Motoharu Nakashima: Promoting Regional Charm Through Local Specialties

Nakashima Shoten, which is also my family home, is a wholesaler of sugar, flour, and confectionery ingredients. It was founded in 1909 and marks its 108th year this year. The era when you could simply move goods from right to left is long gone. I felt we had to make a new move, so instead of just being an order-taker, I am incorporating my own ideas into the distribution process. Our customers include confectionery and bakery businesses, seasoning manufacturers, and the restaurant industry. I thought that by not just wholesaling raw materials but also proposing product plans—suggesting, "Why not try making this kind of product with these materials?"—we could develop new business opportunities.

Ever since I was in Tokyo, people would often say to me, "Bring back a souvenir when you go home. Momiji Manju is fine." While Momiji Manju is indeed a Hiroshima souvenir, Hiroshima City and Fukuyama City are 100 kilometers apart, and the Aki Province of Hiroshima is completely different from the Bingo Province of Fukuyama. Fukuyama had many souvenirs, but in reality, many of them had short shelf lives. So, I decided to develop a souvenir that would last longer.

In October 2004, while drinking with a Keio senior in my hometown, I saw a local sake called "Homeishu" with about 350 years of history at the shop. I wondered if I could do something with it.

Homeishu is a medicinal liquor and, being a liqueur, it can be used in both Western and Japanese sweets. It was the sake served by the Shogunate as hospitality cuisine when Commodore Perry arrived at the end of the Edo period. Furthermore, Yukichi Fukuzawa, who was close to the Lord of the Fukuyama Domain, brought this sake as a gift to Yae Ogata, the wife of his mentor Koan Ogata. I wondered if I could create souvenirs from this sake with such historical and narrative significance. From there, I created five items using Homeishu: taiyaki, candy, gelato, ice pops, and jelly.

My aim was to create a dedicated section centered around Homeishu. If it were just candy, it would get buried in the confectionery section; if it were just gelato or ice pops, it would get lost among all the other ice creams. However, by creating a new category called "Homeishu Sweets," a dedicated section could be established. Even the Homeishu itself could be given a special section rather than just being in the liquor aisle.

With that in mind, I had Nakashima Shoten's customers manufacture the products. At the time, Homeishu was only sold as a health tonic, so they thought it was an interesting project. Based on the philosophy of "Let's both take a risk; if it goes well, it will be a win-win," we continued product development.

Once we started selling them, the local media picked it up, and not only locals but also tourists visiting Fukuyama began buying them to take home.

We launched the Homeishu sweets in April 2005. One month later, I saw an article in the Nikkei Shimbun stating that descendants of Commodore Perry would be attending the 150th-anniversary ceremony of the opening of Shimoda Port. I immediately called the Shimoda City Hall. I told them, "Actually, the sake that Commodore Perry drank 150 years ago is in Fukuyama." It turned out the person in charge at Shimoda City also wanted to serve hospitality cuisine to welcome Commodore Perry's descendants and had been looking for the Homeishu mentioned in the dinner menu from the end of the Edo period.

So, I told them, "Homeishu is made in a place called Tomonoura in Fukuyama, so I will go to present it after 150 years." At a dinner for about 60 dignitaries, including the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Homeishu was served as an aperitif.

I improvised an explanatory note in English and had it placed on the tables along with the glasses of Homeishu. I thought that if they just drank it, they would forget it.

Afterward, there was a luncheon for the descendants at Ryosen-ji, the temple where the Treaty of Shimoda (an appendix to the Treaty of Kanagawa) was signed. They enjoyed the five products developed using Homeishu along with the sake itself.

From the time that was featured on NHK's national broadcast, awareness of Homeishu gradually rose, and sales of the sake itself increased. Since it is a liqueur, the tax rate is higher than that of beer or low-malt beer. Therefore, it is fully returned to the region as tax revenue. Because various historical figures are involved, it also serves as a promotion for Fukuyama City.

I established the Bingo Specialty Research Group, a group for researching product creation using regional resources, and we generate plans centered there. Since Homeishu is locally produced, we use it as a raw material to make products locally, have them sold at local souvenir shops, and the profits stay there. Also, in the process of making the products, we have people at vocational aid facilities apply the label stickers so that money goes to them as well.

Additionally, for the people who buy or receive the products, there is a QR code on the package. When scanned, it provides tourist information for Fukuyama City and regional information. No matter where in the world you take this souvenir, you can get tourist information for Fukuyama City on the spot. Just by having someone buy one souvenir, various things expand.

The primary industry is currently suffering from a serious shortage of successors. Our "Kuwai Potage Soup," which uses arrowhead (kuwai) for which we have the highest production in Japan, wouldn't exist if farmers didn't supply the arrowhead. The juice using "Numakuma Grapes" is also well-received nationwide, but this couldn't be made without grape farmers.

Therefore, I want to develop products with added value, such as "This is the top-produced arrowhead in Japan" or "This was made with Numakuma Grapes," and have the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries cooperate to create new value.

If sales grow, we can buy raw materials at a higher price. In other words, we can properly pay the farmers and fishermen. That leads back to mutual benefit. Money is necessary, of course, but it is also important that the feelings of the people involved match. It starts with sitting down and talking carefully with the farmers.

Agriculture and fishing involve living things, so it is truly hard work all year round, whether it's cold or hot. If the income is just a pittance, no one will want to take over. I hope that by having coordinators like us intervene to secure an outlet for the products, producers can earn a proper income and continue their work.

