On Sunday, April 21, 2024, "Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port" was held for the first time at the Kasaoka Islands Exchange Center (Kasaoka Port Passenger Terminal "Minato Kobanashi"), adjacent to Sumiyoshi Port in Kasaoka City, Okayama Prefecture.
The stores offering delicious sweets and drinks were all stores with a story to tell—stores particular about their ingredients, stores wanting people to get to know the area, and stores loved by the local community.
It was such a success that many stalls sold out, bringing the event to a close earlier than scheduled.
However, this marché event actually seems to be just an "entrance."
We asked about the day's events and future plans.
The content described is information as of the article's publication in May 2024. Please note that it may differ from the current information.
About "Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port"
"Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port" is a marché event that puts the spotlight on the shop owners' thoughts and the stories behind their activities.
It was held with the concept of letting people feel not only the taste of the sweets, but also the thoughts of the makers.
Ten shops from the Igasa and Bingo areas gathered, each offering sweets and drinks with stories worth telling someone about.
"Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port" was planned and held by Yamawaki Yoshifumi of pasión, who sets up stalls at marché events mainly in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and around Okayama Prefecture.
Yamawaki himself also makes and sells pound cakes and scones, drawing out the inherent flavors of local ingredients such as strawberries from the Kasaoka reclaimed land and apricots from Tajiri-cho, Fukuyama City.
As a baked-goods shop that conveys the whole story of its ingredients, he has set up stalls at numerous marché events since 2017.
Then, in July 2020, together with friends, he launched the marché event "Minato no Kyujitsu," which continues to be held regularly to this day.
Drawing on that experience, he held "Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port" for the first time.
Teaming up with him is Okimura Maiko, operator of "Okeiko.com Okayama," a community working to create spaces for practice under the theme of "Energizing communities, enriching lives," and also representative director of the general incorporated association moko'a.
She provided support in planning and management to express the thoughts of the vendors and Yamawaki in the form of a marché event.
The scene on the day of "Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port"
"Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port" was bustling with activity at its seaside port venue.
Even though this is a marché event gathering stores with stories worth telling someone about, unlike the sweets and drinks, the "stories" themselves are invisible.
So how were they actually conveyed?
Various ingenious touches were used.
For example, each booth displayed, along with its shop name, the message it wanted to convey.
The dedicated Instagram account announcing the event also introduced the thoughts of each individual vendor.
On the day, a long line had already formed at the venue entrance before the scheduled start time of 10:00 a.m.
Despite occasional rain, the response exceeded expectations. Friendly conversations between shop staff and customers could be heard throughout the venue.
Tables were set up along the waterfront, where some people chatted away with sweets or drinks in hand.
The earliest shops sold out by the morning, and even the last shop sold out before the scheduled closing time of 4:00 p.m. Amid light rain, the first "Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port" ended earlier than planned.
Introducing the vendors
Here are the vendors who took part in the bustling "Okashi-haku in Kasaoka Port."
Hajimarini (vegan muffins, cookies, etc. / Ibara City)
A vegan baked-goods shop using only plant-based ingredients.
Ingredients mainly include domestic wheat, along with traditionally made tofu and cold-pressed rapeseed oil.
Under the theme "Everyday treats that fit into daily life," they make baked goods you won't tire of even eating every day.
They have a main shop in Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture, and another shop in the Hokancho area of Kita Ward, Okayama City.
Why is their main shop in Ibara City? Apparently it's because "we value a daily life that faces the soil."
The origin of food lies in "soil" and "nature." There is no stylishness or sophistication there—only the strength and dignity of every form of life.
We base our daily work on that foundation. We believe this is extremely important as a position dealing with food in Japan today.
From the "Hajimarini" pamphlet
Yasashii Yakigashi Konakona (cookies, etc. / Takahashi City)
She started making baked goods ten years ago while raising her children. The shop name "Konakona" was also taken from the kind of repeated two-syllable expressions that small children like.
Because the shop owner herself isn't fond of overly sweet treats, a characteristic feature is that many of the baked goods are lightly sweetened.
Popular among women of similar age with similar tastes and women with small children, each item is carefully made with the wish to "deliver a sense of healing" at a workshop in the mountains of Kawakami-cho, Takahashi City.
It's a baked-goods shop loved by the local community, with many customers saying, "I've been eating these for a long time."
In addition to setting up stalls at marché events, they also sell directly from the workshop once a month.
When asked, "How was the event?" she replied, "It was my first time selling in Kasaoka, but the roughly 20 kinds of baked goods sold out in no time. I realized that maybe many of the customers were from the Igasa area. It was also nice to be able to interact with the other shops."
Tabi no Hito Farm (pudding and ice cream made with sugarcane / Takahashi City)
Tabi no Hito Farm grows sugarcane and matcha tea leaves in Takahashi City without using any pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
Remarkably, they even traveled by bicycle all the way to Iriomote-jima Island and Ishigaki-jima Island to learn sugarcane cultivation methods.
