Launching a bivalve business in Onagawa that will become a global protein source! by Shosuke
Nice to meet you! My name is Shosuke Hasegawa, and I am a member of the Onagawa Town Community Revitalization Cooperation Squad!
I am originally from Chiba Prefecture, and most recently, I was doing data analysis and other work at a company running plant factories in the United States. Through various circumstances, I came to want to launch a bivalve, specifically a Japanese cockle (torigai), seed production business (a business that produces juvenile cockles, or seeds, for aquaculture farmers to raise). Bivalves are an incredibly environmentally friendly protein source, and I believe that the Japanese cockle, in particular, has the potential to become a global protein source.
However, that is a very long story, so I plan to explain it in detail in another article (laughs).
This time, I will give a brief self-introduction, talk about how I came to focus on the Community Revitalization Cooperation Squad, and why I ended up in Onagawa!
Self-Introduction
I was born in 1994 and am 30 years old. I am from Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture! Although I am from Chiba, I grew up as a so-called returnee, having spent a total of five and a half years abroad during my childhood due to my father's work.
Student days: Wanting to be involved in the environmental field in some way
I went to a university in the United States and studied mainly environmental science. Environmental science is a field with a short history, but it is a discipline that uses various academic approaches to study the environment surrounding humans and its impact on humans and ecosystems. I personally enjoy thinking about the natural environment and human society within it, and I started my career wanting to be involved in the environmental field after graduation!
New graduate days: Realizing the power of the private sector
After entering the workforce in 2017, I first joined a large general trading company. However, there were parts that didn't fit me culturally, so I quit soon after.
Meanwhile, the food delivery service Uber Eats was about to expand in Japan, and I ended up getting involved in that expansion. As a result, I stayed for nearly four years, and although there were only about 20 employees when I joined, I witnessed it grow to about 200.
My job was to acquire what we called "delivery partners" through various means and support the expansion of Uber Eats. At the time, seeing the number of delivery partners carrying black delivery bags increase day by day, I realized that the power of the private sector to change society is truly amazing, and above all, it is incredibly fast.
This was also in contrast to my previous job at the trading company. At the trading company, there were many government-related projects, but projects involving the government or large corporations move incredibly slowly. Also, pushing things forward top-down when people's interests are not aligned requires tremendous coordination effort. This is the exact opposite of how Uber Eats permeated Japanese cities and became a part of people's lives.
While experiencing such opposite environments, I began to focus on the power of the private sector, especially startups.
If you pursue what you really want to do, you have to do it yourself!
After that, I joined a company called Oishii that practices new, environmentally friendly agriculture (plant factories). I had valuable experiences there, such as technology development and factory setup, and I will talk about that in detail somewhere else as well.
However, at this point, I had various realizations (more on that in another article!), and I began to think that I wanted to do bivalve, specifically Japanese cockle, seed production.
However, there is no existing company that practices what I want to do. When you have a clear idea of what you want to do, joining an organization that does something different means you have to compromise on what you want to do.
That's why I thought, I'll launch a private business myself! I'll launch a Japanese cockle seed production business myself! I thought, let's use the power of the private sector to do what I want to do quickly and change society!
The path to becoming a Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad member
That said, launching my own business—in other words, starting a company—was uncharted territory for me. The first thing I thought about was cash flow.
How to manage cash flow
The things I want to do require a lot of money: setting up a base, research equipment, and eventually personnel and utility costs as we scale. Furthermore, I have only ever been an employee, a salaryman, so to speak. I also need to figure out how to make a living for myself in the immediate future.
With that in mind, I started considering ways to fund the business. Generally, the following methods exist for business financing:
Self-funding = Personal capital
Getting it from someone else (with repayment obligation) = Bank loans, etc.
Getting it from someone else (without repayment obligation) = Equity investment, etc.
Receiving it = Grants, etc.
While exploring financing options, I also organized what I have and what I don't have.
What I have
Passion for the business
Skills to advance technical development, such as data analysis
Other skills gained from my previous work experience
What I don't have
Capital
Technology
Fishing rights
"Self-funding" and "loans" are difficult!
The first thing I ruled out as a means of financing was "personal funds." It's not like I have that much money, haha, and since this is a business with social significance and global scalability, I decided there must be other ways.
The next thing I ruled out was "loans." I don't currently possess the technology. In other words, I don't have a product that I can start selling immediately. Also, while some people, such as prefectural fisheries research centers and a small number of private companies, possess the technology for seed production of bivalves like the Japanese cockle, it is a very closed and protected technology. In other words, I have to work hard and develop the technology myself.
I don't know when I'll see a path to success in technology development, and it's possible that I might never see one in my lifetime. Thinking about that, I had to rule out any means that would create a future repayment obligation.
Because the Japanese cockle business is my life's theme, "investment" is also a no-go!
This might seem like a sudden change of subject, but have you ever seen data like the following?
This shows the average corporate profit by industry, compiled by a certain major consulting firm. In other words, the industries on the right are more profitable, and those on the left are less profitable.
