Kubara Honke: Bringing Authentic Japanese Dashi to the World’s Kitchens

Japanese cuisine, or washoku, has become synonymous with health, exquisite taste, and culinary artistry worldwide. This growing global appreciation is evident in two major trends: first, Japan welcomed 36.8 million tourists last year, many of whom sought to experience authentic Japanese cuisine firsthand; second, the number of Japanese restaurants worldwide has surged from 55,000 in 2013 to nearly 200,000 today. What do you believe is driving the continued rise in popularity of Japanese cuisine in recent years? Additionally, given that dashi is a fundamental element of washoku, how do you see its role in shaping the international perception and appeal of Japanese food?

The rise in the popularity of washoku can be attributed to several factors, one of which is its designation as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. This recognition helped bring global attention to the unique qualities of Japanese cuisine. Additionally, the influx of inbound tourists to Japan has played a role, as many visitors seek out authentic culinary experiences and bring their appreciation for Japanese food back home.

However, I believe the most important factor is the inherently healthful nature of Japanese cuisine. When I travel overseas, I often find myself concerned about excessive calorie intake when choosing meals. Compared to many other global cuisines, Japanese food tends to be lighter and lower in calories, which likely contributes to its growing appeal among health-conscious consumers.

Looking at Italian cuisine, for example, its widespread appeal is the result of various elements that have been embraced worldwide. In comparison, while Japanese food has gained significant traction, there is still room for growth.

One challenge we face is ensuring the authenticity of Japanese food products and seasonings. Many products marketed as “Japanese” are not actually from Japan, as other Asian countries produce similar ingredients and label them as authentic. Japanese food manufacturers need to be more proactive in promoting the authenticity of their products to distinguish them from others.

Another key issue is the lack of sufficient efforts to educate global consumers about the true taste of washoku. Often, when we visit Japanese restaurants abroad, the dishes served do not closely resemble authentic Japanese cuisine, which can lead to misconceptions. I personally believe the Japanese food industry has not done enough to educate international audiences on what authentic Japanese food should taste like.

That said, this does not mean we should reject all Japanese food prepared by non-Japanese chefs. Their contributions have certainly helped increase the popularity of washoku worldwide. However, as Japanese food producers, we have a responsibility to do more in guiding global consumers toward a deeper and more accurate appreciation of authentic Japanese cuisine.

How do you position dashi in comparison to traditional Western soup stocks? What efforts are you making to educate consumers—both in Japan and internationally—about the health benefits and culinary versatility of dashi?

Dashi is a powerful alternative to salt due to its natural umami, allowing for reduced sodium intake without compromising flavor. This is one of its inherent strengths, and we have long recognized its potential in promoting healthier eating habits. However, we acknowledge that we could have done more to actively highlight this benefit to a wider audience.

Moving forward, we aim to better communicate dashi’s health advantages and educate consumers on how it can be used as a flavorful, low-sodium alternative in everyday cooking.

Japan is said to be facing a population crisis. Its population is currently 125 million but is expected to shrink below 100 million by 2050. This demographic shift presents major challenges for the Japanese food industry, including a shrinking workforce and a smaller domestic market. Your two factories in Kyushu and Hokkaido are strategically located to source fresh, high-quality ingredients on one hand, but on the other, they also rely on a labor-intensive production process that requires a significant workforce. How does Kubara Honke address these demographic challenges?

As Japan’s population declines and the domestic market shrinks, our priority must be expanding overseas. This is the most critical step in securing our future market. At the same time, maintaining our current manufacturing operations requires improving production efficiency in our plants. Enhancing efficiency will allow us to sustain operations despite labor shortages and demographic challenges.

Looking ahead, we must also consider new paths for growth. While we are currently focused on seasonings, food ingredients, and condiments, we may explore expanding our product portfolio in the future. One potential avenue could be ready-to-eat meals or other innovative food products that align with evolving consumer needs.

Japanese products are widely recognized for their premium quality, and this holds true in the markets you are targeting for overseas expansion—The U.S, EU, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Each of these regions has a growing appreciation for authentic Japanese food, but consumer preferences and culinary habits may differ. What specific product offerings are you tailoring for these markets?

This is a significant challenge because, compared to Japan, a smaller percentage of people in these markets cook meals at home. This means we need to carefully consider what products to offer and how to sell them effectively. To succeed, we must develop a deep understanding of each local market and find ways to encourage consumers to integrate our ingredients into their everyday cooking. Getting home cooks to adopt our products as part of their daily staples will be crucial, though it presents a high hurdle for us to overcome. We are currently starting to roll out our popular Japanese product "dashi soup," which can be drunk immediately by pouring hot water over it, overseas as well.

