There are many obstacles to creating new charms. Yuya Ota says that it is co-creation that helped him to make his ideals to realize from the ground up.
“My project began when I visited local farmers and asked them to share some of their grapes. Although they were a bit uncertain at first, when we successfully produced wine and set up a winery and a restaurant, they began to believe in the potential of Setouchi Jozojo and supported it. I feel pleased to generate synergy to agriculture and food by pairing food and wine from Hiroshima and also conveying the thoughts of the farmers.”
Paul Walsh, on the other hand, says that communication and development are the key when promoting new attractions. “Particularly when communicating overseas, it’s important to create stories to make people want to support the local foods and ingredients, including why they are adored in Japan, and the producers’ thoughts and hardships. In other areas, I’m also looking forward to developments coping with diversity, such as vegan foods.”
On the importance of product stories, Miho Imada says that “’making ginjo as a global language’ is my theme. We make our products with the hope that more people overseas will realize the excellence of ginjo sake. I would like to communicate the great potential of Japanese sake through our products, such as Seafood, which is used white koji mould used in shochu production to create a lemon-like acidity to make oyster tasty, and Legacy, a richly sweet sake which is used ginjo sake instead of brewing water and match meat and Chinese dishes.”

The theme of the second part of this session is “reverse innovation from local regions born from adversity.” Below are two successful examples of Hiroshima-born innovations that have developed into something new through a global perspective.

Example 1: TSS Production, a TV program production company in Hiroshima

TSS Production is a TV production company from Hiroshima, and also runs Sekaitaku, a business which supports the development of overseas sales channels. The business was launched when the company set up its own online TV program as a means to overcome its declining business performance. After searching for a French TV producer to raise recognition of the program, TSS Production gave an artist her big break in France by creating a person-focused documentary program. Using this expertise, TSS Production helped a jeans manufacturer achieve a twofold increase in its overseas sales. Today, the company even works with mainly SMEs to support the expansion of their overseas sales channels.

Example 2: Ritsumeikan University—GastroEdu Project

Making use of the online lessons during the pandemic, Ritsumeikan University is promoting the GastroEdu Project—combining the words gastronomy, astronomy, and education—to connect food-related producers using online and discover new possibilities for Japanese food ingredients. One such project is Lemon Adventure, a workshop cooperated with Setoda Town, Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, with the largest production of lemons in Japan, and Amalfi, Italy. This workshop led to start the development and sale of lemon tiramisu using Setoda lemons and set up a new co-creation initiative.

This second CJPF Live session discussed food and food culture inHiroshima. What is the creation of the new attractions of regional foods uncovered by the discussion? Cool Japan producer Shujiro Kusumoto says the following:
“Participating in this second CJPF Live helped me realize that the enthusiasm where adults seriously dreamed and talked passionately with each other was the new Cool Japan. To dream is to go towards the future. To do so, it is essential that we have our own coordinate grids and combine vertical and horizontal axes. For example, the vertical axis could be the inheritance from the past to the future to protect Hiroshima’s nature, history, and food culture. The horizontal axis, on the other hand, could be co-creation with local regions and communication to the world. This vertical and horizontal relationships will be reviewed, considered, and built upon. My goal is to link these achievements to the future and make the dreams come true together.”