Welcome to our summer research assistant, Tsukasa Iinishi

Meros is excited to welcome our new summer research assistant, Tsukasa Iinishi!

Tsukasa has just finished his third year at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston, with a focus on corporate innovation and economics. He has also been working at the Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern as a research assistant to support experiments, particularly related to DNA technologies and antibiotic testing.

“I was interested in working at Meros because of the unique environment where everyone in the company is bilingual and values Japanese and English,” he says. “As a Japan-based company, Meros works with both Japanese and international governments and private companies. I want to be involved in as many projects as possible to get exposed to diverse projects and clients and learn new things.”

At Meros, Tsukasa is eager to develop a wide range of professional skills during his time with the team. “I hope to learn and improve my desktop research skills, interview skills, data analysis skills, and other skills that are necessary to become an effective consultant.”

This summer, Tsukasa will also be working on an independent research project related to the Japan market for blue carbon credits – carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, like mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes. The project will allow him to explore the intersection of environmental sustainability and business, and to contribute to Meros’ broader work in climate and ocean-related topics.

Tsukasa brings a mindset of curiosity to our team. “Any topic is interesting to me,” he says. “From small conversations that happen throughout the day, to my personal project, as well as real projects that we are working in the company, every conversation and work that I do is an opportunity to learn new things and that drives my curiosity.”

Outside of work, Tsukasa enjoys exploring new foods and places. “I love almost all cuisines,” he says. “I obviously like Japanese cuisine, as well as Korean and Chinese, especially Sichuan. I also really enjoy Vietnamese food such as pho and other Southeast Asian food.” He’s also a coffee enthusiast and travel lover: “I love to go sightseeing in nature as well as historic buildings and sites. I also enjoy drinking coffee, so I am always interested in going to cafes and trying coffee from all over the world.”

He will have a chance to try cafes around the world after he completes his summer work with Meros – he will be joining the Japan-based international organization Peace Boat as an on-board interpreter, for the ship’s upcoming 121st Global Voyage around the world, as it promotes world peace and human rights during its four-month journey.

Cellular Ag Series: Beyond cultivated meat – seafood, fat and chocolate

In this final installment of the cellular agriculture series, Meros analyst Sachika Onaka turns to cultivated seafood and other emerging applications of cellular agriculture, including cultivated fat and cultivated chocolate. In earlier articles, we explored the development of the cultivated meat industry in Japan, focusing on startups and partnerships that are shaping the sector.

Cultivated seafood: Focusing on premium species

In the latter half of 2024, cultivated seafood and cellular agriculture as a whole started to receive increased media coverage, as featured in a NHK segment and this Nikkei article. This momentum continued into 2025 with a major Japan-first milestone: on February 18th, Israeli startup Forsea Foods unveiled its cultivated eel (unagi) at the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo.

Much like the cultivated meat sector, collaboration between startups and established industry players is a key driver of cultivated seafood development in Japan. A notable example is the long-term partnership between Japanese cellular agricultural startup IntegriCulture, major seafood company Maruha Nichiro and food manufacturer Ichimasa Kamaboko. Since announcing their partnership in 2022, they have continued research into fish cell culture. Maruha Nichiro, one of the world’s largest seafood companies, is also collaborating with Singapore-based startup Umami Bioworks to develop and commercialise cell-cultivated seafood products.

Japanese trading houses have also invested in cultivated seafood. Sumitomo Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation have invested in Blue Nalu, a US-based cultivated seafood company. Blue Nalu has also partnered with Food & Life Companies, the parent company of Sushiro, one of Japan’s leading conveyor belt sushi chains.

Although academic research on cultivated seafood is not as prolific as that on cultivated meat, key contributors, such as Associate Professor Ikeda from Kitasano University, continue to conduct vital scientific research, including experimenting with different seafood species and cell types. While industry collaboration is a major driver of the cultivated seafood market in Japan, academic research also plays a crucial role in advancing the sector.

