OMUSUBI Anniversary Celebrations – Brand New Stores in Taikoo Place and Lan Kwai Fong Incorporating Sustainability with the Authentic Taste of Japan – Recommendation of Omusubi and Soup Pairing Limited-time Triple Offers at Taikoo Place: Receive a Free Cotton Handbag for Any Purchase of $50 Or More

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 19 January 2023 – Since opening our first store in 2011, Hyakunousha has grown into a business of over 110 stores all around Hong Kong, promoting Omusubi culture throughout the city. To bring the essence of the tradition of Omusubi to customers worldwide, we established our new brand OMUSUBI in 2022, and invited Mr. Kashiwa Sato, a design master in Japan, to partner with us as Creative Director, while applying the concept of sustainability and environmental-friendliness at every detail of the brand. Following our new stores at ifc mall and SOGO Causeway Bay last year, our new store in Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, has recently opened for business on 5 January 2023, while the store in Lan Kwai Fong, Central, will run on soft-opening from 12 January 2023. This further signifies the footprint expansion in prime districts on Hong Kong Island. OMUSUBI continues to use fresh and healthy ingredients as well as Japanese rice of the highest quality from selected farmers. By carefully selecting rice cultivated and produced with minimal use of pesticides and in an environmentally friendly manner, the brand recreates an authentic taste of Japan by producing safe and assuring products in a craftsman-like and environmentally friendly manner.

Mr. Muneo Nishida, the founder of the brand, said, “In the short term, we will continue to expand the local business; and with the relaxation of border control, we are diligently working towards opening stores overseas.”

Our new store in Taikoo Place is the first OMUSUBI store to offer a seating area for customers to enjoy the delicious soup and Omusubi. Mr. Kashiwa Sato, brand creative director, has been overseeing the design of the brand. In accordance with our principle of environmental protection and sustainability, the store design uses white cloth, brass and white wood as primary materials, and it is in line with the brand’s overall consistency.

In celebration of the first anniversary of OMUSUBI and the opening of our new stores, OMUSUBI is pleased to introduce time-limited menu items, including: Japanese Clear Clam Soup, Scallop with Red Snow Crab Paste Omusubi and Slightly-grilled Spicy Hokkaido Mentaiko Omusubi (coming soon in February). The menu features altogether over 20 flavors of Omusubi and 3 Japanese soups made from natural Japanese ingredients. Finally, OMUSUBI offers a series of promotions to celebrate the anniversary and to thank customers, starting with a limited-time Triple Offer at Taikoo Place. This includes: a free Cotton Handbag giveaway (valued at $90 and conditions apply) and special discounts for set menus with soup; the next batch of promotions will arrive after the Lunar New Year, with more exciting time-limited surprises!

Limited Offer to Highlight the Beauty of Ingredients

Japanese Clear Clam Soup

• The clear soup uses many kinds of kombu, including Ma-kombu from southern Hokkaido and Rishiri-kombu from Rebun Island in Hokkaido. Both umami and flavour profile layers are enhanced by adding shiitake mushroom and sea salt for taste, as well as full bites of clam meat and chopped fresh spring onions.
  
• The ingredients include different kinds of kombu with different characteristics: Ma-kombu is thick and sweet, and the broth it brews is more clear-coloured, making it suitable for premium cooking; whereas the Rishiri-kombu, also a premium product, adds an elegant aroma and brightness to the broth.

Scallop with Red Snow Crab Paste Omusubi

• Made with Yesso scallops carefully selected from Aomori Prefecture and mixed with shredded red snow crab meat and crab paste. The rich aroma and creamy mouthfeel combine to create the ultimate luxurious enjoyment.

Slightly-grilled Hokkaido Mentaiko Omusubi (To be launched in Feb)

• We choose pollock roes produced in Hokkaido as filling. These are of premium quality, and customers can feel individual roes when they bite into the mentaiko.

