From the News | The Frozen "Norm"

One recent news story that I found particularly concerning was the cyberattack on Nichirei.

This event made me realize for the first time that Japan's frozen food distribution system is so heavily dependent on a single company.

What makes this fundamentally different from the past cyberattack on Asahi Breweries is that Japan's "cold chain logistics" are almost entirely concentrated in Nichirei. Because of this, when a problem occurred, it was impossible to immediately switch to other companies, causing the impact to spread widely across society.

While centralizing systems is extremely efficient, I strongly feel the need to consider "redundancy" (backup functions) in case of an emergency.

The following is an essay-style summary of a deep-dive discussion I had with AI (Gemini) regarding the questions this incident raised for me. (Written by: Gemini)

The Frozen "Norm"

Frozen foods packed tightly on convenience store shelves. Ingredients delivered on time to the kitchens of restaurant chains. We accept these things as "normal"—just like the air we breathe or the water from our taps. No one usually thinks about the massive, invisible infrastructure that runs behind this perfect daily life, operating without a single second of deviation.

July 2026. The cyberattack that struck Nichirei, the absolute king of cold chain logistics, instantly exposed the precariousness—like walking on thin ice—that lies behind that "norm."

A single company's system stopped. Just like that, everything from other companies' fried chicken to conveyor-belt sushi toppings disappeared from store shelves nationwide. Modern logistics warehouses are optimized to the extreme by advanced digital systems. What is where, and how much of it is there? The moment the "brain" that manages this was encrypted and lost its function, the vast amount of food piled up before our eyes turned into "lost inventory," with no one knowing who it belonged to or where it should be delivered.

The "just-in-time" philosophy—a sophisticated efficiency model that Japan prides itself on, which holds no wasted inventory. While it brings the fruits of low costs during peaceful times, it is also a double-edged sword that can cause society to dry up in an instant the moment its core becomes clogged.

"There is a risk in having everything concentrated in one company, but it is efficient. That is precisely why we must think about redundancy (backup) measures."

I think that is correct. In our pursuit of efficiency, haven't we been cutting away too much "slack" (margin) as if it were mere "waste"?

Securing backups costs money. If you double your logistics routes, shipping costs will soar during normal times, and if you keep "buffer stock" at hubs to prepare for emergencies, storage fees will pile up. Should we dismiss these as "wasted costs," or accept them as "insurance premiums" to keep society alive? We are now standing at the threshold of that paradigm shift.

When talking about emergency backups, the first thing that comes to mind is the "electricity" system.
Following the painful lessons of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Japan's power grid has evolved. If power becomes tight in one region, a command center with legal authority issues a mandatory directive: "Transfer electricity from regions with surplus capacity." And indeed, this rule of mutual aid has saved us from the brink during recent heatwaves and harsh winters.

However, when trying to apply the rules of electricity directly to logistics or other industries, a desperate wall stands in the way.

Electricity is the "same electricity" no matter which company produces it, and as long as the wires are connected, it can be mixed and transmitted. But logistics is not like that. The temperature requirements, expiration dates, and shapes of the cargo being handled are all different. Above all, there is the wall of rivalry between private companies and customer information that cannot be shown to others. "Connecting each other's systems, revealing trade secrets, and sharing warehouses and trucks in an emergency" is not as easy as it sounds.

Efficiency and safety. The question of how to balance these two is not just a problem for large corporations like Nichirei or power companies.

Behind the comfortable society of "cheap, fast, and convenient," there is always a hidden risk that something will be sacrificed. Now that we have witnessed the fragility of this frozen system, perhaps we need to slightly redefine what it means to be prosperous.

Accepting a little bit of "waste" or "slack." That, after all, will be the greatest barrier to protecting our daily lives in the next crisis.

#Nichirei
#Distribution
#News
#CyberAttack
#SupplyChain
#AICollaboration
#Gemini
#Essay