[Rediscovering Eumsseu]④ 'Tokyo Bread Shop' Open Only at Night

Report on Food Upcycling in Japan
Bamui Bbangjip Resells Leftover Bread from Bakeries Nationwide
Tokyo Riverside Distillery... Sake Lees Reprocessing
21 Tons of Byproduct Recycling Over 4 Years

Vehicle and sign used for street sales by Bameui Bbangjip in Tokyo at night
[Photo source = Bameui Bbangjip official website]

In front of Tamachi Station in Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan, a stall-style bakery opens every Wednesday and Thursday around the time people leave work. It is the "Night Bakery," operated by the Japanese branch of The Big Issue, a monthly magazine founded in the UK in 1991 to support the independence of homeless people. Although it is called a bakery, its setup is simple. A small van, a display stand for products, and a chalk-drawn signboard are all there is. Unlike some subway stations in Korea where the smell of freshly baked bread fills the air, there is no such aroma here. Nevertheless, the bakery sees a steady stream of passersby, including office workers returning home, students, single-person households, and housewives.

In early July, when the daytime high temperature approached 37 degrees Celsius amid a heatwave, the Night Bakery was visited around 5:30 p.m. Various types of bread such as croissants, baguettes, rye bread, croquettes, loaves, and muffins displayed on the stand were mostly sold out in less than an hour. The three sales staff added refrigerated products to the display and worked hard to serve customers, sweating profusely.

60,000 Leftover Breads Sold Annually on the Street... New Jobs Created Through Food Waste

The Night Bakery operates by collecting leftover products that were freshly baked and sold in the morning but remained unsold from bakeries across Japan and placing them on the sales stand. It receives bread from 28 small and medium-sized bakeries in various regions, including not only Tokyo but also Hokkaido, Kyoto, Saitama, and Shizuoka. From the producers' perspective, it minimizes the disposal of carefully made bread that would otherwise go unsold, and consumers can easily access regionally distinctive bread near their residences. This is part of Japanese-style food upcycling that helps products that might otherwise become food waste to be redistributed. Currently, the Night Bakery operates for about 2 to 3 hours a day near three subway stations in Tokyo?Tamachi, Kurazaka, and Otemachi?on different days and opening hours.

Pedestrians are browsing bread at the Night Bakery that opened near Tamachi Station in Tokyo, Japan.

A sales staff member is arranging products at a bakery in Tokyo at night.
[Photo by Bakery at Night website]

Moemi Mitsueda, who is in charge of operating the Night Bakery under Big Issue Japan, said, "Bread makers can reduce food loss, and consumers enjoy the anticipation and fun of choosing which region's bread they will encounter each time." She added, "Through operating the Night Bakery, we redistribute about 60,000 pieces of bread annually that would otherwise be discarded, contributing to reducing food loss."

Big Issue Japan implemented this idea starting October 16, 2020, which is World Food Day and during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative began with the goal of creating new jobs through food. It aimed to support the independence of socially vulnerable groups such as homeless people and single mothers by entrusting them with tasks like collecting and selling products.

The bread is purchased from local bakeries at half price and sold at regular prices. After deducting operating costs such as vehicle maintenance, the profits are used for the employees. Mitsueda emphasized, "Although we inevitably purchase products at prices lower than the regular price to operate the Night Bakery, the principle is not to apply discounts to the selling price to consumers so that the efforts of the bakers are properly recognized."

Sake Lees and Surplus Beer Get New Life... Equivalent to Planting 37,000 Pine Trees

If the food upcycling performed by the Night Bakery minimizes the disposal of finished products, there is also a model in Japan that creates new types of food by utilizing by-products that were mostly discarded. This is the Tokyo Riverside Distillery, a startup related to alcoholic beverages located near Kuramae Station in Taito Ward, Tokyo.

This distillery is the world's first to commercialize a technology that produces gin by reprocessing the lees left after making sake, a traditional Japanese rice wine. Chikara Ono, the founder, explained, "The sake lees (sake kasu) left after pressing sake contain a certain amount of enzymes and alcohol. By diluting this with water and fermenting it twice more, we extract a 'base spirit' in liquid form, which can then be blended with flavors and aromas to make gin."

Onno Chikara, CEO of Tokyo Riverside Distillery, is explaining the process of making craft gin using sake distiller's alcohol.

Using a similar method, they also produce gin from surplus beer stock or from raw materials that were previously discarded, such as cocoa shells, coffee grounds, and vegetable stems. Gin made from sake lees is classified as the "Last Series," gin recycled from beer as the "Revive Series," and gin using fruit or vegetable by-products as the "Ethique Series." These are sold through a bar operated within the distillery and via online and offline channels. Tasting the representative gins from each series, the Last Series had a rosemary scent with lightness and freshness. The Revive Series gin was characterized by a robust 40% alcohol content and had a beer-like color. The Ethique Series gin made from cocoa shells had a subtle chocolate aroma.

Ono, who previously ran a marketing company and worked as a consulting expert in the UK, came up with the idea to make craft gin while discussing with a Japanese acquaintance who operated a liquor-related select shop about how to utilize sake lees. To commercialize this, they conducted crowdfunding in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and raised 13 million yen (about 120 million KRW), far exceeding the initial goal of 3 million yen (about 27 million KRW), and immediately proceeded with the project.

After succeeding in making gin from sake lees, a friend of Ono who worked in new business development at the global beer brand Budweiser suggested making gin from leftover beer, expanding the scope. Ono said, "Beer has inventory issues due to expiration dates. By reproducing it as gin, it can be stored and sold for a long time without being affected by the period."

Gin produced in-house by Tokyo Riverside Distillery is displayed at the building entrance.

Tokyo Riverside Distillery has developed and produced about 60 types of gin over four years. Rather than being seen as a product made from discarded materials, it is recognized as a fresh and innovative product, gaining attention from Japanese and international tourists through books and YouTube. Compared to the first year of business, product sales have increased about tenfold. The product quality has also been recognized, with the distillery's gins ranking among the top nine brands in the gin category at the 2021 International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC), which features 1,000 liquor manufacturers worldwide, and winning the highest "Gold" award this year.

At a bar operated by Tokyo Riverside Distillery, staff are making cocktails using gin produced by fermenting sake lees.

The greatest achievement is contributing to environmental friendliness by giving new life to materials that would have become food waste. According to Tokyo Riverside Distillery, about 21 tons of sake lees have been recycled as gin ingredients over four years, reducing 5.2 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This effect is equivalent to planting 37,440 young pine trees. Ono expressed his aspirations, saying, "I hope this serves as an opportunity to pay attention to the possibility of creating new products and added value by utilizing discarded materials. I want to change consumers' mindsets and contribute to building a sustainable society."

※ This project was supported by the Press Promotion Fund, funded by government advertising fees.