[Faculty of Business Administration] Guest speaker gives lecture on "food"①

Assistant Professor Mizuyo Touma of Faculty of Business Administration teaches "Food Marketing," in which she invites guests from the business world to give specific examples and deepens understanding by listening to the voices of those involved. In the spring semester, three guest speakers gave lectures, and we will introduce the contents of the first lecture below.
■7/5 (Fri) Food Marketing Speaker: Shoji Kinoshita, Managing Director of Umaji Village Agricultural Cooperative, Kochi Prefecture
The theme of this event was "Local Food and Food." Umaji Village is famous for its "Umaji Village Ponzu Soy Sauce." We heard how this village, with a population of about 800 people, located just over two hours by car from Kochi City, established the "Umaji Village Yuzu" brand. Umaji Village's main industry was forestry, but it felt a sense of crisis over the import of cheap foreign timber. In the 1950s, Umaji Village focused on yuzu, centering on the agricultural cooperative, and began cultivating it for eating raw. After that, they started developing and selling processed products, and in 1989, they became the best-selling product in Japan at a product fair organized by a major department store in Tokyo, and their name spread all at once. The reason for this, according to Executive Director Kinoshita, "There are many people from local areas in Tokyo. When selling, the key was to sell Umaji Village as a 'countryside', such as posters showing the village scenery and children playing in the river." Managing Director Kinoshita also answered questions from the students, asking "What is the appeal and special feature of yuzu?" to which he replied "Yuzu from Umajimura has a very nice fragrance because each producer is particular about using organic fertilizer," and to which he replied "The school lunch jelly provided to schools in Kochi Prefecture" to which he asked "What is your recommended product?" He also said that he is currently formulating a strategy with an eye on selling overseas. The lecture ended with Assistant Professor Touma explaining that "The united efforts of the village, producers, and agricultural cooperatives, with an eye on the future of Umajimura, led to the establishment of the Umajimura Yuzu brand."

(Source: School Public Relations)