CEO Shotaro Tomita After a 3-year hiatus forced by the COVID epidemic, Hokusei North America’s President, Shotaro Tomita will be returning to Oregon in late-September. The purpose of President Tomita’s trip will be to visit with Hokusei’s Oregon trading partners, to show his appreciation their continued collaboration and cooperation with Hokusei, despite the challenges of the pandemic. Additional, Mr. Tomita [...]
Recently, Hokusei North America's parent company, Hokusei Products made the news for its imports of purees into Japan. On August 16, the Kita Nippon Shinbun (North Japan Newspaper) published an article detailing Hokusei's effort to import and market fruit purees made in Oregon to Japanese craft breweries. This article provided an overview of Hokusei's puree marketing activities, and even mentioned [...]
As reported in a previous post, the “Fuji to Hood” festival, which focused on beers made in collaboration between Oregon and Japanese brewers, took place on Saturday, July 16. Despite some last minute changes, the festival was a great success. The 1,000 allotted tickets were sold out before the event, which unfortunately meant that many hopeful attendees had to be [...]
Ever want to know more about Hokusei Products, Hokusei North America's parent company in Toyama, Japan? For those interested in learning more about our Japanese counterpart, its history, its business activities, its diverse locations, and its people, Hokusei Products recently added English-language narration to its corporate overview video. To see the video, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQwCKc6PfE&t=9s or, simply click the [...]
Originally scheduled to take place in 2020, but cancelled the same year and again in 2021, Fuji to Hood festival returns this year on Saturday, July 16. For those not familiar with it, Fuji to Hood is a beer and food festival between 40 like-minded breweries, cideries, and distilleries in the shadow of Oregon's Mt. Hood and Japan's Mt. Fuji. Portland, [...]
On Friday, May 27 (Japan time), Hokusei North America will host a webinar for members of the craft beer industry in Japan. In partnership with Oregon Fruit Products, the webinar will focus on how fruit purees are used in the very popular IPA style of craft beer. Following an opening greeting by Hokusei's CEO Shotaro Tomita, the webinar will share [...]
In cooperation with the US Governments Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) in Osaka, Japan, Hokusei will be attending the FABEX food show to be held in Osaka in September 2022. The FABEX show focuses on food, beverages, dessert sweets, and baked goods, and pre-COVID had attendance of over 40,000 visitors. It is considered to be the largest food show in Western [...]
In March, thousands of cherry trees burst into huge bouquets of pink and white across Portland. It is one of the prettiest times to be in Portland, as the cherry trees are often joined by other flowering trees such as magnolias and plums to brighten up the city after a dark, cloudy winter. One of the best-known spots to [...]
On Feb 23, 2022, Hokusei North America staff participated in a food & beverage B2B networking session hosted by Prosper Portland, the City of Portland's economic and urban development agency. The on-line event was organized as a way for mainly Oregon- and Japan-based food manufacturers/producers to introduce their products to a variety of supermarket buyers, marketers, and importers. The event [...]
Earlier this month, Hokusei North America sent its most recent shipment of fruit puree to Japan, destined for Japanese breweries making fruited beers. The puree was made by Hokusei's key business partner, Oregon Fruit Products, based in Salem, Ore. The puree shipment was the largest to date, and included 14 different puree flavors. This time, the top puree flavor shipped [...]