WAFURU

Japan is well known for its rich culture, vibrant nature, and unique cuisine, and while it is necessary to visit the island nation to truly experience it, consumers today can enjoy authentic Japanese food anywhere in the world. The marked reduction in food perishability driven by advancements in logistics and transportation technologies is paving the way for producers and suppliers to distribute local products worldwide.

Capitalizing on this development to bring Japanese quality to the world, Katsumasa Aikawa founded WAFURU.

“We would like to share cutting-edge agricultural technologies and ideas that haven’t been proven with people around the world. We will always take on newer challenges, no matter how small, and aim to be a company that can achieve the impossible,” says Aikawa.

WAFURU’s goal is to develop fundamental technology in Japan and cultivate Japanese produce that cannot be grown abroad due to factors like temperature, water quality, and terrain. Using the latest agricultural techniques, reliable farming methods, greenhouse facilities, and hydroponics technology, it consistently grows the highest quality fruits. The team at WAFURU believes that maintaining water quality is the key to accomplishing this objective and strongly emphasizes using hydroponic farming.

WAFURU employs two different hydroponic growing systems. One involves using the deep flow technique to hydroponically grow melons in agricultural greenhouses, which creates a water flow in the tank to provide sufficient oxygen supply without stressing the roots. The other growing solution is a fully-closed hydroponics system that uses a controlled LED. light and WAFURU’s originally developed fog generator to deliver clientspecific yields.

These innovations are currently in the experimental stage, with a research facility intended to test their results on leafy vegetables and strawberries set to open in March 2023. Above all, WAFURU aims to produce harvested vegetables and fruits with higher quality and functionality than normally grown products by exploring newer agricultural techniques.

Boosting the freshness of its products, WAFURU developed a unique freezing technology that allows seasonal fruits to be preserved for a long time while maintaining their best flavor. Taking advantage of the goodness of freezing, it is promoting the development of products powered by its innovative technology to deliver seasonal tastes all year around.

Aikawa notes that the increasing number of aging farmers in Japan is leaving vast farmlands unattended. This, coupled with global climate change issues, population growth, and other emerging problems are making conventional agricultural techniques obsolete. Recognizing these problems, WAFURU will build facilities to boost water conservation and quality, and expand the usage of renewable energy. It recently started a new initiative with the Japanese agricultural sector to mass-produce high-quality products using the latest technology.

Currently, WAFURU is focused on the Philippines, where it has built a network of local partners for supplying food, alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, and golf goods, among others. In conclusion, WAFURU’s relentless pursuit of agricultural innovation and customer satisfaction perfectly poises it to become a go-to partner that can effectively contribute to the Japanese producer community and positively impact lives.