• The mentaiko are preserved instantly at local facilities to lock in the umami-rich flavor. From its full size, the mentaiko is cut down to large chunks containing the roes. After flame grilling, its surface has a charcoal-grilled aroma while the interior is kept fresh and soft just like sashimi, and customers can enjoy this unsurpassed, superior deliciousness.

• The mentaiko are gone through prolonged low temperature heating procedures for bacteria killing purpose, so adults and kids alike can enjoy it with no worries.
  

Showcasing the Art of “Omusubi + Japanese Soup”

In Japanese families, Omusubi and soup go hand in hand. OMUSUBI presents premium Omusubi and Japanese soups to you and begins a journey of authentic taste of Japan with the art of best mixing and matching food here.

Omusubi and Japanese Soup Combo #1
Soup: Japanese Clear Clam Soup
Omusubi: Premium Kishu Pickled Plum Omusubi / Slightly-grilled Spicy Mentaiko Omusubi
About this combo: Let the delicate and fresh sweetness in the Japanese Clear Clam Soup meet the refreshing and appetizing Premium Kishu Pickled Plum Omusubi for a traditional Japanese meal with minimal calorie intake. You can also pair this with the Slightly-grilled Spicy Mentaiko Omusubi, of which the texture of slightly spicy roes is best balanced by the clear broth. Another way of making your meal more fun is to make the traditional dish “tea with rice” (chazuke). It’s simple and easy to make this surprisingly enjoyable Omusubi and soup with a twist! (Try this: Enjoy the clam flesh and discard the shells, then mix in an Omusubi of a milder flavor, such as pickled plum, mentaiko or salmon, to create a hot soup rice.)

Omusubi and Japanese Soup Pairing #2
Soup: Kyoto-style Beancurd Skin Soymilk Soup (Yuzu Flavor)
Omusubi: Kinpira Renkon Omusubi / Spicy Beef Tongue in Green Pepper Miso Omusubi
About this combo: The Kyoto-style Beancurd Skin Soymilk Soup (Yuzu Flavor) is a vegetarian Japanese soup, so we recommend pairing it with the Kinpira Renkon Omusubi for a full vegetarian package. You can find beancurd, soy milk and kombu as soft soup stuff bringing contrast to the bright and crunchy renkon (lotus roots) and carrots in the Omusubi. If you would like to wake the taste buds up, why not give the Spicy Beef Tongue in Green Pepper Miso Omusubi a try as another pairing with the soup? The mild and spicy flavors come together to make quite the impact of taste.

Omusubi and Japanese Soup Pairing #3
Soup: Kurobuta Pork and Vegetables Miso Soup
Omusubi: Scallop with Red Snow Crab Paste Omusubi / Slightly-grilled Spicy Mentaiko Omusubi
About this combo: The Kurobuta Pork and Vegetables Miso Soup (made with Japanese Roppaku Kurobuta pork) and the Scallop with Red Snow Crab Paste Omusubi both make use of high quality, premium ingredients from Japan, and you can tell this from their rich and layered mouthfeels. Building on this, you can enjoy the Slightly-grilled Spicy Mentaiko Omusubi, the spicy flavour of which enhances the depth of white miso in the soup and brings a new level of umami.

1^st Wave Promotion: Taikoo Place Store Exclusive Triple Offers

To celebrate the opening of the new Taikoo Place store, OMUSUBI has specially prepared time-limited triple offers to share our happiness with our customers!

Offer 1: Purchase one soup item at a discounted price of $30 (Choose 1 out of 3, worth $48) upon the purchase of any Omusubi after 11am.

Offer 2: Gifted with a beverage of your choice (worth $17 or above), plus purchasing one soup item at a discounted price of $30 (Choose 1 out of 3, worth $48) upon the purchase of any bento.

Offer 3: Gifted with a Japanese-styled cotton handbag with brand logo designed by Mr. Kashiwa Sato, the renowned creative director in Japan (worth $90) upon purchase of $50 or above. Each customer is limited to 1 gift, gift while stocks last.

Promotion period: Now until 20 January 2023

2^nd Wave Promotion: Details to be announced in due course – stay tuned.

