Japan’s Nara city keen to explore business collaborations with Malaysia

NARA: The city of Nara, in Japan’s Nara Prefecture, would like to expand its relationship with Malaysia and explore business collaborations in the food and related industries.
 
The city’s mayor, Gen Nakagawa, said Nara, as the birthplace of Japanese culture and the first ancient capital of Japan, would like to introduce the characteristics of its food culture and the diversity of its local cuisine to overseas markets, including Malaysia.
 
“Many items, such as the Japanese tea, noodle, rice wine, ink stick, and paper, came from China to Nara through the Silk Road over a thousand years ago,” he told Bernama in a recent interview in conjunction with the Nara food promotion programme organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro).
 
The Nara food promotion programme has focused on building a business relationship between Nara food producers and potential Malaysian buyers.
 
Jetro Nara is also planning to organise a Nara food fair promotion in Kuala Lumpur by February next year to create a sales channel for Nara products and to get more Malaysian customers by introducing the attractiveness of Nara food culture.
 
Nakagawa pointed out that one of the unique characteristics of Nara products and tourism was that both Asian cultural taste and Japanese cultural origin could be felt as historical and cultural crossroads.
 
He said while many items originated in China, Nara had infused its unique characteristics into many of its food products, such as kakinohazushi, which is sushi in persimmon leaves, and the famous Nara sweets made from kudzu (Japanese arrowroot).
 
“We would like to introduce Nara food products to the Malaysian market as unique items that have the origin of Japanese culture and roots in China and the Silk Road,” he said.
 
Nakagawa hoped that these products might invoke a magnificent historical image and that these essences would impact people with another cultural background.
 
“So we would like to co-create a good future for Asia with Malaysia by enhancing business relationships and strengthening cooperation by finding common points and synergy areas,” he said.
 
Nakagawa said that from a macro perspective, the economic presence of Malaysia in Asia is increasing, and Japanese companies still have a lot of potential in helping to solve social issues and improve living standards.
 
This, he said, would be supported by technology alliances such as those signed by national oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) with the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to pursue carbon neutrality as well as the implementation of retail business models like AEON.
 
Nakagawa said it was important to find synergistic win-win situations to achieve economic growth and benefit all stakeholders in every partnership.
 
Nakagawa also said it is important to strengthen ties by encouraging visitation from Japan to Malaysia and from Malaysia to Japan, to promote a better understanding of both countries. 
 
Nara to introduce its food culture and industry
Ikeri Co Ltd, a leading somen noodle producer in Sakurai city, Nara Prefecture, is looking for a business opportunity to promote the prefecture’s miwa somen, the oldest type of Japanese noodle, which dates back more than 1,200 years, to the overseas market.
 
Ikeri Planning Department manager Koji Ikeda said he was looking forward to good cooperation with Malaysian distributors to create awareness on the method of preparation of somen dishes.
 
“There are no animal-based ingredients in the somen noodles as the ingredients are made of wheat, salt, and vegetable oil,” he said during a recent factory tour organised by Jetro Nara for a Malaysian importer and media representative to experience Nara’s culture and industry.
 
Ikeda said Ikeri, which has been producing the super-thin somen noodles for over 170 years, has preserved the traditional hand-stretching method of producing somen to maintain the smooth and delicate texture of the somen noodles despite the advent of modern mechanisation.
 
Meanwhile, Nishiki Soysauce Co Ltd sales director Sakae Ohgata said the company planned to introduce the many Nishiki soy sauce flavours to the Malaysian market and seek out potential distributors or business partners.
 
He said the company has been producing its soy sauce since 1900, when it was founded by the Ohgata family, descendants of a samurai clan in Ikaruga town, Nara prefecture.
 
“So far, we have exported to Europe, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and we are looking at expanding to Malaysia,” he told Bernama during a tour of Nishiki’s plant in Nara.
 
Ohgata said there are wide varieties of Nishiki’s soy sauce, such as the iconic ponzu, which is based on citrus juice flavour, the koikuchi (strong flavour), and usukuchi (lighter taste) sauces.
 
He said the Nishiki soy sauce yeast complex that determines the flavour of the soy sauce could be the descendent of yeasts that contributed to hishio, which has been called the ancestor of soy sauce first imported into Japan from mainland Asia.
 
Nara’s famous kakigori (Japanese shaved ice dessert) shop, Housekibaco, said it would also like to introduce to Malaysia another one of Nara’s sensational specialties based on ancient food culture dating back to the Nara period of 710 AD.
 
“The famous desserts come from Nara’s history, where ice was offered to the Emperor in a worship ceremony in the Himuro shrine,” owner Keiko Okada told Bernama during a tour of Housekibaco’s store recently.
 
Okada said many people enjoyed kakigori in the annual ice festivals in Nara, and it could be tailored to the Malaysian palate by using local ingredients to mix into the dessert concoction. – BERNAMA