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Meat on Mars? Sky’s the limit for cellular food frontier
Roundtable
JACOB REEDCONTRIBUTING WRITER

By the year 2040, Yuki Hanyu, the CEO ofIntegriCulture Inc., aims to build a factory onMars.
Leveraging his background in nanotechnology (Ph.D., Oxford University, 2010) andhis work on the development of low-cost“cellular agriculture” technology, he wants tocontribute to sustainability by industrializing
the growing of meat from cell cultures — aprocess that doesn’t require herds of cattle.
This technology could be a solution not only
for the dietary demands of Earth’s growing
middle class, but even for the space colonistsof the future.
Beyond its own research and development, IntegriCulture offers a technologicalplatform for other businesses — primarily
within the agriculture and cosmetics industries — to use for their own cell-culture
initiatives.
Hanyu was the guest at The Japan Times
Sustainable Roundtable No. 28, hosted by
Ross Rowbury, on Feb. 27.

Science fiction, or science?

Growing up, Hanyu was fascinated by science fiction as depicted in Japanese anime
such as “Gundam” and “Ghost in the Shell.”
Early on, he was interested in battery technology to enable futuristic societies runningon 100% renewables, “but battery technology is already a reality, and I wanted towork on something even more sci-fi-ish,” heexplained.
In space operas, things like cell-cultured
meat are often depicted as the means bywhich humans in outer space derive theirsustenance. “I want to make the really coolthings I saw in anime and video games a reality, and cell-cultured meat seems the place
to be right now,” Hanyu said, emphasizing
the word “cool.” He added that he believes
there is something within us that cries out
for these technologies to be real, and that
we actually need them. This, he said, is why
they appear repeatedly within science fiction media.
One question on consumers’ minds whenit comes to something like cell-cultured
meat is, “Does it taste and look the same asreal meat?” Hanyu said that depends on how
it is made. Because the product would beidentical at the cellular level, it should theoretically taste the same. However, according
to Hanyu, there are many adjustments thatcan be made, and cell-cultured meat can takeon various characteristics. “Theoretically,
you can make meat that is higher in protein,or even set the appearance of the marbling tolook like Pikachu!” he exclaimed.

Making meat sustainable

Yuki Hanyu, co-founder and CEO of IntegriCulture Inc. COSUFI FOR PHOTOMATE

What cell-culture technology companies like
IntegriCulture do is grow cells that become
the basis for agricultural and cosmetic products. Within cosmetics, IntegriCulture has aserum currently available at some skin careclinics, called Cellament, that contains bioactive ingredients. “It takes at least two weeks
to make only a small amount,” said Hanyu.
Switching to agricultural products, Rowbury wondered how long it would take tooping countries acquire more wealth, thedemand for protein-laden diets is expanding.
“In some countries,” Hanyu said, “demandfor meat-based calories is likely to increaseby as much as 30% over the next twodecades.” This in turn will create demandfor ever more land to raise cattle, taking aheavy toll on the environment. In the future,
Hanyu expects that the process of producing cell-cultured meat will require far fewer
resources than traditional cattle farming.

‘Neophobia’ and challenges

Roundtable host Ross Rowbury and Hanyu get ready for another chat. COSUFI

make a kilogram of meat. “That depends onthe process,” explained Hanyu. “Cells divide
every day or two, so if you already had 300
tons of cell-cultured meat prepared in a big
tank, you would have another 300 tons thenext day. In that scenario, creating 1 kilogram
would be a question of minutes.” In the longrun, if the project continues without major
engineering obstacles, they should be able
to create a lot of meat in a very short timeindeed.
The technology can also be used for poultry or even fruits and vegetables. “It’s basically like growing a peach without a peachtree,” Hanyu said with a laugh. Of course, tocreate cell cultures in the first place, live cells
need to be acquired from an animal or plant.
The cells then need to be given the proper
nutrients (cell medium) and environment

DewayaPure flavors of local northern cooking

in which to grow, but once the process starts,
cell division takes care of the rest. At the endof this process, you are left with a slurry ofcells that can be formed into more aesthetically pleasing forms in a process known astissue engineering. “To be honest, tissue engineering technology is not there yet, but it isbeing actively researched for not only cellular
agriculture, but also regenerative medicine.”
How does cellular-based agriculture contribute to sustainability? Increasingly, newcompanies and technologies have been
forced to grapple with the reality of climatechange and the ecological footprint that
their products and consumers leave behind.
The conversation is especially important tohave when a product is brought to market
on a large scale. As the globe’s population
increases, and especially as people in devel-

