‘Johnny’ Blowing Fresh Wind into Wobbly Tofu Market

By Shinya Ajima, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Dec. 28–KYOTO — One of Japan’s most traditional and unspectacular food items is now a hot topic for younger Japanese because of “Johnny” — a tofu manufactured and sold by Kyoto-based Otokomae Tofuten Corp.

Not only is it a most unlikely name for bean curd, but Johnny is sold in a shallow, surfboard-shaped package, distinguishing it from the usual square containers for tofu. The design is intended to allow consumers to eat the tofu, as soft as yoghurt, directly from the container using a spoon.

“I named it just for fun. This is my challenge to the old, established culture of the industry,” said Shingo Ito, the 38-year-old president of the maverick tofu maker. Johnny’s official product name is “Kaze ni Fukarete Tofu-ya Johnny,” meaning, “Johnny the tofu maker blown by the wind.” His company’s name is equally one of a kind — Otokomae Tofuten means “handsome guy tofu shop.”"Many in the industry may have laughed at me and even seen me as someone who trampled on what they have long cherished,” he said.

“But I wanted to differentiate our products. I hate to walk on a path someone has already used.” The wacky features of the product have raised eyebrows among people making tofu, a staple food that has been around in Japan for over 1,000 years since being introduced from China in the seventh century.

But Johnny created a sensation among fad-loving young Japanese soon after its debut in July 2004. The bizarre bean curd sparked discussions on weblogs and social networking sites and is still a talked-about item on the Internet.

First-time Johnny eaters will be also surprised by its taste, which is much richer with a stronger soybean flavor than the unobtrusive taste of regular tofu. A popular way of eating it is as a dessert with syrup.

All these innovations in name, shape and taste have made Johnny a mega-seller tofu. Its shipments, which numbered 60,000 packs in January 2006, grew more than 20 times to 1.3 million packs in November.

Ito, who followed in his father’s footsteps in entering the tofu business, has adopted a highly sophisticated marketing strategy to sell the soy food.

Instead of running television commercials or advertisements in newspapers and magazines, Otokomae puts great energy into its company website, which is filled with edgy black-and-white human illustrations making funny movements.

The illustrations are of fictional characters created by the company for each of its tofu products. Visitors can also read stories about them.

In addition, the company sells a variety of promotional merchandise, such as T-shirts and music CDs.

Takahiro Mori, a food industry analyst at Nomura Securities Co., said that the company’s marketing method is the right way to focus consumers’ eyes on traditional food and beverage products that are too familiar to the public, such as tofu and green tea.

“If makers cannot make their products more distinctive than others, they will have to gain consumers’ attention by lowering prices,” Mori said. “The unit price of tofu is already cheap. If they have to cut prices further, it will become very difficult for them to make ends meet.” In fact, Johnny’s uniqueness is the reason why consumers buy the product in spite of its ridiculously high price for tofu.

According to Zentouren, a tofu industry body, the average price of a 300-gram piece of tofu has moved between 70 yen and 101 yen over the last 25 years. A 380-gram piece of Johnny tofu sells for 300 yen.

“I know Johnny is more expensive than usual tofu,” Ito said.

“But 300 yen is the lowest level we can set as long as we make it using high-quality soybeans.” Tomoko Yoshioka, a 28-year-old office worker in Tokyo, said she often eats tofu sold by Otokomae.

“I like the company’s products,” Yoshioka said. “Of course 300 yen is expensive for tofu. But I don’t feel that way if I think I am buying very delicious food that only costs 300 yen.” Ito said he wants to break down the stereotype that tofu is a cheap food.

At the same time, the ambitious president believes the future of the tofu industry will be bleak if it continues to stick to the old ways.

Indeed, statistics show the industry has shrunk sharply.

According to Zentoren, the number of tofu makers and related companies decreased to 13,452 in 2004 from the peak of 51,596 in 1960.

“The decline can be attributed to a fall in the number of relatively small tofu shops,” Mori of Nomura Securities said. “As distribution systems developed, integration of tofu makers took place.”"Nowadays, more people go to supermarkets to buy tofu rather than going to tofu shops in their local communities,” he said. “So tofu makers selling their products at supermarkets cannot refuse when retailers ask them to cut prices, because of fears they might be expelled.” Ito said the imbalance of power between retailers and tofu makers occurs when the makers neglect efforts to stay creative.

“If we can create high value-added products that customers want to buy, we may be able to reject retailers’ requests for price cuts and negotiate with them on an equal footing,” Ito said.

And he is now shifting his focus to Johnny’s advance into overseas markets. Otokomae has already sold some of its products at a supermarket in Los Angeles operated by a Japanese firm since the summer of 2006.

“The reaction is not bad. But we still need more data before drawing up any specific plan for an overseas expansion,” Ito said.

The company is set to sell Johnny and other products for the purpose of research at a store in the U.S. Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture, where its new factory will get into operation in April.

“I want to see Americans’ reaction,” Ito said.

When Johnny makes its full-fledged debut overseas, it will certainly surprise local consumers who have seen tofu merely as a healthy Oriental food, he said.

“Johnny will never go orthodox. I’ll export a surprise,” he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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