Nut specialty store opens in Kagoshima, also offering ice cream

A month has passed since CoCo nattsu, a nut specialty store, opened in Meizancho, Kagoshima City. The owner is Takashi Kamada, a young farmer. Kamada is a nut lover and has been making peanut sweets covered with Amami brown sugar as a hobby. H decided to commercialize them after receiving positive feedback from people around him, and last July, he launched KAMADA FOOD’s and named the peanut confectionery “Kuroppi.” Kamada opened the store on May 1 to market the products along with a selection of popular and hard-to-find nuts. He also wanted to “enliven the Meishan area.” The store has a floor space of approximately 13 square meters. Inside the store are large glass jars containing nuts sold by weight and bags of nuts. The nuts available include pistachios, cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, pirl nuts, pumpkin seeds, and others. Customers can sample a single nut each, and they are sold in 10-gram quantities. An all-you-can-pack option is also available, with five sizes. Prices range from 550 yen to 2,050 yen, depending on the size. Soft-serve ice cream (400 yen) is available in four varieties, including vanilla and chocolate, and for an additional 50 yen, customers can add cashews or almonds to their ice cream. Coffee, tea, and other beverages are also offered for takeout. “Ask me anything you want to know about how to eat and enjoy them,” said Kamada. “I want to increase the product lineup and offer workshops and other nut-related activities in the future.” Opening hours: 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (from 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays). Closed on Mondays.

Café offering domestic honey drinks opens at mead brewery in Arata, Kagoshima

HONEY CRAFT CAFÉ opened on May 1 near Kishaba Station in Kagoshima City. Honeyboy & co. manages the business. Founded in January 2020, the venture company, whose average age of staff is 25, manufactures and markets “meadol,” a mead gift product range made from domestic honey. Last March, the company opened Satsuma Craft, a brewery for mead in Arata. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermenting honey, also called “honey wine” because the production process is similar to that of wine. Only five breweries in Japan make mead, and Satsuma Craft is the only one in Kyushu. The company’s president, Yuri Ichinohe, opened the café in a corner of the brewery to “make mead more familiar.” Ichinohe and his staff created the white-colored interior of the café as a DIY project. It has four sofa seats, and in the center of the café is a section where “meadol” is displayed and sold. Located in a back alley in Kishaba, Ichinohe describes the café as “a place where you can drop in and enjoy the atmosphere of a hideout.” The drink menu includes honey coffee, honey cream latte, honey tea, honey rooibos tea, honey lemonade, and fruit smoothies with honey (banana, strawberry, blueberry, mango, etc.), to name a few. Prices range from 400 yen to 650 yen. All honey used in the drinks is domestically produced. The coffee is made from “Brazil Honey,” Brazilian beans roasted in-house. Ichinohe added, “I want to make this a place where many people can enjoy the sweetness of domestic honey. Please come visit us.” Opening hours: 11:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Closing days are announced on Instagram.

Pop-up Store of ‘Jet-Black Cakes’ at Yamakataya in Kagoshima – Brand from France

From May 31, a pop-up store for “Jet-Black Cakes” by the French lifestyle brand BLVCK PARIS will open in the basement of Building 1 at Yamakataya, Kagoshima City. BLVCK PARIS is a lifestyle brand that focuses on all-black clothing, food, and interior design. The brand chose desserts to introduce its black concept to the food scene. The production of Jet-Black Cakes was overseen by Kenta Hasegawa, a pastry chef and sugar artist who formerly worked at the Imperial Hotel. The venue is lined with all-black desserts made with chocolate and bamboo charcoal. Some cakes decorated with black roses and snakes are all black on the outside, but inside are raspberry jelly or rose cream mousse, and red appears as they are eaten. The lineup includes BLVCK SNAKE (1,680 yen for a portion, 4,860 yen for a whole cake), BLVCK ROSE (1,680 yen / 5,400 yen), and BLVCK ROLL (2,700 yen for a roll). Hasegawa said, “We were particular about expressing the black imagery of BLVCK PARIS as it is and not compromising the flavor quality. We aimed to create a new genre of cake that is stylish, overturning the common notion of cake being cute. We hope you enjoy the impact of our jet-black products.” The pop-up store will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition at Kagoshima Museum of the Environment: Conveying a ‘Nature Positive’ Kagoshima

