New seafood products are being created one after another, using catches brought into local ports in the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
Companies and business associations in these prefectures are working full-out to revitalize their coastal areas, collaborating with other business sectors and promoting local consumption of goods from new perspectives.
In Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, a project team composed mainly of companies that process marine goods is selling seafood products under the brand name Aoichi. The products are made from bluefish, such as mackerel and saury, landed at Onahama Port in the city.
Men in Fukushima Prefecture have the highest daily salt intake in Japan, and its women is the second highest. The project team aims to encourage residents of the prefecture to be more health-conscious and consume more bluefish meat through its products.
The project team conducted surveys to ascertain the needs of elderly people and consumers in general, and has used the results to develop products.
Since the start of its activities in 2018, the project team has released 13 kinds of new products.
Paying attention to the fact that an increasing number of people are eating at home with their familiese due to the spread of the new coronavirus, the project team in April added such products as semi-dried fish, which is popular among large retailers, and "sanma tsumire" meatballs made from saury.
"I want people across the nation to know how valuable bluefish are, and to revitalize communities in coastal areas," said Yutaka Uenodai, 44, representative of the project team and president of Uenodaiyutakasyouten Corp., a marine products processing company.
In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, efforts are being made to expand sales routes for hoya, or sea pineapples.
Sea pineapples from the prefecture account for about 50% of the nationwide total, but the name recognition of Miyagi Prefecture sea pineapples is low outside the Tohoku region. There was also the fact that keeping sea pineapples fresh has been difficult.
In 2018, a joint study was started by such parties as Hoyahoya Gakkai, a general incorporated foundation whose membership includes companies that process marine products, fishermen and consumers who like sea pineapples.
The results showed that the smell of sea pineapples gets stronger due to time and other factors, and the taste also worsens.
Based on the study's findings, Takayuki Atsumi, a 37-year-old fisherman who is also a director of the foundation, succeeded in keeping sea pineapples fresh through his personal method of controlling temperature.
In April, the foundation registered the Senbitoryo Hoya trademark. Atsumi said, "We want to establish the brand and to spread really delicious sea pineapples across the nation."
Marutomo-Shimaka, a marine products processing company in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, began selling a new brand of Japanese senbei crackers in March. The name is Miyako no Sakanaya ga Tsukutta Uogashi Senbei, meaning Japanese crackers made by fish merchants in Miyako.
One pack contains three kinds of senbei crackers made from the city's local specialties: Pacific cod, horsehair crab and scallops. Only starch and salt are added in addition to the main ingredients, and they are baked into senbei crackers.
The crackers were originally devised by a student of Miyako Fisheries High School in fiscal 2017. The idea was awarded a director general's prize from the Fisheries Agency, in a contest for processed seafood products in the prefecture, and the company commercialized Madara Senbei, or cod cracker, one of the three kinds sold under the new brand, in March 2019.
Marutomo-Shimaka President Hisashi Shimaka, 67, said, "I hope the products can contribute, as a new kind of souvenir, to the recovery of the local fisheries industry, which is still ongoing."
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