Brand Philosophy

1. Safe and assuring

OMUSUBI upholds the principle of being kind to people, so we only purchase Japanese rice from farmers whom we really know in person. By carefully selecting rice of the highest quality with minimal use of pesticides and well-managed cultivation and production, we adopt safe and assuring rice to make the Omusubi taste better.

2. Environmental Conservation

The rice used to make Omusubi is a blessing from nature, so OMUSUBI also values the environmentally friendly principle during the production process. Besides using greener materials in product packaging and store design, the farmers we are working with take more environmentally friendly measures in the process of rice cultivation, such as stopping the use of plastic-coated controlled release fertilizers and reducing the production of methane gas.

3. Japanese Tradition

Japanese rice is the star of the Japanese dishes. So, the rice selected by OMUSUBI is striking in terms of shine, aroma, sweetness, and aftertaste. The fillings, as the best companion to rice to make Omusubi, are often inspired by traditional Japanese cuisine and are made with in-season ingredients to bring out the authentic taste. With the soup stock made of fresh Japanese ingredients, our soup is turned into a healthy dish with a rich taste and natural seasoning, making it an appetizing and satisfying choice for customers.

Mr. Kashiwa Sato, Creative Director

OMUSUBI was established with the concept of safe and assuring, environmental conservation, and Japanese tradition. We were able to bring in a strong partner who shared our vision – Mr. Kashiwa Sato, the leading creative director in Japan, who oversaw the branding and creative direction of the well-known UNIQLO.

Sushi from Japan is world-famous, but not many know about Omusubi. We decided to name the new brand OMUSUBI to express the strong will to inherit the food culture of Omusubi that was built by our predecessors and to spread it to the world. Our logo consists of a red triangle icon and the word OMUSUBI in a triangular logotype. Besides symbolizing the enthusiasm of Hyakunousha and its founder, Mr. Muneo Nishida, the red brand colour also expresses “the blessing of nature from the sun”, and the warm heart that “Omusubi should be kind to people and kind to the earth”. Also, the wordings of O・MU・SUBI in a triangular logotype are a fun way for people to remember the brand name.

Implement the Concept of Sustainability

From ingredients, packaging, to the construction materials of our stores, OMUSUBI keeps sustainability in mind, and we expect our customers to contribute to environmental protection while enjoying the delicious food. We are proud to offer 100% selected Japanese rice that is pesticide-reduced, and environmentally friendly. We also use paper for a part of package to replace plastic. The package of our green tea, jasmine tea and coffee uses aluminium which is easily recyclable. The package of our juice is made of 100% recycled plastic, except for the cap. In addition, organic cotton and brass are the main materials for the decoration of our stores. The use of plastic is reduced compared to our existing shops of the same size.

Taikoo Place Store (New)

Address: Shop E, 1/F, Devon House, Taikoo Place, 979 King’s Road, Quarry Bay

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday: 07:30-20:00
Saturday: 07:30-14:30

Sunday and public holidays: Closed

Lan Kwai Fong Store (Soft Launch from January 12, 2023)

Address: Shop B2, UG/F, Century Square, 1-13 D’Aguilar Street, Central, Hong Kong
Hashtag: #omusubistore #omusubihk #omusubi


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OMUSUBI

About Hyakunousha International Limited (“Hyakunousha”)

Founded in Hong Kong in 2010 by Mr. Muneo Nishida, Hyakunousha was born out of a desire to reverse a decline in Japan’s agricultural production and create the agriculture of the next hundred years. Since launching hana-musubi’s first store in Hong Kong in 2011, the company now has over 110 stores in Hong Kong, and a central food factory that houses its offices and Hyakunousha Academy (education centre) and employs over 700 people. Having successfully established the Japanese Omusubi culture in Hong Kong, the company launched the OMUSUBI brand in 2022 to take the Omusubi culture and authentic taste of Japan to the world. Dedicated to delivering high-quality products to its customers, Hyakunousha maintains stringent control over its production processes and agricultural practices.