Environmental Month Exhibition “Meccha! Nature Positive Land Kagoshima” will be held at the Kagoshima Museum of the Environment from June 1. This year’s exhibition is the 15th edition. Since June 5 is Environment Day, June is designated as Environment Month, and exhibitions and workshops with different themes and program content are held each year. The title “Nature Positive” is a keyword for biodiversity, indicating “halting the loss of biodiversity and putting it on the track to recovery.” During the event, the term and the “30 by 30” objective, which aims to effectively conserve at least 30% of the land and sea as healthy ecosystems by 2030, will be explained. The exhibition will showcase the rich nature of Kagoshima and the varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment (ecosystem services). The museum will also hold daily activities, such as Building Block Games, Kagoshima Bingo, and Mini Parasol Making out of flyers. On Saturdays and Sundays, programs will include making mini lanterns, painting with “Sakurajima-iro” paints and bamboo charcoal, and making bamboo pokkuri sandals. Programs that require advance registration include Jewelry Making with Satsuma Kiriko Glass with the support of Shimadzu Limited, and Making Potato Mochi and Potato Galette using organic ingredients produced in the prefecture in collaboration with Sonoyama Farm. Some programs require a fee, and registration deadlines vary depending on the program. Kenjiro Seki, chief of the project section, hopes the exhibition will help visitors rediscover Kagoshima, a prefecture blessed with a rich environment, and promote the concept of “Nature Positive.” The exhibition is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays. Admission is free (some programs require a fee). Details of each program are announced on the website.

Culture Creator Co-Creation Course to start in Kagoshima to learn Arts and Culture Management

Kagoshima City will hold a “Culture Creator Co-creation Course” from July to December. The venue is Mark Mazan in Meizancho, Kagoshima City. Last year, the course was held as an “Art Management Course.” The name was changed this year to cover a wide range of management issues not only in the art field but also in the field of arts and culture. It reflects their idea that “each student will emerge as a culture creator and work together to create a platform.” Four lectures will be held from July to September. Each session will consist of a classroom lecture stimulating creative thinking (90 minutes) and a practical workshop (90 minutes). Group and individual presentations are scheduled from October to December. Lecturers will include Takao Kunori, former deputy editor and chief online editor of Forbes JAPAN; Shuichiro Sakaguchi, a musician who also organizes events and venues; and Yuka Kurose, communications director. Hiroshi Tamura, co-president of RE: PUBLIC; and Kyohei Nozaki of Musuhi will also participate as guest lecturers. Kurose said, “If you are considering participating, please visit KCIC (Kagoshima Cultural Information Center) at the Minato Odori Annex first. Something may start from the process of talking and putting things into words. Please feel free to drop by.” Applications will be accepted via the application form until 5:00 p.m. on June 18.

Italian restaurant ‘Trattoria Vesuvio’ opens in Kagoshima; lasagna restaurant revamped

On April 24, the Italian restaurant Trattoria Vesuvio (Phone: 070-3338-4582) opened near Chuo Station in Kagoshima City. Kagoshima-based company Mulberry manages the business. The restaurant opened last November as Vesuvio Bianco, specializing in lasagna and open only during lunch hours, but has now been renamed “Trattoria,” offering Italian-home-style cuisine, including dinner courses. It seats five at the counter, ten at the tables, and has one private room with one table for four. The chef is Keisuke Hiranuma from Tokyo, with 13 years of experience as an Italian chef. Hiranuma learned cooking in Italy and trained at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo. Dinner courses include Pasta Course (2,200 yen), with an appetizer, hot side dish, pasta, and dessert, and Main Course (3,800 yen), with an additional fish or meat dish. The a la carte menu includes an assortment of appetizers (1,890 yen for two guests), fresh fish carpaccio (1,380 yen), acqua pazza and other fish dishes (from 2,000 yen), char-grilled meat dishes (from 2,200 yen), and others prepared with seasonal ingredients. Hiranuma recommends the Lampredotto (1,100 yen), stewed cow’s abomasum, spinach, and tomatoes, which he says is “a unique dish rarely seen even in Tokyo.” From June 2 to 4, the restaurant will hold a “Special Dinner & Wine Pairing” event. To mark Italian Wine Day on June 2, a paired wine will be served with each course. The fee is 6,000 yen, and reservations are required. Each session is limited to 18 people. Hiranuma added, “I hope this will be a place where people can form stronger bonds while savoring Italian cuisine.” After the last order, Hiranuma will appear in the restaurant to greet customers. Opening hours: 11:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to midnight. Closed on Tuesdays.