On the other hand, we also take responsibility for product planning, development, and sales. In that sense, we are on equal footing with the producers, and it is also necessary for us to say, "Please produce high-quality raw materials."

Sixth-sector industrialization is often said to have a great sense of speed because it is 1 x 2 x 3. However, it is quite difficult to ask people in the primary industry, who do hard work every day, to participate with a sense of speed. So, in my case, I think of it as 1 + 2 + 3. I want to create a system where the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries collaborate on equal footing, and as they fulfill their roles, a flow is created and everyone gradually becomes profitable.

In sixth-sector industrialization, the input is just as important as the output. Even if you want to make processed goods, nothing starts without raw materials. You have to properly explain to the producers why those raw materials are needed and get them to understand. That kind of coordinating role is what the world needs now, and I want to further enhance those skills.

Since they are farmers, some may find it hard to accept ideas from outsiders. You have to convey your thoughts with a sincere attitude. And thoughts alone aren't enough. In the end, you have to actually do it. You have to show it in a tangible way, saying, "I'm sorry, but please let me use the grapes you produce; I will take responsibility and make processed goods from them." It's no good to just say, "Grow vegetables or fruit because I want to sell them."

I had been swimming since I was little, and in my first year of high school, I participated in the Akagi National Sports Festival in Gunma Prefecture. At that time, someone from the Juku Athletic Association Swimming Club happened to be there and asked, "Why don't you come to Keio?" and told me about the recommendation system for designated schools.

I was still in my first year of high school, and of course, there was the family business, and I also wanted to become a school teacher. But the moment I heard that, I decided to aim for it. At the time, you could get an internal unofficial offer for the designated school recommendation in June of your third year, so you could do the swimming you loved during summer vacation. I worked hard toward that and was fortunately admitted.

I think my academic grades were reasonably good. I continued swimming, not in the Athletic Association, but in a club. My high school mentor told me, "You are being highly evaluated for sending us a good student." I wondered if that was true (laughs).

Nakashima: My wife, my younger brother, my father-in-law, and my eldest son has been under your care since this year. Hiroshima Prefecture has many Keio alumni. More Keio than Waseda. Especially in eastern Hiroshima, Fukuyama has a very large number of Keio alumni. The Mita-kai always gathers 40 to 50 people every year. Everyone has a great deal of school spirit.

During the 150th anniversary of the Juku, members of the Wandervogel Club walked from Nakatsu to Mita, and I walked several kilometers with them in eastern Hiroshima.

We are three brothers, so any of us could have inherited the family business, and I wanted to go to Tokyo. So I joined Itochu Corporation, and after that, during President Torii's tenure, I was hired as a mid-career Keio staff member. There were also peers from different industries, and I was hired in April 1992 with the idea of "bringing in outside perspectives to university management."

At Itochu Corporation, I worked in the Sugar and Coffee Department, so I thought my overseas experience and language skills could be utilized in my work at Keio.

I was first assigned to the International Center, then to the Records and Archives Division (at the time), and after that to the Academic Affairs Office, where I was in charge of academic affairs for the Faculty of Business and Commerce and the Faculty of Law. Learning about academic regulations and the basics of university management was truly educational.

Due to family circumstances, I only worked at Keio for about five years before returning to Fukuyama, but I am still interested in university management. Since I have the experience, I hope to contribute something to the local universities.

At the trading company, I learned the basics of importing and exporting food raw materials from scratch. However, at that time, Keio University was about to proceed with university reforms, and I became interested in the fact that people from different industries could play an active role. Not to mention it was my alma mater. Also, at the time, staff members had a lot of time off (laughs).

It would have to be being involved in the basics and purpose of university entrance exams and university management. I learned what it means to hire people. My boss at the time said that while it's natural to hire excellent students, we hire students who will contribute to the sustainability and development of Keio University in the future and who can also contribute to society. Along with that, he said that human resources are the cornerstone of an organization.

Looking at your hometown from the outside gives you a different perspective. It's not limited to Fukuyama, but rural areas tend to be closed off, and it becomes normal to just get excited among yourselves. Once you go outside and look back in, you can see areas that need reform. You don't need to change everything at once; you change things gradually and in a balanced way. I'm glad I was able to acquire those skills.

I feel truly blessed to have lived among the diverse people of a global company like Itochu, a global university like Keio University, and Tokyo before returning to Fukuyama.

Exactly. When you are in your hometown, good things are taken for granted, and it becomes a case of "the darkest place is under the candlestick." Once you go out and come back, you realize, "This might be something amazing." You understand that it has history, it's delicious, and it can hold its own even outside the prefecture. I was able to develop that eye.

Of course, globalization efforts are important, but I think it's also important to steadily increase fans on a local basis within Japan. The ideal is to enhance the charm of the local area and ourselves so that people overseas see that and think, "Keio is a wonderful university."

Regarding information dissemination, superficial information can be obtained anywhere on the internet. I think it's necessary to re-convey the essence of Yukichi Fukuzawa's teachings and the Keio Gijuku Shachu.

I am thinking of developing the same kind of cycle we had with Homeishu for Fukuyama specialties like apricots and arrowhead, for which we have the highest production in Japan.

I want to continue this business model and convey what I am trying to do not only to my employees but also to the young people in the region. Regional contribution must not just benefit oneself; the profit must fall to the entire region. If that happens, I am helped, and the other party is helped.

Even in rural areas, inter-regional competition will eventually become prominent. In that context, I strongly hope that younger Juku alumni from this area will return and walk with us toward the revitalization of the region.