Why is Zojirushi Providing Onigiri at the Expo?

In the past, Zojirushi, as a company working to cook delicious rice, has not only sold rice cookers, but also been involved in the restaurant business, such as ZOJIRUSHI ‘GOHAN’ RESTAURANT, ZOJIRUSHI GINPAKU BENTO and ZOJIRUSHI GINPAKU ONIGIRI, with hopes to “make more people smile over rice” and “conserve the rice culture in Japan.” One of our goals here is to “spread Japanese rice culture throughout the world.” It was a very natural challenge for us to open an onigiri store at the Expo, which attracts many customers from overseas.
Our goal is not just to sell onigiri at the Expo venue. We are working on the “Expo ONIGIRI” project with the aim to “make people aware of Japanese ingredients and dishes that go well with rice” and “let people know that rice goes well with dishes from around the world” through onigiri.

The More We Create Together, the More Interesting It Gets

At first, we started with nearly a blank slate, except for the idea to “sell onigiri at the Expo venue.” However, I had one true conviction, “making onigiri with a variety of people is fun.” We once held an event to make onigiri with ingredients recommended by various residents of the shared office where our New Business Department Office is located, and it ended up a resounding success. I had felt the potential of onigiri, a familiar presence for everyone.
Around that time, a member of the Awaji Island local revitalization group asked for our cooperation in “an onigiri event they wished to hold to promote the attractiveness of Awaji Island,” and I decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a wonderful event that pleased not only the onigiri eaters but also the people who delivered the ingredients. With solid results from this project, we began searching for ingredients for local onigiri while fostering new connections, including opening stalls at other “EXPO Bar” events around the country to promote the Expo. While “co-creation” is one of the themes of the Expo, it was also the perfect slogan for our creation of “Expo ONIGIRI.”

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  ▲ EXPO Bar Wakayama

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  ▲ EXPO Bar Matsubara

Guided by the Onigiri Connection

Strangely enough, once one connection was made, it led to a series of other connections. When we were serving onigiri with Nanko-ume plums from Wakayama at the EXPO Bar, the vice mayor of Matsubara City, Osaka, who was visiting the bar, approached us and asked us to make onigiri with Kawachigamo duck, a local specialty. It was as if the story of “Omusubi Kororin” had come to life, and the project took more and more interesting turns.
What I felt more strongly than anything else in my interactions with these local people was their love and pride in their local specialty products. We should not treat each ingredient with half-baked knowledge and skills. Be specific about the cooking methods and use as many local ingredients as possible to create onigiri that will help communicate the attractiveness of the region. That became my renewed resolve.

▲ A scene from the workshop in Aomori

Disseminating Little-known Attractiveness of Various Parts of Japan at the Same Time

Although we were able to develop onigiri from different regions through the connections that onigiri gave us, the time we had was nowhere near enough to explore all of Japan. We therefore asked Ms. Kana Sugamoto, the “traveling omusubiya” (a person that specializes in omusubi (rice balls)) who had traveled to all 47 prefectures and knew all about regional foods, to join our team. It was decided that we would travel to six areas around Japan together and work with local residents to develop the ingredients for “Onigiri from Japan” that would be on display at the Expo venue.
Thanks to this, we were able to find attractive foodstuffs in various regions, and cleared Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku, and Kinki regions as of August 2024. Digging for lotus roots in Ibaraki, which was hard work but fun, fishing for white shrimp in Toyama, where the sunrise was beautiful, etc. We plan to compile and play our video coverage of stories around local food at the Expo storefront. We hope to entertain visitors with the hidden charms of each region as they munch on local onigiri. Please look forward to it.

▲ Our coverage of white shrimp fishing in Toyama

Co-creation with Students and People Around the World

Our connections went farther beyond Japan to the world. This is because we thought that the best way to convey the “deliciousness of rice” to people overseas was to use dishes that are familiar to the people of each country as ingredients of onigiri so that they would consider, “I could try this.” In fact, we eat delicious meals regularly with foreign dishes on the side. While researching various foreign dishes that go well with onigiri for this purpose, we discovered an industry-academia collaboration that was already working on creating “onigiri of the world” for the Expo. When we approached them about the possibility of working together on future activities, they immediately responded enthusiastically and we decided to co-create the project. At the three-way collaboration event, we were impressed and greatly inspired by the students’ free thinking.
We also asked consulates and government agencies of each country to taste the product in advance, because we wanted to make sure that the product would be recognized by the people of the country in which it originated. We received advice from native people about details such as the common use of malt vinegar as a seasoning for fish and chips, which we considered as an ingredient for the English onigiri, and the particular blend of cheese produced in Switzerland for the cheese fondue, which we considered as an ingredient for the Swiss onigiri, and were able to achieve more genuine and excellent products. We are looking forward to having domestic and international visitors taste them at the Expo venue.

▲ Sales of onigiri at “Osaka Product Marché Road to EXPO 2025”

The Next Journey Begins at the Expo

Sales of onigiri at the Expo venue would begin the following spring. There was pressure, but it was the power of “onigiri” that allows everyone to collaborate freely and connect with delicious feelings that still made us genuinely feel, “it is fun!” In other words, I realize again that it is the “inclusiveness of rice.”
What we can do now is to complete the WOW! Expo ONIGIRI filled with surprise and joy to express our gratitude to everyone. I believe that getting as many people as possible to eat the onigiri and think, “I would like to visit the area (where the ingredients had come from),” is the best way to repay everyone who cooperated with us. Of course, our journey will continue even after the Expo is over. Until the day when delicious Japanese food becomes the norm around the world. Until the day when delicious Japanese food becomes the norm around the world. I would like to make another start with the many connections I have been gifted with through this project.