Nut specialty store opens in Kagoshima, also offering ice cream

A month has passed since CoCo nattsu, a nut specialty store, opened in Meizancho, Kagoshima City. The owner is Takashi Kamada, a young farmer. Kamada is a nut lover and has been making peanut sweets covered with Amami brown sugar as a hobby. H decided to commercialize them after receiving positive feedback from people around him, and last July, he launched KAMADA FOOD’s and named the peanut confectionery “Kuroppi.” Kamada opened the store on May 1 to market the products along with a selection of popular and hard-to-find nuts. He also wanted to “enliven the Meishan area.” The store has a floor space of approximately 13 square meters. Inside the store are large glass jars containing nuts sold by weight and bags of nuts. The nuts available include pistachios, cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, pirl nuts, pumpkin seeds, and others. Customers can sample a single nut each, and they are sold in 10-gram quantities. An all-you-can-pack option is also available, with five sizes. Prices range from 550 yen to 2,050 yen, depending on the size. Soft-serve ice cream (400 yen) is available in four varieties, including vanilla and chocolate, and for an additional 50 yen, customers can add cashews or almonds to their ice cream. Coffee, tea, and other beverages are also offered for takeout. “Ask me anything you want to know about how to eat and enjoy them,” said Kamada. “I want to increase the product lineup and offer workshops and other nut-related activities in the future.” Opening hours: 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (from 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays). Closed on Mondays.

Café offering domestic honey drinks opens at mead brewery in Arata, Kagoshima

HONEY CRAFT CAFÉ opened on May 1 near Kishaba Station in Kagoshima City. Honeyboy & co. manages the business. Founded in January 2020, the venture company, whose average age of staff is 25, manufactures and markets “meadol,” a mead gift product range made from domestic honey. Last March, the company opened Satsuma Craft, a brewery for mead in Arata. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermenting honey, also called “honey wine” because the production process is similar to that of wine. Only five breweries in Japan make mead, and Satsuma Craft is the only one in Kyushu. The company’s president, Yuri Ichinohe, opened the café in a corner of the brewery to “make mead more familiar.” Ichinohe and his staff created the white-colored interior of the café as a DIY project. It has four sofa seats, and in the center of the café is a section where “meadol” is displayed and sold. Located in a back alley in Kishaba, Ichinohe describes the café as “a place where you can drop in and enjoy the atmosphere of a hideout.” The drink menu includes honey coffee, honey cream latte, honey tea, honey rooibos tea, honey lemonade, and fruit smoothies with honey (banana, strawberry, blueberry, mango, etc.), to name a few. Prices range from 400 yen to 650 yen. All honey used in the drinks is domestically produced. The coffee is made from “Brazil Honey,” Brazilian beans roasted in-house. Ichinohe added, “I want to make this a place where many people can enjoy the sweetness of domestic honey. Please come visit us.” Opening hours: 11:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Closing days are announced on Instagram.

Pop-up Store of ‘Jet-Black Cakes’ at Yamakataya in Kagoshima – Brand from France

From May 31, a pop-up store for “Jet-Black Cakes” by the French lifestyle brand BLVCK PARIS will open in the basement of Building 1 at Yamakataya, Kagoshima City. BLVCK PARIS is a lifestyle brand that focuses on all-black clothing, food, and interior design. The brand chose desserts to introduce its black concept to the food scene. The production of Jet-Black Cakes was overseen by Kenta Hasegawa, a pastry chef and sugar artist who formerly worked at the Imperial Hotel. The venue is lined with all-black desserts made with chocolate and bamboo charcoal. Some cakes decorated with black roses and snakes are all black on the outside, but inside are raspberry jelly or rose cream mousse, and red appears as they are eaten. The lineup includes BLVCK SNAKE (1,680 yen for a portion, 4,860 yen for a whole cake), BLVCK ROSE (1,680 yen / 5,400 yen), and BLVCK ROLL (2,700 yen for a roll). Hasegawa said, “We were particular about expressing the black imagery of BLVCK PARIS as it is and not compromising the flavor quality. We aimed to create a new genre of cake that is stylish, overturning the common notion of cake being cute. We hope you enjoy the impact of our jet-black products.” The pop-up store will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Café offering domestic honey drinks opens at mead brewery in Arata, Kagoshima