HIROKO NAKATACONTRIBUTING WRITERTAEKO TERAOCONTRIBUTING WRITER

The town of Nishikawa, home to theDewaya restaurant and inn, is about 40
minutes by car from Yamagata Station. Nestled in the foothills of the famous Mount
Gassan, the town receives a lot of snow
even for Japan’s snowy northern region.
Sericulture, forestry and mining once
thrived in the area but have since declined,
now replaced by the tourism industry,
which centers on summer hiking, springskiing and hot springs.
Dewaya was established in 1918 as aninn. Haruki Sato is the fourth generation
to carry on the family business, learning
his trade at a high-end Japanese restaurant in Tokyo before returning home to
Nishikawa in 2013.
“The first thing I did was build connections with traditional hunters, skilled foragers of wild vegetables and other local foodproducers. That strengthened my commitment to making the natural abundance ofMount Gassan and wild vegetable dishes
the focus of the restaurant,” he said.
Accommodation and two meals starts
at ¥19,800 ($150) per night. Restaurant service alone is available starting at ¥6,600 for
either lunch or dinner. The “chef ’s table”

package, including one night’s accommodation and two meals prepared personallyby Sato, is also available. This latter option
is of course popular with foodies.
Unlike coastal Yamagata cities such as
Sakata, Nishikawa was an impoverished
mountain area until the bubble years ofthe 1980s. The food prepared at Dewaya

draws on the knowledge of earlier generations who lived through hard times.
These are the pure flavors of local cooking,distinct from the Kyoto-style cuisine that
became popular throughout Japan following World War II. It is Sato’s enduring aim
to share this “flavor of the mountains” withthe wider world.

MIEKO YOSHIMURAYAMAGATA PREFECTURE GOVERNORDAISHI KANNO
MAYOR OF NISHIKAWA

We are delighted that
Dewaya was selected for
The Japan Times’ Destination Restaurants 2022. In
Yamagata Prefecture, theculture of enjoying the gifts of the mountainous land in various ways is still prevalent, andDewaya’s wild vegetable dishes bring out
this charm to the fullest. Yamagata Prefecture is surrounded by beautiful mountains
and blessed with beautiful nature, with theMogami River flowing through it. A variety ofdelicious seasonal ingredients can be found
all over the prefecture, so we hope you comevisit Yamagata Prefecture.

Dewaya is located in thecenter of Yamagata Prefecture. At Dewaya you canenjoy original cuisine thatcreates a unique harmony
using local ingredients.
Gassan Shizu Onsen in the town of
Nishikawa has the highest amount of snowfall in Japan, exceeding 6 meters. Its underground water has been selected as one ofJapan’s top 100 waters. We hope you will
come to Nishikawa and enjoy mountainclimbing, summer skiing, saunas, and feast on
chef Haruki Sato’s cuisine, which uses plentyof ingredients from the mountains.

no fundamental flaws with further development. One thing that is needed are large
bioreactors, each of which could hold around
200 liters of cell medium at a time.
In the wake of the food supply chain crisis
wrought by the conflict in Ukraine as well as
the recent inflation in food prices, countries
like Japan are increasingly focusing theirgaze on food security. “A lot of conflicts boil
down to scarcity of food and energy,” Hanyu
said. Cellular agriculture is a technologythat could, if the challenges are overcome,become a scientific remedy to many economic ills and could completely change thedynamics of global society. “I think we arevery close to a post-scarcity society,” Hanyu
said, “which means we end up with a newproblem: How do we effectively distributeabundance?”“I’m reminded of ‘Star Trek,’ where
they have a machine called a replicatorthat just creates food for you, so whenthat happens, food is no longer scarce,”
Rowbury commented. “It’s absolutely fascinating to me to witness what was once
science fiction becoming reality.”
Roundtable is a monthly series of Englishlanguage events organizedby The Japan Times Cube. For
more information visit https://sustainable.japantimes.com/
roundtable

Nomura Research Institute takes
initiative on co-creating the future
ESG/SDGs

Address
Dewaya58 Mazawa, Nishikawamachi,
Nishimurayama-gun, Yamagata
https://www.dewaya.com“The vast majority of people don’t likechange,” Rowbury observed. When introduced for the first time, new technologies
and products often produce backlash, sometimes called “neophobia.” Genetically modified foods, insect-based diets and plant-based
meat replacements are all examples of developments in the food industry that have notbeen enthusiastically embraced everywhere.
Rowbury pointed out that one of the mostimportant elements of getting the public’s
acquiescence to change is increasing people’sfamiliarity through effective public relations.
For cellular agriculture, Hanyu explainedthat there are many ideological connections that people might have with it already,including being driven by concern for animal
welfare, sustainability or protecting the environment. Hanyu insisted that the transition
toward building sustainable food supply
chains has been hastened due to increased
public awareness surrounding environmental issues like these.
Going forward, the industry will be facedwith many challenges. Other than public
perception, companies like IntegriCulture
will need to comply with the food industry’s
strict regulatory landscape as it relates topublic health. This becomes more and more
important the more the company scales up.
As for scaling, “The science and theoreticalpossibilities are already a reality, but the engineering to scale the process isn’t quite readyyet,” explained Hanyu. It is only a matter oftime before it is ready, though, and he sees