Last year (2023), they finally succeeded in harvesting sugarcane in Takahashi City.
Compared to Okinawa and Kagoshima, which are famous as sugarcane-producing regions, Takahashi City has a greater temperature difference, which shortens the growing period and requires its own unique approach.
Using this precious Takahashi City-grown sugarcane as an ingredient, they make black sugar syrup using traditional firewood cooking and use it in their pudding. Tasting it, it had a deep, rich flavor while still being refreshingly sweet.
In addition to the black sugar syrup, ice cream topped with matcha grown from tea leaves or pesticide-free kinako (roasted soybean flour) was also well received.
The pudding is also available at Yamabiko Market and Gakeppuchi Cafe in Matsubara-cho, Takahashi City. It apparently is a spot known for its beautiful sea of clouds.
UNITE CAFE (rice flour donuts / Asakuchi City)
UNITE CAFE sells freshly fried, egg-, dairy-, and wheat-free chewy rice flour donuts on the spot.
On this day, flavors to choose from included sugar (brown cane sugar), kinako (roasted soybean flour), cinnamon, matcha, black sesame, cocoa, brown rice coffee, and plain.
They offer donuts that everyone—those with allergies and those without, vegans and non-vegans alike—can enjoy together saying "This is delicious".
The donuts are made with rice flour, and the oil used for frying is rice oil. The newly introduced "brown rice coffee" flavor is also made from rice. This comes from a desire to "let many people know the possibilities of rice" and "support rice farmers."
Their principle is to source ingredients other than rice as much as possible from people with genuine dedication. These are donuts filled with the producers' feelings.
When you actually try one, it's so chewy! No wonder it has so many fans.
Wyori Farm (vegetable crackers, cakes, etc. / Fukuyama City)
"Wyori" means "source of joy" in Hawaiian.
Despite being beginners at farming, they cleared the mineral-rich soil of Kumano-cho, Fukuyama City, from scratch and built a field there. They grow lotus root, burdock, potatoes, and other vegetables without using agricultural chemical fertilizers.
The crackers made from these vegetables are called "Farm Chips." They are non-fried and produced in a confectionery workshop without chemical seasonings or synthetic coloring.
Farm Chips have a long shelf life of four months, making them popular as souvenirs. You can enjoy their crispy texture and the natural flavor of the ingredients themselves. Since they use local ingredients, they're also great conversation starters.
At Okashi Haku, in addition to Farm Chips, they also sold rice flour chiffon cake and Basque cheesecake, which are great for people who can't eat wheat.
Ginger Diamond (sweets and drinks using ginger / Fukuyama City)
Fukuyama City's ginger product manufacturing company "Ginger Diamond" processes and sells original ginger products such as ginger syrup, ginger tea, and ginger jam.
The ginger syrup was originally made for the founder's own health, and was later turned into a commercial product.
After selling it online, it became popular, and they have now set up a system to produce it in larger quantities.
At Okashi Haku, in addition to their standard original products, they also sold ginger mitarashi dango (sweet rice dumplings) and takeout ginger drinks.
The ginger mitarashi dango is an item derived from the ginger syrup, with an addictive sweet-and-spicy flavor that draws attention. It sold out quickly.
Spicy drinks using ginger syrup, such as craft cola and ginger ale, were also popular.
Based on their own experience, they run this shop with the desire to "help people feel energized with ginger!"
hanabull CAFE (croffles, denim goods / Ibara City)
The concept is "Denim and Snacks."
hanabull CAFE (Hanabull Cafe) was started by Ono Hanako of "Onohanako Shoten," a shop in Ibara City that manufactures and sells clothing and accessories using Ibara-produced denim, a local resource, and holds craft-making workshops, with the goal of revitalizing the local community.
The sweet they offer is the croffle (croissant × waffle), a hybrid sweet originating in Korea that offers a new texture—crispy, crunchy, and chewy all at once.
Denim goods were also displayed at the storefront, and passersby could be seen picking them up and looking them over.
"What denim and snacks have in common is bringing smiles to everyone through the products we offer, and delivering a sense of energy!" they said.
pasión (scones, pound cakes, etc. / Fukuyama City)
pasión sources ingredients such as strawberries, lemons, and mulberries mainly from the Bingo and Igasa areas, valuing the practice of visiting the sites themselves and having dialogue with producers and local people.
They make and sell sweets so as to convey the story, history, appeal, and excitement that each ingredient holds, hoping to get people interested in that region.
Fully bringing out the natural flavor of the ingredients, they process them into pound cakes, baked tarts, scones, and syrups without adding extra flavorings or fragrances.
They hope that people will come to know the stories behind the ingredients through their sweets.
Southern Tree (espresso, etc. / Kasaoka City)
Espresso carefully brewed on-site from specially selected coffee beans dark-roasted for this day.
Serving it is Minami Tomoyuki of Southern Tree, who is also the representative director of the NPO Share Atelier Umi no Kosha Oshima Higashi Elementary School and a furniture craftsman.
