using a unique package to promote their new product.

Image picture by extranoise via flickr

The new product is called Can Do Wine. It is packaged in a can with an illustration, which looks like American comics from 80’s. The 10 oz (300 ml) can comes with a lid and a plastic cup.

According to Japanese beverage manufacturer, Mercian’s report about wine consumptions in 2011 Japan (Japanese), a culture of drinking wine has spread among general Japanese household and wine has been accepted as a choice of alcohol beverage at a dinner table. However, the national consumption of wine in Japan is 1/20 of major wine consumers like France and Italy and 1/4 of United States.

Hakodate Wine has produced this product to get people more familiar with wine drinking. By using pop illustration on a package, they are promoting more casual image of wines. They states “drinking wine should not choose locations. With this wine, people can enjoy drinking wines even in outdoor environments”.

What do you think about their new package? Do you think it will attract non-wine drinkers to grab a can? Tell us your thoughts.

Hakodate Winery Ltd. (Japanese)
Phone: 0138-65-8115
Email: wine(at)hakodatewine.co.jp

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A Japanese seafood distributor in Osaka, Japan is gaining prominence for providing innovative distribution system, which allows small businesses to purchase fresher and cheaper seafood than a traditional distribution network does.

Image picture by laszlo-photo via flickr

At restaurant in Tokyo where fresh seafood dishes are attracting many customers, the chef logs into a Syunzai Coupled Trading System, or SCOUT through his computer and browse through a list of available fishes. He finds ingredients that will be perfect for a tomorrow’s main course and places an order. He can now expect the ingredients to arrive within 24 hours or less.

This system developed by Syunzai, ltd. is interconnected with fish markets all over Japan. Users of SCOUT can see real time data of forecast of today’s catch and fishes at market together with video footages of actual fishes. The videos are taken at the market by local fishermen who use specially made video recording devices. The ordered seafood is packed and shipped via Syunzai’s distribution network and delivered within 24 hours anywhere in Japan. The price of seafood is relatively lower than purchasing through large distributors because buyers are purchasing fishes directly from fishermen.

This system brings benefits to fishermen as well. Traditionally, they were getting rid of fishes with poor catch by either selling at bargain prices or throwing away because large seafood distributors did not purchase small quantities. Now fishermen can sell any catches from 1 fish for a reasonable price through SCOUT.

This is a distribution system, which is born from needs of fishermen who want to sell their catch with more flexibility. It is working effectively because Japanese are huge consumers of seafood and they value fresh fish very much. This system may also be beneficial for other countries with high consumption of seafood.

Syunzai now has several offices in Japan and one branch in Hong Kong.

See the video footage of SCOUT in action. (Japanese)

Syunzai, ltd. (Japanese)
Tel: 06-6386-9992
Fax: 06-6386-9993
Email: info(at)syunzai.com

News source: Nikkei MJ

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