Hanyu graduated from the University of
Oxford with a Ph.D. in chemistry. COSUFINomura Research Institute has a uniquebackground. Japan’s first private think tank
was founded as a joint-stock company,
unlike many others overseas. In addition, itexplicitly set a goal of contributing to society in its founding prospectus decades ago.
It was established in 1965 when a researchsection of Nomura Securities Co. was spunoff. The credo in the NRI founding prospectus says its purpose is to promote industry
and be of service to society as well.
“Since NRI was founded, we have cherished our corporate identity to conductsustainable management,” President andCEO Shingo Konomoto said in a recent interview. Because of its corporate background,the company has tried to strike a balance
between its social and economic priorities.
Konomoto said NRI tended to prioritizesocial values for long time until it was listedon the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2001, which
prompted the company to place moreemphasis on profitability.
NRI once again highlighted the importance of its social values in the 2019-2022
medium-term management plan by defining its nonfinancial values, he said. The planshows that NRI’s three social values are “Cocreate a thriving future society by driving
new value,” “Co-create an ideal society byeffectively utilizing its resources” and “Cocreate a safe and secure society by advancing
its infrastructure.”“The definition of the values helps us
to think which social values our businessactivities are creating and what kind of new
business opportunities we can explore,” thepresident said. The three social values listedon the midterm plan led to establishment ofwhat NRI calls “digital social capital” — social
infrastructure constructed by its consulting
and information technology services. For
example, in 2021, construction machinerymaker Komatsu Ltd., telecommunication
firm NTT Docomo Inc., Sony Semiconduc-PAGE: 9

tor Solutions Corp. and NRI jointly launched
a new company, Earthbrain Ltd., to support
digital transformation in the constructionindustry and improve productivity and performance at construction sites.
Using the technologies of artificial intelligence and virtual “digital twins,” Earthbrain’s
service enables builders to make optimum
construction plans in virtual reality, finding the most efficient workforce and theamount of materials based on the geographicconditions. NRI provided the digital platform.
By introducing the service, the amount oftime needed to set up a plan can be cut fromseveral months to just one day. Amid thecountry’s aging population and shrinking
labor force, the service improves productivity in civil engineering and slashes costs.
“Such examples of creating social values
through digital social capital inspire workers
to make new proposals to our customers.
I think this is beginning to create our next
business opportunities,” Konomoto said.
Another example is its business connected
to My Number personal identification cards,
which have embedded IC chips. In December, Nippon Life Insurance Co. started to use
an identity-confirmation system provided
by NRI to check whether the owner of a cardhas died. If so, the life insurer prompts thebereaved family to request policy payment.
NRI is also known for its active disclosureof financial and nonfinancial information
related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. “I believe we cannot
deceive financial markets,” Konomoto said.
“Even if companies want to hide somethingfrom them, that would be impossible.” Disclosing necessary information for investors
and other stakeholders leads to commitment by companies. It also sends a goodmessage to employees, he said. “We wantto keep the level of our disclosure at the toplevel.” Konomoto said such a stance winsa company a high reputation from institutional investors who have a long-term
perspective with an emphasis on impact
investment.
NRI not only conducts sustainable business management for itself but also supports

Shingo Konomoto COSUFI

sustainability efforts by its customer companies. With its NRI-CTS (NRI-Carbon TracingSystem) service, the company estimates theamount of greenhouse gas a customer company emits, both itself and in its supply chain.
As for taking a broad perspective on thefuture, Konomoto said NRI aims to play therole of a coordinator that creates a blueprint
for a future society and starts businesses torealize it while reconciling the interests ofvarious stakeholders.
One example is the GX League for green
transformation, whose grand design wasannounced by the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry last year, aiming to open
discussions for rulemaking to launch emissions trading by 2026. In fiscal year 2022,
nearly 700 companies based in Japan haveagreed to join the league. NRI is one of theorganizers for making rules and conducting
trials over the next three years.
“Since social issues are becoming more
and more complex, we cannot easily solve
them alone. There are an increasing numberof problems that we should solve by forminga team with various stakeholders,” Konomoto said. “Iwant NRI toplay the role oftaking the initiative in doing this.”
NRI is a member of the Sustainable Japan Network, a group of companies that cooperatewith this newspaper in spreading information
about sustainability. You can also be part of
the network; scan the QR code for details.