HONEY CRAFT CAFÉ opened on May 1 near Kishaba Station in Kagoshima City. Honeyboy & co. manages the business. Founded in January 2020, the venture company, whose average age of staff is 25, manufactures and markets “meadol,” a mead gift product range made from domestic honey. Last March, the company opened Satsuma Craft, a brewery for mead in Arata. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermenting honey, also called “honey wine” because the production process is similar to that of wine. Only five breweries in Japan make mead, and Satsuma Craft is the only one in Kyushu. The company’s president, Yuri Ichinohe, opened the café in a corner of the brewery to “make mead more familiar.” Ichinohe and his staff created the white-colored interior of the café as a DIY project. It has four sofa seats, and in the center of the café is a section where “meadol” is displayed and sold. Located in a back alley in Kishaba, Ichinohe describes the café as “a place where you can drop in and enjoy the atmosphere of a hideout.” The drink menu includes honey coffee, honey cream latte, honey tea, honey rooibos tea, honey lemonade, and fruit smoothies with honey (banana, strawberry, blueberry, mango, etc.), to name a few. Prices range from 400 yen to 650 yen. All honey used in the drinks is domestically produced. The coffee is made from “Brazil Honey,” Brazilian beans roasted in-house. Ichinohe added, “I want to make this a place where many people can enjoy the sweetness of domestic honey. Please come visit us.” Opening hours: 11:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Closing days are announced on Instagram.

Pop-up Store of ‘Jet-Black Cakes’ at Yamakataya in Kagoshima – Brand from France

From May 31, a pop-up store for “Jet-Black Cakes” by the French lifestyle brand BLVCK PARIS will open in the basement of Building 1 at Yamakataya, Kagoshima City. BLVCK PARIS is a lifestyle brand that focuses on all-black clothing, food, and interior design. The brand chose desserts to introduce its black concept to the food scene. The production of Jet-Black Cakes was overseen by Kenta Hasegawa, a pastry chef and sugar artist who formerly worked at the Imperial Hotel. The venue is lined with all-black desserts made with chocolate and bamboo charcoal. Some cakes decorated with black roses and snakes are all black on the outside, but inside are raspberry jelly or rose cream mousse, and red appears as they are eaten. The lineup includes BLVCK SNAKE (1,680 yen for a portion, 4,860 yen for a whole cake), BLVCK ROSE (1,680 yen / 5,400 yen), and BLVCK ROLL (2,700 yen for a roll). Hasegawa said, “We were particular about expressing the black imagery of BLVCK PARIS as it is and not compromising the flavor quality. We aimed to create a new genre of cake that is stylish, overturning the common notion of cake being cute. We hope you enjoy the impact of our jet-black products.” The pop-up store will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition at Kagoshima Museum of the Environment: Conveying a ‘Nature Positive’ Kagoshima

Environmental Month Exhibition “Meccha! Nature Positive Land Kagoshima” will be held at the Kagoshima Museum of the Environment from June 1. This year’s exhibition is the 15th edition. Since June 5 is Environment Day, June is designated as Environment Month, and exhibitions and workshops with different themes and program content are held each year. The title “Nature Positive” is a keyword for biodiversity, indicating “halting the loss of biodiversity and putting it on the track to recovery.” During the event, the term and the “30 by 30” objective, which aims to effectively conserve at least 30% of the land and sea as healthy ecosystems by 2030, will be explained. The exhibition will showcase the rich nature of Kagoshima and the varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment (ecosystem services). The museum will also hold daily activities, such as Building Block Games, Kagoshima Bingo, and Mini Parasol Making out of flyers. On Saturdays and Sundays, programs will include making mini lanterns, painting with “Sakurajima-iro” paints and bamboo charcoal, and making bamboo pokkuri sandals. Programs that require advance registration include Jewelry Making with Satsuma Kiriko Glass with the support of Shimadzu Limited, and Making Potato Mochi and Potato Galette using organic ingredients produced in the prefecture in collaboration with Sonoyama Farm. Some programs require a fee, and registration deadlines vary depending on the program. Kenjiro Seki, chief of the project section, hopes the exhibition will help visitors rediscover Kagoshima, a prefecture blessed with a rich environment, and promote the concept of “Nature Positive.” The exhibition is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays. Admission is free (some programs require a fee). Details of each program are announced on the website.

