Portland boasts a number of Japanese cherry trees, which typically beautifully bloom during the month of March. These trees can be found along the Willamette River in Tom McCall Park, drawing in sightseers and picnickers every Spring. In addition, there are of course amazing cherry trees at the Portland Japanese Garden (PJG). On March 24 (Sun) from 11AM to 2PM, JASO [...]
On this day in 1910, Momofuku Ando was born. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 96 but his legacy lives on and has spread throughout the world. That is because he invented instant ramen in 1958 and the company he founded, Nissin Food Products, debuted Cup Noodles in Japan in 1971. Mr. Ando can be credited with [...]
Executive staff from Hokusei Products in Japan (Hokusei North America's parent company) will be visiting Oregon during the March 11 - 16, 2019 timeframe. While in Oregon, the Hokusei Products team plans to hold a series of meetings and discussions with customers, partners, vendors. Additionally, meetings will be set up to discover potential future relationships with Oregon companies in different [...]
CEO Shotaro Tomita on TV prgoram. Earlier this month, Hokusei Products (Japan) CEO Shotaro Tomita was featured on Japanese TV. Aired on the KNB network, the television segment featured business activities at Hokusei's European subsidiary, Hokusei Europe AB, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Having made the trip to Sweden, the KNB network crew showed what a "day in the [...]
There's no reason why New Year's should only be celebrated on January 1st. In Portland, there are two more upcoming events to mark the Oshōgatsu season: JASO's New Year's event on January 17th and Mochitsuki on January 27th. Both are great ways to celebrate and reconnect with friends in the community as well as enjoy a lot of tasty holiday [...]
We at Hokusei North America would like to wish all of our customers, partners, and parent company associates a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2019. According to the Chinese zodiac celebrated in Japan, 2019 is the "Year of the Boar". In Japan, boars are thought to be considerate, independent, responsible, and optimistic creatures. We at Hokusei North America certainly [...]
2019 marks the 60th year of Portland's sister city relationship with Sapporo, the largest city on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Since its start in 1959, this relationship has lead to numerous educational and cultural exchanges between the two cities. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of this special sister city relationship, a number of events will take place in 2019. [...]
The Holiday Season is a great time to be in Portland, filled with various events that can be enjoyed by young and old, locals and visitors alike. It's important to take time out from day-to-day work and home activities to really enjoy the Holidays -- to do some recommended activities and events that are most popular among Portlanders: A Pittock [...]
The day after Thanksgiving, November 23, marked the 34th annual Christmas Tree lighting in Portland's Pioneer Square. The 75 foot tall tree was grown in Oregon, and was decorated with 14,000 lights. To heighten the mood of the festivity, Portland's famed Pink Martini musical group lead tree lighting event attendees in a holiday sing-along. The Christmas Tree lighting kicks off [...]
An outdoor retail chain in Hokkaido wanted Canadian-made Esquif canoes. The Quebec-based company had canoes ready to for export. Yet somehow, the canoes never made their way to Japan despite considerable consumer interest. Enter Hokusei North America to manage purchasing, logistics and export and within a few months, Esquif canoes made their Japanese debut. Attached is some recent press about [...]