Foreign cultivated seafood startups in Japan

Despite the lack of a clear regulatory framework, foreign-based cultivated seafood companies have started to establish a presence in Japan, anticipating its potential as a key market. Forsea Foods and Umami Bioworks have both been active in Japan for several years now, and Umami Bioworks opened a Tokyo office in August 2024.

Foreign startups in this sector often enter the Japanese market by first hiring local representatives, forming partnerships with domestic players, and joining supportive foodtech ecosystems in prefectures such as Fukuoka, Kyoto, and Kobe. These startup ecosystems may provide foundations for establishing local R&D centres. These leading cultivated seafood companies are focusing on high-margin, premium products that are increasingly scarce due to overfishing. For this reason, Japanese eel (Forsea Foods and Umami Bioworks) and yellowfin tuna (Umami Bioworks and Blue Nalu) are key species of interest.

Japanese consumer’s attitudes towards cultivated seafood

Focusing on seafood products familiar to Japanese consumers appears to be a strategic approach. A survey conducted by Forsea Foods found that 35% of Japanese respondents were willing to try cultivated eel. As Meros noted in the cultivated meat installments, safety and price remain top concerns for consumers. However, the willingness of respondents to not only want to try but also be ready to purchase cultivated eel is a promising initial indicator of consumer acceptance.

Consumer attitudes towards seafood in Japan can evolve. This was seen, for example, with aquaculture, which initially faced resistance among Japanese consumers but is now widely accepted. Originally, when aquaculture products began to be introduced to the Japanese market, there was strong consumer opposition due to a belief that wild-caught fish were of higher quality.

However, the lack of a regulatory framework continues to limit progress for cultivated seafood. For example, Forsea’s recent product unveiling in Tokyo was limited to a visual demonstration, with no tastings due to the absence of regulations explicitly permitting public tasting events.

New Areas: Cultivated Fat and Cultivated Chocolate

The applications of cellular agricultural technology extend beyond cultivated meat and seafood. Cultivated fat and cultivated chocolate are two other innovations that have attracted recent investments from Japanese players.

In an exciting development, UK-based startup Hoxton Farms, which specialises in cultivated pork fat, announced in March 2025 a strategic partnership with Sumitomo Corporation, one of Japan’s largest trading companies. Hoxton Farms’ technology enables precise control over the fatty acid composition, including the ratios of omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9, as well as the saturated fat content, resulting in potentially healthier versions of animal fat.

Meiji, Japan’s largest chocolate company, invested in California Cultured, a US-based cellular agriculture startup that produces cultured chocolate and coffee, in 2021. Meiji followed up with an additional investment in February 2024 and announced a 10-year supply agreement for California Cultured’s cocoa powder.

These examples reflect Japanese companies’ diversification strategies and efforts to “future-proof” their food supply chains. Japanese trading houses and major food corporations operate globally and their partnerships in cellular agriculture are not solely focused on the Japanese domestic market; in many cases, the aim is actually often to establish these emerging technologies abroad before considering expansion into Japan.

As cultivated seafood and other cellular products move past the conceptual stage, Japan’s global food companies appear ready to play a significant role, both as investors and as potential scale-up partners. The next step will depend on regulatory clarity and consumer acceptance.

Meros will continue to stay up-to-date with the developments in the Japanese cellular agriculture landscape. For further insights on cellular agriculture, foodtech and biotech for food and agriculture, please reach out to inquiries@merosconsulting.com

Meros Calendar: Where we will be in Spring 2025!

We have a busy spring lined up and our team will be attending several great events in the US and EU! Connect with us if you’ll be at any of these events! We would love to meet others interested in innovation in the food, agriculture and ocean sectors to discuss developments in sustainability and business strategies in these areas.

We are pleased to be a partner of several up-coming innovation summits: the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit and Future Food-Tech in San Fransisco and the Blue Food Innovation Summit London! Feel free to use our code MEROS10 for an extra 10% off these three events! And reach out for more info about any of these events.