Growing cacao in Tokyo

The president of a chocolate company and a farmer on Hahajima island, one of the Ogasawara Islands about 1,000 kilometers south of central Tokyo, have joined forces to grow cacao trees on Hahajima, with plans to sell their “Tokyo Cacao” chocolate this autumn.

Cacao cultivation is unusual in Japan. Even on Hahajima, which is regarded as part of Tokyo and has a warm climate, it is difficult to grow tropical plants. Through trial and error, however, the Hahajima project is bearing fruit and it now has prospects of harvesting enough cacao to put its chocolate on the market.

Farmer Kazuo Orita, 71, grows cacao trees on Hahajima island. Orita previously brought lemons and mangoes to the island and succeeded in growing them.

He began growing cacao in August 2011 and is now cultivating about 500 cacao trees in seven vinyl greenhouses. “They’ve grown well this year, so I’m sure they will be made into delicious chocolate that will live up to the name of Tokyo,” Orita said.

He began cacao cultivation after being consulted by Masayuki Hiratsuka, the president of Hiratsuka Confectionery Co. based in Soka, Saitama Prefecture.

Hiratsuka, 69, is the third-generation president of the long-established confectionery maker founded in 1901, but he only saw cacao pods for the first time in 2003, when he saw them growing in abundance on farmland during a visit to Ghana. Impressed that chocolate was made from them, he hit on the idea of making chocolate from cacao produced in Japan.

However, cacao is a tropical plant, and its major production areas are Ghana and Indonesia. “If I was going to try this, I would do it in Tokyo, which has brand power comparable to New York, Paris and London,” he said, recalling why he chose Hahajima island.

Hiratsuka started collecting information about cacao, and in 2010, he sought farmers who were interested in the idea and planted cacao seeds with them on the island. The seeds germinated, but all withered in the end. Finally, Hiratsuka looked for support to Orita, who is a leading farmer on the island.

Hiratsuka and Orita have since worked together to establish a cacao cultivation method.

At a cost of over ¥110 million, Hiratsuka built vinyl greenhouses that can withstand strong winds of 60 meters per second. When they were damaged by typhoons, Orita repaired them.

Many cacao trees withered. Hiratsuka and Orita read books on the subject but could not determine why, and there was no one they could ask about cacao cultivation in Japan.

However, these obstacles fueled their dedication to cacao cultivation, making them determined to grow the plant on the island. They often visited farmlands in Indonesia and learned about soil improvement, fertilizers and pruning methods. The yield increased gradually, and in 2015, they made chocolate from their cacao on a trial basis. The chocolate was deemed “mild and fruity.”

In 2017, about 260 kilograms of cacao were produced, and that figure is likely to increase in 2018. Now that they have the prospect of stably harvesting cacao, they have decided to sell their chocolate as “made-in-Tokyo,” mainly on the internet from this autumn.

“The small dream of an old guy in a chocolate company will finally come true,” Hiratsuka said, reflecting on the success of the challenge he took on after the age of 50.

The Yomiuri Shimbun Cacao pods and beans harvested on Hahajima island

Courtesy of Hiratsuka Confectionery Co. Kazuo Orita, right, and Masayuki Hiratsuka stand among cacao trees cultivated on Hahajima island, part of the village of Ogasawara, Tokyo.