Your company was founded in 1893 as a soy sauce brewery in Fukuoka and has since evolved into a leading producer of premium dashi, seasonings, and fermented foods. What are some of the key contributions Kubara Honke has made in preserving and promoting Kyushu cuisine?

One of our proudest achievements is the nationwide popularization of fried fish dashi. When most people think of dashi, they typically associate it with katsuo dashi (bonito flake dashi), but in reality, dashi varies by region, with different ingredients used depending on local traditions. For example, some areas primarily use kelp, while in northern Kyushu, there is a strong tradition of using fried fish.

Recognizing the exceptional taste of fried fish dashi early on, we made it a focus of our product development and actively promoted it. Over the years, its popularity grew, and it became widely recognized as a quality dashi option beyond Kyushu. In this way, our company played a key role in introducing and expanding the appreciation of fried fish dashi across Japan.

You are a well-established food company in the Kyushu region of Japan, and you also operate a restaurant, which I understand was founded with the goal of sustaining the local food culture. With traditional chefs aging and passing on, I imagine you aim to ensure that the next generation remains familiar with these ingredients and recipes. Can you tell us more about your commitment to preserving Kyushu cuisine, safeguarding traditional recipes, and maintaining the region’s rich food culture for future generations?

The succession of local cuisine from generation to generation does not necessarily have to rely solely on restaurants, though they can serve as valuable platforms for sharing knowledge. Ideally, traditional cuisine and culinary traditions should be passed down within households.

As a company that provides food ingredients for home cooking, we play a key role in this process. By offering products that align with traditional flavors and cooking methods, we can make proposals that encourage people to continue these culinary traditions. If our products are embraced and incorporated into daily cooking, we believe we can contribute to preserving Kyushu’s rich food culture for future generations.

In Japan, people develop their taste preferences through home cooking, and as a producer of ingredients, seasonings, condiments, and dashi, our role is to support this process—not as the main player, but by working behind the scenes in each household’s kitchen.

Many people find making dashi from scratch challenging because it is time-consuming and requires skill. By providing high-quality, ready-made dashi, we help home cooks maintain traditional cooking methods while making the process more accessible and convenient. In this way, we contribute to preserving Japan’s culinary heritage in everyday cooking.

Your business takes a direct-to-consumer approach through your integrated e-commerce platform and 40 premium stores. These stores are in strategic locations at Haneda, Narita, and Fukuoka airports and internationally in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Can you share your overall sales strategy and the steps you are taking to strengthen your market presence?

We plan to enhance our physical stores to create a distinct atmosphere that appeals to customers while also strengthening our flagship locations. At the same time, we will continue to expand our e-commerce presence, as we believe that physical stores and online sales should complement each other.

Our sales approach was a bit unconventional for our time. While many companies first establish physical stores before expanding into e-commerce, we took the opposite route. We initially built our brand through e-commerce, and once our products gained nationwide popularity, we began opening stores in key locations to further strengthen our market presence.

Your Kayanoya e-commerce platform serves both Japanese and international consumers, including a dedicated U.S. online store for North American customers. It also offers a rich collection of recipes to help people incorporate authentic Japanese flavors into their everyday meals. Are there specific strategies you are focusing on to enhance the customer experience, expand your international reach, or strengthen engagement with consumers through digital content?

The main customers of our online store in the U.S. are currently Japanese expats, other Asians, or Americans of Asian descent. However, the number of local American customers remains relatively small. To grow our e-commerce sales in the U.S., we must expand our reach to include more non-Japanese consumers. Without doing so, our online business there will not thrive.

This presents a challenge, but one potential strategy is leveraging our recipe collection to attract Americans who are open to trying new seasonings and condiments in their everyday meals. Another approach could be offering ready-meal options, making it easier for consumers unfamiliar with Japanese cooking to experience authentic flavors in a convenient way.

Would partnerships with famous chefs or food companies in those regions be something you’d consider to help tackle new consumer bases?

Yes, our goal is for our products to become fully integrated into everyday home cooking. We are actively exploring pathways to achieve this and remain open to ideas that can help introduce our seasonings, condiments, and dashi to a wider audience. Finding the right approach will be key to expanding our reach and ensuring our products become a natural choice in home kitchens.

We are considering finding a partner, especially in the US market, since it is so far away geographically, and we have actually started that process, but I cannot disclose any specifics yet.

Please imagine that we will return to interview you again on the last day of your presidency. Can you share with us any goals or personal ambition you have set for yourself to achieve by then?

I will turn 70 in April, so it would typically be time for me to retire and pass things on to the next generation. However, there are still many things I want to accomplish, making it difficult to say when that transition will happen.

In the future, we hope that Kayanoya will become synonymous with dashi all over the world.

For more information, please visit their website at: https://www.kubarahonke.com/en/

To read more about Kubara Honke Group, check out this article about them.