Exhibition at Kagoshima Museum of the Environment: Conveying a ‘Nature Positive’ Kagoshima

Environmental Month Exhibition “Meccha! Nature Positive Land Kagoshima” will be held at the Kagoshima Museum of the Environment from June 1. This year’s exhibition is the 15th edition. Since June 5 is Environment Day, June is designated as Environment Month, and exhibitions and workshops with different themes and program content are held each year. The title “Nature Positive” is a keyword for biodiversity, indicating “halting the loss of biodiversity and putting it on the track to recovery.” During the event, the term and the “30 by 30” objective, which aims to effectively conserve at least 30% of the land and sea as healthy ecosystems by 2030, will be explained. The exhibition will showcase the rich nature of Kagoshima and the varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment (ecosystem services). The museum will also hold daily activities, such as Building Block Games, Kagoshima Bingo, and Mini Parasol Making out of flyers. On Saturdays and Sundays, programs will include making mini lanterns, painting with “Sakurajima-iro” paints and bamboo charcoal, and making bamboo pokkuri sandals. Programs that require advance registration include Jewelry Making with Satsuma Kiriko Glass with the support of Shimadzu Limited, and Making Potato Mochi and Potato Galette using organic ingredients produced in the prefecture in collaboration with Sonoyama Farm. Some programs require a fee, and registration deadlines vary depending on the program. Kenjiro Seki, chief of the project section, hopes the exhibition will help visitors rediscover Kagoshima, a prefecture blessed with a rich environment, and promote the concept of “Nature Positive.” The exhibition is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays. Admission is free (some programs require a fee). Details of each program are announced on the website.

Culture Creator Co-Creation Course to start in Kagoshima to learn Arts and Culture Management

Kagoshima City will hold a “Culture Creator Co-creation Course” from July to December. The venue is Mark Mazan in Meizancho, Kagoshima City. Last year, the course was held as an “Art Management Course.” The name was changed this year to cover a wide range of management issues not only in the art field but also in the field of arts and culture. It reflects their idea that “each student will emerge as a culture creator and work together to create a platform.” Four lectures will be held from July to September. Each session will consist of a classroom lecture stimulating creative thinking (90 minutes) and a practical workshop (90 minutes). Group and individual presentations are scheduled from October to December. Lecturers will include Takao Kunori, former deputy editor and chief online editor of Forbes JAPAN; Shuichiro Sakaguchi, a musician who also organizes events and venues; and Yuka Kurose, communications director. Hiroshi Tamura, co-president of RE: PUBLIC; and Kyohei Nozaki of Musuhi will also participate as guest lecturers. Kurose said, “If you are considering participating, please visit KCIC (Kagoshima Cultural Information Center) at the Minato Odori Annex first. Something may start from the process of talking and putting things into words. Please feel free to drop by.” Applications will be accepted via the application form until 5:00 p.m. on June 18.

Hana Therapy experience at CenTerrace TENMONKAN, Kagoshima City

The event “Hana Therapy in Kagoshima – With a Smile in Full Bloom” will be held on May 21 at the sixth-floor hall of CenTerrace TENMONKAN, Kagoshima City. Hana Therapy is a new style of therapy, healing people’s hearts with the power of flowers. The organizer is Mayumi Honda, the first Hana Therapist in Kagoshima Prefecture and operator of the Hana Therapy workshop Maun. The concept of the event is “Let’s sparkle and shine with the power of flowers.” Honda hopes that the healing power of flowers will bring out the therapeutic power within the individual so that they can lead a brilliant life. “In Hana Therapy,” says Honda, “you simply arrange the flowers that appeal to you. The flowers you choose and the placement of the flowers have psychological meanings, and they touch your true feelings and deepest psyche.” Katsuko Aoyama, founder of Hana Therapy and president of General Foundation International Flowers and Greens Therapy Association, will give a talk on how Hana Therapy was developed and its effects. For the experience, they will provide cut flowers and containers for the participants to arrange flowers as they wish, and a Hana Therapist instructor will interpret the arrangement for those who want to learn more. Hana Therapists will also report on their activities, including examples of Hana Therapy in hospitals and education. The flower vessels will be Satsuma ware made by Yoyo in Hioki City so that the participants can feel the culture of Kagoshima. Honda hopes that the event will be an opportunity for people to touch fresh flowers, be healed, feel refreshed, and be truly energized. The event will run from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The fee is 4,500 yen, including flowers and a Satsuma ware vessel. Registration will be accepted until May 13 on the website, with the first 80 applicants.