It's a rich, smooth, authentic espresso with plenty of fine crema. This espresso is also used in the café latte, café mocha, and macchiato.
Its fresh flavor was well received, with comments like "incredibly delicious" and "perfect to go with the sweets."
This was actually the shop's first time at this event. Apparently, getting the pressure right for the beans to brew deliciously is difficult. They reportedly practiced dozens of cups before the big day.
"Compared to drip coffee, espresso-based drinks like cappuccino, café latte, caramel macchiato, and café mocha are still less well known, so we want to share how delicious they are," they said.
JAZZ&TEA (Tea and more / Kurashiki City)
The shop owner, a mother of a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, wanted to develop tea that children could enjoy together with their parents, so she blends only organic ingredients, with no fragrances, colorings, or sweeteners.
At the venue, in addition to takeout tea, loose tea leaves, tea bags, and small gifts were also sold.
Normally, the tea can be purchased through an online shop and at a reservation-only specialty blended tea store.
There are as many as 100 types of blended tea that express famous jazz songs through tea. Black tea, green tea, Chinese tea, herbal tea, and more offer new flavors, aromas, and beautiful natural colors that break free from conventional ideas about tea, and have been well received.
Through careful hand-blending, the shop maintains high product quality while also contributing to reducing food waste.
Interview about "Sweets Expo in Kasaoka Port"
We spoke with Yamawaki Yoshifumi of pasión, who held the first "Sweets Expo in Kasaoka Port," about how the event came about and future plans.
Please tell us how the event came about.
Yamawaki (titles omitted)
Since July 2020, I've been holding a marche event called "Minato no Kyujitsu" at Minato Kobanashi with my friends.
At "Minato no Kyujitsu," shops from within Kasaoka City, as well as shops selling food and sweets made with local ingredients, set up stalls. The biggest feature is that you can also enjoy alcohol such as craft beer, chu-hai, sake, and whiskey.
I thought there might be demand for an event other than one centered on alcohol, so from around autumn 2023 I began thinking about a sweets marche event.
It's a marche event where small local confectioners can share not only their sweets but also the passion behind them.
When I talked to Hajimarini about it, she sympathized with the idea, which became the catalyst for actually getting things moving.
Also, I myself happened to be thinking about business development beyond just participating in marche events.
Since 2017, I've continued to participate in various events, and thankfully, as the number of fans has grown, I've sometimes been asked, "Don't you have gift sets?" This made me start thinking about whether there might be other ways to communicate the appeal of what I do, not limited to event participation, and whether I could expand in other ways.
However, there's a limit to what I can do alone.
As with this time, when I teamed up with Okimura of Okeiko.com Okayama, working as a team means the possibilities expand with each person involved.
Although "Sweets Expo in Kasaoka Port" is a marche event, I hope that it will serve as a catalyst for the development of gift sets and collaborative projects between other exhibitors as well.
It was a great success, but how did you feel after holding the event?
Yamawaki
This time, I reached out to shops with a strong story that perfectly matched the concept of the marche event, and a fine lineup of shops set up stalls.
Fans of each shop saw the announcements and came, and on top of that, they also resonated with the concepts of other shops at the venue, purchasing products or checking out their future updates. I think that kind of positive cycle took place.
Far more customers came than I imagined, so there are challenges for future events, such as the venue and parking…
As the organizer, I want to create an opportunity that makes exhibitors want to announce, "I'm taking part in this marche," and makes them want to tell customers even more about the event.
And, rather than it ending once a shop sells its products, the marche event is ultimately just an entry point.
I hope it can become a project that sparks a kind of chemical reaction going forward—where insights gained from participating let exhibitors deepen their own concepts, connections between exhibitors and customers give rise to new projects, and the organizers can help push those projects forward.
What are your plans going forward?
Yamawaki
The location is still being considered, but we're planning a second installment of the Sweets Expo for around autumn.
There's also a chance we might expand in other forms, such as alcohol, food, or crafts—for example, something like a "Sake Expo."
Not just marche events—popping up in a pop-up format is also an option, and I'd like to connect this to the development of gift sets, valuing the connections between exhibitors, to create a project that looks ahead to what comes next.
From the Writer
"Sweets Expo in Kasaoka Port" was a marche event where you could see the faces of the makers and feel the passion behind their work.
It makes you want to cheer on every single exhibitor.
The next event is scheduled for around autumn 2024, so be sure to check for updates.
Also keep an eye out for marche events other than the Sweets Expo, as well as other collaborations and developments.
Sweets Expo in Kasaoka Port Information
| Name | Sweets Expo in Kasaoka Port |
|---|---|
| Date held | April 21, 2024 (Sunday) 10:00–16:00 |
| Location | Kasaoka Islands Exchange Center (Kasaoka Port Passenger Ship Terminal "Minato Kobanashi") |
| Participation fee (tax included) | Free admission |
| Website | Official Instagram |
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