AKITA -- Sweetened edamame paste, made from morning-picked green soy beans in this northern Japan prefecture, is now offered in a convenient tube form that is perfect for bread, rice cakes and dumplings.

       Akitainu Tourism, a Destination Management Organization for regional cooperation, has developed the new product "Akita no edamame-an topping" in cooperation with Imuraya Group Co., a central Japan confectionary manufacturer based in the Mie Prefectural city of Tsu, using "morning-picked edamame," a specialty of the Akita Prefectural cities of Odate and Kitaakita. The product will be sold mainly in the Kanto, Tohoku and Hokkaido regions.

       The development of the paste was realized thanks to the fact that the city of Tsu is the birthplace of Tokyo Imperial University professor Hidesaburo Ueno, who was born in the village of Niida (present-day the city of Odate) and whose loyal dog Hachi waited for him for around 10 years at Shibuya Station in Tokyo after he passed away in 1925.

       The raw material is the non-standard part of edamame. It is usually disposed of as waste, but the company processed it and made it into a tube of sweetened edamame paste with a grainy texture. The new item is one of Imuraya's popular "an topping" series products.

       A launch ceremony for the new food was held in Odate on Aug. 17, attended by Mayor Junji Fukuhara and other related people, and they confirmed that they will work together to market this product so that people can fully enjoy edamame.

       The paste comes in a 130-gram package and costs 291 yen (about $2.60) including tax. It is being sold in advance at the Imuraya Fair held at the Itoku Odate Shopping Center in Odate.

       (Japanese original by Hikoshi Tamura)

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