STANDAGE Co., Ltd. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Akinori Adachi; hereinafter referred to as STANDAGE), Mitsubishi Corporation (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Katsuya Nakanishi; hereinafter referred to as Mitsubishi Corporation), and ABC Cooking Studio Co., Ltd. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Narumi Shimura; hereinafter referred to as ABC), together with Shima City, Mie Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as Shima City), held an event from November 22nd to 24th, 2024, targeting Thailand and Singapore, two countries in Southeast Asia that are key markets for Shima City and have high tourism demand and a large number of repeat visitors. The event aimed to promote food products using Japanese quality products.

This event was held as part of a project to promote Japanese products overseas, aimed at regional revitalization, which is being undertaken in collaboration with Standage, ABC, and Mitsubishi Corporation.

 

▲Scenes from the event in Thailand

 

▲Scenes from the event in Singapore

 

■Background and project details
This project aims to revitalize local communities by combining the strengths of three companies: Mitsubishi Corporation, which has connections with local governments and project management capabilities; ABC, which has local subsidiaries and extensive experience in implementing and managing events overseas; and Standage, which provides a door-to-door logistics network using temperature-controlled air freight (*).

During this event, Standage established and provided a door-to-door small-package shipping network using temperature-controlled air cargo to Thailand and Singapore (*), allowing us to confirm its practicality, usefulness, and strong demand in both countries.

Furthermore, last year, as part of a joint effort by the three companies, we held an event and cooking class in Singapore that paired sake with local cuisine, with the aim of developing the sake market in Singapore.

 

(*) The construction of this logistics network for transportation to Southeast Asia is being undertaken as part of JETRO's (Japan External Trade Organization) support project for diversifying overseas supply chains.

 

◇Regarding the previous eventHere◇

 

■ About this initiative
Shima City has a long history of supplying food to the imperial court and shrines as a "Miketsukuni" (a region that supplied food to the imperial court), and is known as a rich source of seafood and food products, including spiny lobster and abalone.

This initiative aims to widely promote Shima City's attractive products overseas and develop overseas markets for local products in conjunction with the Shima brand, which is also an attractive tourist destination. Shima City participated in the project through Mitsubishi Corporation, leading to the holding of this event.

 

Following this event, we will be holding cooking classes using ingredients from Shima in both Thailand and Singapore this December.

 

■Event Overview

·Thailand

Date and time: November 22, 2020 from 19:00 (once)

Venue: ABC Cooking Studio Central World Studio

Number of participants: 40 (including 4 local travel agencies)

 

·Singapore

Date and time: November 24, 2020 ①10:30~, ②14:00~, ③16:30~ (3 times)

Venue: ABC Cooking Studio Takashimaya SC Studio

Number of participants: 60 people in total across the three events

 

■ We have developed recipes that make full use of ingredients from Shima and are tailored to the local tastes.
At the event, we will be offering an original menu that makes the most of the appeal of Shima's ingredients, supervised by Executive Chef Higuchi of Shima Kanko Hotel, which has served as the venue for the G7 Summit twice and whose delicious cuisine has garnered praise from dignitaries from various countries.

Furthermore, participants enjoyed pairing sake with local Shima ingredients, including "Hanzo," the sake used for the toast at the G7 Ise-Shima Summit, and "Hanzo Shiko," which uses "Kami no Ho" rice from Shima City.

 

▲Thai recipe photo

 

▲Recipe photo from Singapore

 

<Thai Menu Overview>

① Fresh Pacific oysters

② Spiny lobster and scallop with broth cream sauce

③ Seared Bonito Tartare

④ First broth made from bonito flakes

⑤ Frozen yogurt

 

<Singapore Menu Overview>

① Seafood with strawberry salsa

② Seared bonito with chicken rice and ginger sauce

③ First broth made from bonito flakes

④ Melon shortcake in a cup

⑤ Mandarin orange tart

 

■Experience all the charms of Shima City
At the event, Mayor Masayoshi Hashizume spoke about the charms of Shima, and business owners presented cooking demonstrations in addition to highlighting the appeal of Shima's food culture and ingredients. There were also tastings of Akoya oyster adductor muscles used in pearl cultivation, a live broadcast from a pearl farm in Shima City, and introductions to attractive pearl accessories. Through these diverse presentations, attendees were able to experience the charms of Shima from multiple perspectives.

 

▲The mayor speaking

 

▲Scenes from the pearl sales event

Participants were able to directly enjoy the charms of Shima, primarily through its food, and we received very positive feedback.

 

[Voices from local participants (partial)]

The demonstration of arranging spiny lobster into sashimi using kitchen scissors was fascinating, and the spiny lobster was delicious.

The freshly shaved bonito flakes were completely different from any I'd ever tasted before and were delicious. I was amazed to see the shaving process for the first time!

The adductor muscle of the Akoya oyster, which produces pearls, was delicious and left a lasting impression.

 

List of cooperating companies *In no particular order

IJF Co., Ltd., Ise-Shima Refrigeration Co., Ltd., Ise Agricultural Cooperative (JA Ise), Ota Sake Brewery Co., Ltd., Tanabe Pearl Farm Co., Ltd., Hyakugo Bank, Ltd., Shima City Ago Specialty Products Development Center, Shima Kanko Hotel, Kaneu Foods Co., Ltd., Kawaguchi Farm, Unite Farm Co., Ltd., Kawabu Brewing Co., Ltd.

 

Going forward, we will continue to spotlight the cultures and specialty products of various regions of Japan, promoting their appeal to people overseas, thereby expanding interest in Japanese food, culture, and tourism, and contributing to the revitalization of these regions through the purchase of products and visits.

 

■ About ABC Cooking Studio
https://www.abc-cooking.co.jp/

ABC Cooking Studio is one of the world's largest cooking schools, with approximately 1.7 million members in Japan and overseas (as of April 2024). It opened its first overseas location in December 2010. Since then, it has expanded its services to eight countries and regions overseas: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia, primarily in Asia. Under its corporate philosophy of "Bringing smiles to dining tables around the world," ABC Cooking Studio offers cooking, bread-making, and cake-making classes; abc kids offers cooking classes for children aged 4 and up; and 1-day lessons are available with no enrollment fee, conveying the importance and joy of homemade food to its students. Furthermore, ABC Cooking Studio also engages in regional revitalization projects through recipe development and consulting using local specialties, media businesses for product promotion, and staffing services (ABC Job Studio) to support companies and local governments.

 

■About Standage
Founded in March 2017. With a vision of "creating a world where all countries have equal access to all goods," the company is developing a new trade settlement system that utilizes blockchain and stable coins to enable the safe, secure, and inexpensive simultaneous exchange of "goods" and "money" regardless of region or country. Seeing its main market to be emerging countries, including Africa, the company established a base in Nigeria shortly after its founding and began trade with Africa. Not limited to the trade settlement field, the company develops and provides systems that realize digital transformation for the entire trade system, including market development, ordering and international logistics, while also working to support exports by small and medium-sized enterprises in order to increase the number of new domestic trade players.