A pioneer in revitalizing Japan's fisheries industry born from the earthquake disaster: what future does he envision? (Part 1)

Fisherman Japan was established in May 2011 by a group of young fishermen from Tohoku, three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 3. With the mission of becoming a leader in implementing the "New 2014Ks (cool, profitable, innovative)" in the fishing industry from the seas of Sanriku, they have taken on the challenges of the local fishing industry, including a lack of successors.

Tsuda Yuki, one of the founding members of Fisherman Japan, is the second generation owner of a fishmonger's shop in Ishinomaki. He didn't have much attachment to his family business, and even considered quitting it after the Great East Japan Earthquake. How did Tsuda end up leading the recovery of Ishinomaki's fisheries industry as a member of Fisherman Japan? We also asked him about the business strategy of Fisherman Japan Marketing, where he serves as the representative director.

Yuki Tsuda
Born in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture in 1981. Graduated from the Graduate School of Business at Globis University with a Master's degree. While working in his family's seafood retail and wholesale business, he experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake. In 2014, he founded the General Incorporated Association Fisherman Japan with several young fishermen to solve issues such as a lack of successors in the local fishing industry. In 2016, he became the CEO of Fisherman Japan Marketing Co., Ltd., the sales division of Fisherman Japan.

He once thought about escaping from the world of fisheries, but now he dedicates his life to it.

--Fisherman Japan was established in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. How did you come to join the organization?

I used to run a fish shop in Ishinomaki and Sendai, but on the day the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred I was participating in an event in Sendai, so I didn't see the earthquake or the tsunami. However, I returned to Ishinomaki five days after the earthquake and saw the actual devastation with my own eyes. I thought, "This is no good. I can't do anything about this situation on my own," so I took my parents and stayed at my sister's house in Sendai. For the next three years, I was busy trying to rebuild my family business in Ishinomaki.

Sanriku's fishing industry had many problems even before the disaster, but the disaster brought these issues to light. However, solving these problems was not something that an individual or company could do on their own. So, we decided to "do something" and founded Fisherman Japan together with 11 fishermen and fishmongers from Miyagi Prefecture, IT company employees from Tokyo, and volunteer immigrants.

The year 2014, on the eve of the founding of Fisherman Japan. The original members were fishermen, fishmongers, IT company employees, and volunteer immigrants.

The death of a classmate also influenced my decision to establish Fisherman Japan. I had originally been working in a different field, but after failing, I reluctantly took over the family fish business. Then the disaster happened, and the thought crossed my mind that "this might be a good opportunity to quit." I was trying to run away from the fishing industry. But then I learned of the deaths of a local classmate and his family. I was 29 years old at the time. While my classmate had died at the age of 29, was it okay for me to run away? Even if I dedicate 10 years of my life to the reconstruction of my hometown, I'm still only 39, and I can still do what I like after that. So I decided to dedicate these 10 years to the local fishing industry with all my might.

--That's a great choice. Fisherman Japan has two organizations: Fisherman Japan General Incorporated Association and Fisherman Japan Marketing Co., Ltd.

The first one we established in 2014 was the general incorporated association Fisherman Japan. After the disaster, we were able to get subsidies to deal with hardware issues such as facilities, but we still had a problem of not having enough workers. So we decided to attract people by improving the image of fisheries, and we started training people to take on the role, matching with external talent, and promoting fisheries (information dissemination, PR). We promoted a fashionable image, which was picked up by the media, and thanks to that, we started to attract more people little by little.

Today's Fisherman Japan has a diverse range of members, including designers, former trading company employees, and former magazine editors, and is steadily increasing the number of fishermen in the broad sense of the word.

However, the fishing industry was not profitable to begin with, so there was a problem of people leaving after the disaster. Fisherman Japan's activities brought in young people, but it was obvious that when they moved on to the next stage in their lives, such as getting married, they would quit, saying, "I can't make it on this income." So, in 2016, we established Fisherman Japan Marketing Co., Ltd. as a sales department to create a new seafood logistics business. I am the representative of this company.

Achieving what one person or company cannot achieve through teamwork

--What kind of business does Fisherman Japan Marketing Co., Ltd. conduct?

Currently, we are engaged in four main businesses. The first is sales, where we work with seafood companies to sell products through catalogs and connect hotels with seafood processing companies to develop menus using local seafood.

The Sanriku Seafood Gastronomy Project developed a menu using local seafood in collaboration with the hotel.

The second business is the food and beverage business, where I run a restaurant called "Fishermantei, Oyster and Seafood Bowl" at Sendai Airport. This restaurant uses only MSC and ASC certified fish from Miyagi and other parts of Japan, and is also pursuing operational efficiency. They use high-quality frozen cooking kits and have introduced cashless self-checkouts to reduce labor costs. They have also introduced AI equipment to collect data on customer attributes and the menu items they order, and use this data in product development. This is an operational model that aims to reduce labor costs and food waste to the utmost, and they are also considering franchising in the future.

A bowl of rice from "Fishermantei Oyster and Seafood Bowl" that can be completed simply by placing the frozen easy-to-cook kit on rice.

The third is our overseas business. We have created two organizations to export local marine products overseas. One is the Ishinomaki Food Export Promotion Council, which is run by the Ishinomaki City Fisheries Division and our company, and is jointly exporting with over 3 marine, agricultural, and food processing companies in Ishinomaki. This organization has been selected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as a "GFP Global Production Center Promotion Company," and exports mainly to the United States. Based on the idea of ​​"One Factory Concept for Marine Products Processing in the United States," our sales representatives represent the needs of American customers, and over 2 companies in Ishinomaki work together as one marine processing factory to provide products. We are now approaching the 1 million yen annual export milestone, including wholesale of octopus to Kura Sushi USA.

The other is an organization called the "Tohoku Food Culture Export Promotion Business Cooperative Association," an export trading company that brings together 1 companies dealing in livestock, agricultural products, processed foods, and beverages from not only Ishinomaki but also the Tohoku region. Sendai International Airport and our company act as the secretariat, and we export to Asia and the Middle East. Alcohol is also popular, and we export grape juice to Saudi Arabia, where alcohol is not permitted.

In addition, as part of a project run by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, we are also working to teach fish killers and store them in Tanzania and support refrigerated distribution to inland Uganda. This is a project that we started in 2021 with a Ugandan company, and we plan to go there again this year.

The fourth is our consulting business. We started our activities after the earthquake and have started to see results, and we now receive various consultations from fishing villages all over the country. From Hokkaido to Fukuoka, we are working to improve problems all over Japan, such as declining catches, low fish prices, and a shortage of fish farmers.

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Yuki Tsuda established Fisherman Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake and has been working hard to revive Ishinomaki's fishing industry. Fisherman Japan Marketing, where he serves as CEO, promotes Ishinomaki and other Tohoku fishing products to Japan and the world, and also provides consulting to fishing villages all over Japan.

In Part 2, he will talk about the Blue Fund established in 2023 and the Summit held in March 2024, as well as looking back on the 3 years since the founding of Fisherman Japan and his current thoughts.

Interviewed and written by: Shino Kawasaki
After working on planning and editing corporate advertisements, she became a freelance writer, copywriter, and food coordinator in 2016. She writes about a wide range of topics, including food, medicine, housing, and fashion.