Vancouver Shinpo 5 Dec 2002 Interview Canada’s Albacore Tuna on its way to Japan In British Columbia, the export business sales take up to 20% of total GDP. 1 of 5 British Columbians is working directly or indirectly with export business. In year 2001, Canada exports more than 30.8 billions dollars of goods oversea. Despite many uncertainties in lumber sales & world economy, BC expects to exceed last year’s performance in total sales. Every year in BC, there is an award by the name “BC Export Award” that will be given to those export companies that contribute to increase employment and bring up the economy BC. This year, nine companies had been selected for the award and Kayama Enterprises Ltd. was nominated and selected as the winner for the Marketing Innovation Department. This award is to recognize the expanding export result for the Albacore tuna caught in BC water. Kayama Enterprises Ltd. success is based on the value added supply system that caters to the very need of the consumer. More importantly, it is the motivation to pursue a dream of the founder, A Canadian born Japanese. The possibility of using Albacore Tuna in Sashimi Seven years ago, Doug Yokoyama & Daniel Leung met for the first time. Both were employee of different seafood companies at that time. They were very impressed with each other and made a promise to get together someday to startup a business. Doug Yokoyama resigned from the company later and work as a herring fisherman in order to get more knowledge about the seafood industry. The price of Herring roe dropped tremendously during that time and the salary was getting too low to continue. This event sparked Doug to think about the possibility of starting a business by himself. A thorough research was the first step to determine what type of seafood the consumers were looking for. Doug visited & checked with local Japanese communities in BC, visited Japan to check the types of seafood that Japanese are craving for. He also gets in contact with Japanese fisheries to learn more different types of value added process. Base on all those research, Doug & Daniel set their eyes on the possibility of using BC Albacore Tuna as a sashimi dish. At that time, most of the albacore tuna caught in BC were sent to canned factory for canning. Both Doug & Daniel felt that it was such a waste to canned albacore tuna because they are rich in Omega 3 fatty acid. The road to Japanese Market Doug & Daniel feel that there will be strong demand for albacore tuna sashimi in Japan. In real life, they face many hurdles to get the albacore tuna to export to Japan. First hurdle they encounter is the traditional craving by Japanese of the red meat that both blue fin & yellow fin process. Albacore tuna, with it lighter color is not readily accepted in the Japanese consumer. The next hurdle they faced is the supply chain line of albacore tuna from catching on board, processing and delivery. The traditional way of handling the albacore tune for canned process is not suitable for sashimi grade. A total change in handling of the fish was necessary to achieve the best grade of Albacore tuna. The skill that Doug has mastered during his experience with herring fishing has come in handy now. After many trial and errors, the specially trained fisherman perfected a new system of fish handling including stunting, bleeding and deep freezing. The transportation of the frozen albacore tuna from the boat to the warehouse in a low steady temperature was also been perfected to minimize the tuna from losing its freshness. “To continuously provide the consumer with fishes that are of the highest quality” Doug & Daniel went to Japan 3 ~ 4 times yearly to promote Canada’s Albacore Tuna as a sashimi dish to the people of Japan. The Japanese have readily and slowly accepted albacore tuna from Canada, and the trend is growing faster every year. In the beginning, only 94,000 dollars of albacore tuna was sold to American. Last year, more than 2.9 million dollars worth of tuna was exported. Oversea. Currently, 65% of total catch are export to Japan. Albacore tuna is a migratory fish, they normally come from California bay swimming and feeding up north to Canada. They are at their most fatty stage when they are feeding around BC Bay area. That means that they have the highest concentration of omega 3 fatty content. ”We want everybody to enjoy the most healthy and delicious albacore tuna” said Doug Yokoyama. We ask Doug about his vision and future plan of Kayama Enterprise Ltd. “The Sea is the main reason I have come this far. I would like to create a family type of business with everybody and provide everyone with the best quality seafood.” Doug answered with a smile. BC Export Award for Marketing Innovation for Kayama Enterprise Ltd. is based on the result of everyone from fisherman, processing firm worker, deliveryman and many others for their hard work and new vision of approach. The origin of Kayama Enterprise Logo The word “yama” was taken from Yokoyama, it means mountain in Japanese. Like the mountains in Canada that are very stable, Kayama was born with the belief that a stable company will be form. The logo features 2 mountains with a Japanese character ( 加 ) which means Canada in it. If you are to turn to the side, you can see that it resemble the face of the tuna. Kayama Enterprises Ltd Point Pacific Business Centre Unit 2130 – 12811 Rowan Place Richmond, BC Canada V6V 2S6 Tel : (604)255-7111 Fax : (604)255-9711