Jump to content

Cocoa production in Japan

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cocoa pods on the cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao) inside the Shinjuku Gyo-en Greenhouse in Tokyo

Cocoa production in Japan is limited to the subtropical islands of Hahajima (of the Ogasawara Islands) and Okinawa (of the Ryukyu Islands). The Sōka-based Hiratsuka Confectionery Company was the first to attempt domestic cocoa production in Japan, with cultivation on Hahajima beginning in earnest in 2011. The company's "Tokyo Cacao" bean-to-bar products are marketed as being made from Tokyo-sourced cocoa, as Hahajima is administratively a part of the city. Cocoa cultivation on Okinawa is a relatively newer operation, with chocolates made from Okinawan-sourced cocoa only being announced in 2025.

Background

[edit]

Cocoa first arrived in Japan with Dutch traders during the Edo period, but the mass production and consumption of chocolate in Japan did not begin until the latter half of the 20th century.[1][2]: 175  The cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical plant, cannot be grown on the Japanese mainland. However, small-scale cocoa farms have been attempted on Hahajima of the Ogasawara Islands and Okinawa of the Ryukyu Islands, which have warmer, subtropical climates.[1][3][4][5]

Hahajima

[edit]

"We have prioritized romance over business sense. Growing cacao in Japan was the dream."

— Masayuki Hiratsuka on the development of "Tokyo Cacao"[4]

Masayuki Hiratsuka, president of the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company based in Sōka, Saitama Prefecture, was the first person to seriously propose the production of cocoa in Japan. He conceived of the idea after a 2003 research trip to Ghana, where he saw cocoa trees in person for the first time.[3] The company sent another research team to Vietnam in 2006, in order to study the cocoa production process.[4] In 2010, he began looking for potential cocoa farmers in Hahajima, a subtropical island under the administration of Tokyo, despite being almost 1,000 kilometres south of the city center.[3][4] According to Hiratsuka, he chose Hahajima because it was a part of Tokyo, which "has brand power comparable to New York, Paris, and London".[3]

The following year, Hiratsuka partnered with Kazuo Orita, a leading farmer on Hahajima who was the first to grow lemons and mangoes on the island.[3][4][6] Hiratsuka spent ¥110 million on the construction of wind-resistant vinyl greenhouses in Hahajima and imported cocoa beans from Indonesia to cultivate. The growth of the cocoa trees was overseen by Orita and took five years of trial and error, which included the loss of 167 seedlings and the creation of specialised environments for the plants. As of 2020, 502 cocoa trees were being grown on Hahajima.[4]

According to Shin Hiraoka, a development officer for the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company, cocoa beans harvested from Hahajima are fermented in a laboratory in Sōka, and each harvest can yield anywhere from 10 to 100 kilograms of beans.[4] The first cocoa harvest on Hahajima was in November 2013, but due to difficulties with the fermentation process, it was not until 2015 that a chocolate made solely from Hahajima cocoa was produced.[6][7]

In 2019, the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company announced a limited launch of its debut line of commercial products made from Hahajima cocoa, named "Tokyo Cacao".[7] The bean-to-bar chocolates were promoted as being "made in Tokyo" and wholly produced in Japan.[8] In 2022, the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company partnered with Nestlé Japan to create Tokyo Cacao Kit Kats, advertised as being made from "Japanese-grown cocoa" and having "a strong, fruity aroma and mild flavour".[9] The Kit Kats, however, included Ghana as a place of origin for their ingredients.[10]

Okinawa

[edit]
Chocolate chinsukō and chocolate cake from Okinawa

Agriculturist and businessman Kei Kawai began growing cocoa in Ōgimi, a village in the northern rainforest of Okinawa Island (Yambaru), in the spring of 2016, shortly after moving there. He founded a company named Local Landscape to cultivate 2,000 imported cocoa in greenhouses and open fields. The cocoa trees bore fruit after six years of trial and error, with a small harvest of 100 cocoa beans (about 10 kilograms) in 2022.[11]