Looking at this, it's clear that profits by industry are truly imbalanced. And the software industry, shown in blue on the far right, is extremely profitable, while the food industry, shown in red in the middle, is just about average.
Money in the world is unevenly distributed, and what is truly important to the world is not necessarily what is most profitable. That is well reflected in the data above.
Since most of the profit is generated by a few industries, if you want to make money, it's best to ride that big wave.
But for me, I want to resist that. My ideal is not to become a billionaire, but to have 100% passion and pride in what I am doing, even if I am wearing tattered clothes. That focus is the Japanese cockle business for me. In a sense, it has led to the Japanese cockle, bivalves, and the surrounding fisheries industry within a single life theme.
Returning to the topic of "investment" here... as a matter of principle, I want to launch the business with 100% management control myself is what I started to think. If I have management control taken away, there is a possibility that I won't be able to work on what I truly believe is important.
For example, if I started a business without having management control, I might have to align my management policy with the shareholders, such as investors. Even if what I really want to do is to advance selective breeding while producing Japanese cockle spat, arguments might arise that "software utilizing AI for aquaculture is easier to make money from as a business."
Thinking about it that way, I came to the conclusion that investment might not be suitable for financing the business. At the very least, I started to think of it as a means for further down the road.
The Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad system that emerged from my journey of searching for "subsidies"!
Of course, there are various types of subsidies, but among them, the one I arrived at was the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad system.
What I am trying to do cannot be done anywhere like IT; it requires a physical base that serves as a research and production hub. Since the research hub uses seawater and electricity, it needs to be in a seaside location, such as a corner of a fishing port. Furthermore, once I am able to produce Japanese cockle seeds, I need to sell them to aquaculture operators. Looking ahead, I will also need to acquire fishing rights somewhere.
In other words, I myself need to take root in a specific seaside region.
The Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad system is a system that supports people who try to realize a mission by taking root in a specific region. They provide activity expenses to realize the mission and living expenses for the several years it takes to realize the mission. The activity expenses have a wide range of applicable targets, and since it is not a percentage or ratio subsidy, it is very easy to use. For me, the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad was a system I was so grateful for that I couldn't imagine not utilizing it.
The path to Onagawa
While it is good to focus on the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad system, this system can be utilized all over Japan, although its operation methods differ depending on the municipality. From here, I will explain the circumstances behind how I became aOnagawaCommunity-Reactivating Cooperator Squad member!
My first contact with Onagawa in 2014
I first came to Onagawa not in 2024, but back in January 2014. When I toured the disaster-stricken areas with an environmental studies professor, we stopped by Onagawa, and I burned the tragic scene into my memory.
Despite that, Onagawa now has a beautiful townscape where the commercial area in front of the station connects straight to the sea. The charm of Onagawa is packed into that recovery story.
A culture where young people can easily play an active role, continuing from the post-disaster recovery
During the recovery, Onagawa thoroughly implemented the rule,“Those over 60, keep your mouths shut!”and the young people who would become the main players of the town led the town development.
This culture is still alive today. My first impression when I came to Onagawa was, “Why are there so many young people (even though it’s a regional city)!?” That impression hasn’t changed since I moved here, and I get the feeling that young people, including newcomers, are actively engaged in various fields in Onagawa.
An open society without unwritten rules or customs
Onagawa forms an inlet of a ria coastline and is an isolated terrain surrounded by the sea and mountains. However, if you trace its history, a history that is the exact opposite of a society like an isolated village community emerges.
Onagawa is a town of immigrants that has grown over about 100 years as people gathered in search of high-quality fishing ports. Furthermore, in the recent past, there was the very unfortunate event of the earthquake disaster, but that triggered further interaction with the outside world, such as the influx of recovery volunteers.
Because of this history, there are no unwritten rules or customs in Onagawa, and a very open society has been formed. There is asoil where change is constant, thinking is flexible, and diversity is accepted.
In other words, it is a place where young people can engage in various activities without being held back by local entanglements or human relationships. I believe that is where the goodness of Onagawa lies.
Onagawa’s perfect location as the gateway to the Sanriku Coast!
Onagawa’s location is also perfect for the business I want to do.
Japanese tiger prawns are weak against water temperatures above 28°C, and due to the recent rise in seawater temperatures, it is expected that future aquaculture bases in Japan will be in the Tohoku region and further north. In other words, I needed to establish a base in northern Japan myself.
The Sanriku Coast in the Tohoku region is one of the leading aquaculture regions after the Seto Inland Sea.Onagawa Town is at the southernmost tip of the Sanriku Coast, making it a very convenient place to go to each municipality on the Sanriku Coast, as well as to Sendai and Tokyo.
To top it off, a summer school I know well is held in Onagawa every year, and I had acquaintances there. As you can see, there were more than enough reasons to come to Onagawa, and I joined the Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad in Onagawa!
In conclusion
In this article, I focused on a brief self-introduction and the process that led me to the Local Vitalization Cooperator program and Onagawa Town. I hope to talk about why bivalves and why Japanese cockles in future posts!
I look forward to your continued support!
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