Five years in the making — what is the driving force behind the birth of Seven-Eleven’s first certified seafood products?（Part 2）

In 2017, Kohei Yagita of Seven-Eleven Japan received a sudden request from an international environmental NGO to complete a survey on raw material procurement for seafood products. Then, through meetings with Seafood Legacy CEO Hanaoka and a Buddhist monk who had experienced forced labor onboard a fishing vessel, he realized the importance of sustainable seafood initiatives.

Since then, he has undertaken a wide range of initiatives to solve environmental issues, not limited to seafood products, including the launch of Alaska Seafood label rice balls in 2022, and the development and launch of environmentally friendly containers.（Read Part 1)

In the second part of my interview with Mr. Yagita, who was also a speaker at Tokyo Sustainable Seafood Summit 2024, I asked him about his thoughts on consumers, the environment, and tips for bringing sustainable seafood into the mainstream.

“A label for corporate value”, “don’t pass it on to consumers” — helping people understand the true value of the label

—— When you spoke at TSSS2024, you said, “In order to increase the number of sustainable product options while taking into account customers’ needs, it is also important to create awareness among customers.” Have you experienced any difficulties in your efforts to do so?

One of our customers once told me, “I wish you wouldn’t put a certification label on your products to increase your corporate value and then pass the cost on to consumers”. This made me realize that some people may see our sustainability efforts as a form of corporate self-satisfaction, even though we are doing them for everyone’s futures, including ourselves.

The Alaska Seafood label I spoke about in the first half of this interview is for red salmon rice balls, which is a product that has a very large sales volume. Although this label is spreading all across Japan, I sometimes wonder if it has become just a pattern, just part of the background scenery, and I sometimes wonder how many people are buying these products because of this label.

Mr, Yagita speaking about his encounter with Hanaoka at the Tokyo Sustainable Seafood Summit “Summary: Charting a Path toward the 2030 Goal of Making Sustainable Seafood Mainstream in Seafood Distribution” (Photo: Nobuyuki Aoki)

Currently (as of January 2025), Alaska Seafood labeled red salmon rice balls are sold at ¥185 (tax included) due in part to the rising cost of raw materials. On the other hand, in July 2024, we began offering a ¥138 (tax included) hand-wrapped red salmon rice ball as a product that meets the need for an affordable item to fill the stomach, and sales of that product have been growing.

I recently had the opportunity to speak in front of Alaskan producers, and I informed them of this current situation in Japan. In order to somehow achieve a breakthrough, I also mentioned the idea of counting how many labeled rice balls are bought on the Seven-Eleven Japan app and sending an assortment of sustainable Alaskan seafood to the top few purchasers. The people who received the seafood could then promote it on social media platforms.

While sustainable activities tend to be perceived as something foisted upon the consumer when communicated from the corporate side, they may have an impact if the efforts can be communicated from consumer to consumer through word of mouth.

Begin with creating choices, and eventually eliminate them

—— What are your future goals, Mr. Yagita?

I believe that my goal in the short-term is to create choices, and my goal in the medium- to long-term is to eliminate them. I think that it is important to create choices — such as offering rice balls with and without the Alaska Seafood label — so that everyone has an opportunity to participate in sustainable initiatives. But eventually, my ultimate goal is to have all of our products be sustainable, and to have no unsustainable products.

I have two children. The younger one, who is in first grade, suffers from a brain disorder. He is physically healthy, but cannot understand speech. This child is unable to choose his own food, so eventually, after I die, he will have to be given food by someone else. When that happens, I don’t want him to eat food derived from unclear routes without realizing. I hope that by that time, all food will have been handled in the correct manner.

—— There are many environmental and social issues, and they are not easily solved. What do you think should be done to overcome these challenges?

I think we need to help as many people as possible see and learn what is going on behind the scenes. I also participated in a seafood summit in Bangkok with a representative from a business partner, and my awareness of the situation changed when I heard the story of a blind Buddhist monk. When the movie “Ghost Fleet: The Unknown Dark Side of the Seafood Industry” was released in Japan, I invited many of our business partners to see it with me, and their awareness of the situation also changed.

I feel that simply putting a certification label on a product isn’t enough to reach consumers. It is important to let them know what is going on behind the scenes.

It’s time to change the “picky eater” mindset

—— TSSS2024 unveiled a goal to “bring sustainable seafood into the mainstream by 2030”. What do you think is necessary to achieve this goal?

Fish is an important part of Seven-Eleven Japan’s products. Our consistently popular top five rice ball products in terms of sales are salmon, cod roe, kelp, tuna mayo, and plum rice balls; four of the five are seafood products. Therefore, it is important for us to have an abundance of seafood when it comes to our work. However, bringing sustainable seafood into the mainstream remains a difficult challenge.

However, there is something I always think about. I have been reading Dan Barber’s book “The Third Plate”, and I empathize with the concept of “farm to table*”as described in the book. On top of that, I believe it would be ideal for people to consume in proportion to the amount of vegetables and fish that can be naturally harvested, and for upstream production to be prioritized. At present, however, the consumer is prioritized, and production is determined by consumer demand — “I want to eat more of this, and I don’t want that”.

The ideal model, in which upstream production is prioritized, is difficult to achieve. In this context, I feel the retail industry has an important role to play — how to best supply what is abundantly available, and how to carefully deliver what is rare in a way that is commensurate to its rarity. This is something that the retail industry, which is the final link in the chain with consumers, should consider.

*Farm to table: “From the farm to the table”. The concept of locally produced and locally consumed sustainable food that is not only close to producers and consumers but also environmentally friendly.

Speaking to local producers in Alaska about the current state of the Japanese market

—— Mr, Yagita, what is your personal commitment to realizing the ideal model that prioritizes upstream production, and what are your expectations from the fishing industry?

I have always made it a point to visit various locations and listen to what the people there have to say. Whenever I want to work on a certain initiative, I always try to talk to people who are on the opposite side of the issue. There are many things that we don’t know, and there must be many things that we are not communicating to consumers.

I also believe that there are things which those involved in science and the fishing industry would like to convey to the retail industry, but which they have been unable to. As I realized when I travelled to Alaska, once people with different perspectives meet and talk with each other, they can find ways to utilize ingredients which they have not handled before. I think it is also necessary for people in the fishing industry to transcend various barriers, get to know each other, and talk to each other.

Kohei Yagita
Joined Seven-Eleven Japan in 2005. After working as a store management consultant, he joined the company’s Product Division in 2013. He was in charge of seafood raw material procurement and environmental strategy within Product HQ, and from 2021, he was the plastic strategy sub-leader of Seven & i Holdings’ Environmental Subcommittee. He is currently the chief merchandiser of the rice & noodle category, one of the company’s major product groups.

Original Japanese text：Shino Kawasaki