Kawai also runs a chocolate café in Ōgimi named Okinawa Cacao, and stated in 2023 his intention to create and sell chocolate made entirely from Okinawan cocoa once the harvest became large enough.[11] Okinawa Cacao reached this milestone in 2025, when it announced an "all locally produced" chocolate.[12] Previously, "Okinawan chocolate" sold by Okinawa Cacao and other shops on the island had included locally sourced ingredients such as sugarcane, karaki (cinnamon), shiikwaasa (Citrus depressa), and awamori, but the cocoa was imported.[5][12][13][14] Timeless Chocolate, a chocolate café in Chatan, promotes its products as Okinawa's first bean-to-bar chocolate, although its cocoa is not locally sourced.[15]

Minimal – Bean to Bar Chocolate, a chocolate specialty shop in Tokyo, began cultivating cocoa on Okinawa Island in 2021, with its first successful harvest in May 2024.[16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Cacao In Japan". The Cocoa Circle. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  2. ^ Mitsuda, Tatsuya (January 2014). "From Reception to Acceptance: Chocolate in Japan, c. 1870–1935". Food and History. 12 (1): 175–200. doi:10.1484/J.FOOD.5.105148.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Exec getting close to making 'Tokyo cacao' chocolates". Yomiuri Shimbun. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2025 – via Embassy of Switzerland in Japan.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Cadby, Jeana (29 February 2020). "Tokyo Cacao: Japan's first 'soil-to-bar' chocolate". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
  5. ^ a b Kawauchi, Io (20 June 2022). 地域の“素材”を活かすチョコレートに挑戦 常識外れの「沖縄産カカオ」誕生物語 [Taking on the challenge of making chocolate that makes the most of local ingredients: The story of the birth of the unconventional 'Okinawa Cacao']. Music Bird (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  6. ^ a b Kobayashi, Nozomi (14 April 2023). 【島を歩く 日本を見る】カカオ栽培が定着 開拓魂にふれる 母島（東京都小笠原村） [[Walking the Island: Seeing Japan] Cacao Cultivation Takes Root: Experience the Pioneering Spirit on Hahajima (Ogasawara Village, Tokyo)]. Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  7. ^ a b Miyakoshi, Yu (29 October 2019). 〈TOKYO CACAO〉誕生！東京産カカオのチョコレートが２万個限定発売。 ["Tokyo Cacao" is born! 20,000 pieces of chocolate made with Tokyo cacao are available for sale.]. Colocal (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  8. ^ 史上初！東京産カカオを使用したチョコレート平塚製菓「TOKYO CACAO」販売開始 [First in history! Hiratsuka Confectionery launches "Tokyo Cacao", a chocolate made with Tokyo-grown cacao]. Soka City Official Website (in Japanese). 22 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  9. ^ McGee, Oona (22 October 2022). "New Japanese KitKat uses cacao grown in Tokyo". SoraNews24. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
  10. ^ McGee, Oona (11 November 2022). "The surprising truth about the new Tokyo Cacao Japanese KitKat". SoraNews24. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
  11. ^ a b Suzuki, Hiromi (10 March 2023). ｢沖縄ではムリ！｣なカカオ栽培を５年で成功させた"異色の移住者" [[Impossible in Okinawa!] An unusual immigrant who succeeded in cultivating cocoa in just five years]. FraU SDGs (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  12. ^ a b Watanabe, Michiko (8 August 2025). ついにリリース。希少な沖縄産カカオ100%のショコラ。 [Finally released. A rare chocolate made with 100% cacao from Okinawa.]. Yahoo Japan (in Japanese). Yahoo Japan Corporation. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  13. ^ "Bean-to-bar Timeless Chocolate". Okinawa Island Guide. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
  14. ^ Itaya, Kei (18 December 2020). "Okinawa's Premium Sugarcane Chocolate". Visit Okinawa Japan. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
  15. ^ 材料は世界中から厳選した「カカオ」と沖縄の「サトウキビ」だけ – Ethical Travel Okinawa [The only ingredients are carefully selected cocoa from around the world and sugarcane from Okinawa – Ethical Travel Okinawa]. Okinawa Story (in Japanese). Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  16. ^ Minimal、沖縄の自社研究農園での国産カカオ栽培・収穫に成功。 カカオ栽培・発酵研究を活かし、さらに高品質のカカオ収穫を目指す。 [Minimal has successfully cultivated and harvested domestic cacao at its own research farm in Okinawa. Utilizing its research into cacao cultivation and fermentation, the company aims to harvest even higher quality cacao.] (in Japanese). Minimal – Bean to Bar Chocolate. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 25 November 2025.

Further reading

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cocoa_production_in_Japan&oldid=1325108817"