“I’m helping an iriko shop with its design right now,” a designer friend casually told me, showing me a package. The design was sophisticated yet somehow warm, and it stayed with me.
Drawn to the packaging, I promptly visited the Kurashiki Sansai Market, where I found foods made with carefully selected ingredients and the makers’ heartfelt dedication.
Here’s an introduction to Kaiko Sansai Honpo, which brings you foods made with the bounty of the Seto Inland Sea and Okayama.
The information provided was current when this article was published in September 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About Kaiko Sansai Honpo
Kaiko Sansai Honpo is a food brand run by FP Tsuhan Co., Ltd. (Kurashiki City).
The company plans, manufactures, and sells foods that make use of the region’s abundant bounty, including small fish such as mamakari and iriko from the Seto Inland Sea, shrimp, and black soybeans from Okayama Prefecture.
FP Tsuhan was founded in 1999. It is a specialist retailer of office automation supplies, including high-quality, domestically manufactured recycled toner. At first glance, this seems like a world apart from Kaiko Sansai Honpo, but the company’s commitment to “assessing quality and delivering products responsibly” remains unchanged and is carried through in the making of Kaiko Sansai Honpo products.
“Just as nature made it”—foods that make your body happy
Kaiko Sansai Honpo was launched in 2009 as a new business by Sanada Yasumasa, president of FP Tsuhan Co., Ltd.
Asked why he chose to take on the food industry, a field completely different from the company’s main business, Sanada says, “Because it’s a completely different field, if one side doesn’t go well, we can get back on our feet. I wanted to be able to grow both businesses.”
One reason Sanada chose small fish as an ingredient for the products was that he was born and raised in the Sami area (Kurosaki, Tamashima, Kurashiki City). Seafood had been a familiar food since his childhood, but as younger generations, including his own children, began eating less fish, people said they were not getting enough of the nutrients they should be able to obtain from fish.
So, with the aim of making fish easier and more delicious to eat, the company set out to create products that anyone could enjoy with confidence, guided by the concept of “good for you and delicious.”
We want to deliver foods that taste good and make your body happy.
That was the beginning of Kaiko Sansai Honpo.
Kaiko Sansai Honpo products are made with as little added flavoring as possible, and finished by roasting or using a high-temperature, high-pressure pressing process. Everything is made by hand. Together with his family and local Kurashiki staff who have supported the company since its launch, Sanada continues to carefully make each product, one by one.
“So we can bring them to more people”: making the moment you pick them up exciting
Around 2020, Sanada gradually began working alongside his daughter, Hirano Yoko, on day-to-day operations.
After taking over operations, Hirano came to learn that sales were in fact struggling and that there was a long list of challenges. Confronted with realities she had not seen when she was merely “helping out,” she says she strongly felt that “things couldn’t go on this way” and that change was necessary.
They may not look flashy, but once people try them, their quality will surely come through. How can we get more people to pick them up?
After days of poring over the books and gazing at the products in the factory, wondering what to do, Hirano resolved to take action.
First, she completely rethought the packaging design, aiming to create an impression that would make people excited the moment they picked up a product and want to give it as a gift.
No matter how confident you are in what’s inside, you can’t convey a product’s merits unless people first pick it up. And without that, sales won’t grow. Facing this challenge head-on, she took a new step toward communicating the appeal of the products.
Before long, these efforts began to take shape, and the products gradually started attracting attention at morning markets and events. Comments that they had never heard before—such as “It was so cute I couldn’t help picking it up” and “It’s just right as a souvenir”—also became more common.
Kaiko Sansai Honpo products that bring “good-for-you and delicious foods” to life
In 2025, it had been 16 years since the brand was launched.
Here we introduce some of Kaiko Sansai Honpo’s signature products, as the company embarks on a new chapter following its packaging redesign.
Crisp, thin-baked rice crackers
These thin rice crackers are made by placing carefully selected ingredients on a fish-paste base and baking each one by hand using the company’s unique “high-temperature, high-pressure pressing” process.
There are four varieties: “mamakari,” “shrimp,” “black soybeans,” and “seaweed.”
The mamakari and shrimp are from the Seto Inland Sea, the black soybeans are “Sakushu-guro,” a specialty of the Sakushu area in northeastern Okayama Prefecture, and the seaweed is “Okayama Nori” from the local area, introduced with this latest redesign.
Just as the name suggests, their crisp lightness and toasty aroma make them delightfully moreish.
(Photo courtesy of Kaiko Sansai Honpo)
Chobitto Series
The packaging for the “Chobitto Series” features one striking character on each package: “sea,” “mountain,” “ma,” or “e.”
- “Sea” is a mix of iriko and shrimp from the Seto Inland Sea and black soybeans from Okayama Prefecture (Sakushu-guro)
- “Mountain” is large Sakushu-guro black soybeans
- “Ma” is mamakari from the Seto Inland Sea
- “E” is shrimp from the Seto Inland Sea
Enjoy the bounty of the sea and mountains, “a little at a time.”
Crispy Seafood and Mountain Harvest Mix
The mix features unsalted dried sardines from the Seto Inland Sea, along with mackerel, shrimp, and black beans. Enjoy the light, crisp texture of each ingredient and their distinct flavors.
The ingredient we’d like you to pay attention to here is the dried sardines, which may seem plain and easy to overlook at first glance.
They tend to be overshadowed by mackerel, a famous Okayama souvenir, and photogenic shrimp, but in fact, these dried sardines are where Umisachi Yamasachi Honpo’s ingenuity really shines.
Each sardine is pressed individually at high temperature and pressure, giving them a lightness and crisp texture quite unlike the usual dried sardines sold at supermarkets and elsewhere. I was also surprised that they had almost none of the bitterness or fishy smell often associated with dried sardines.
Try a sample at the morning market and experience their crisp texture for yourself.
Fish Chips
The fish paste dough, also used to make crisp, thin-baked rice crackers, is slowly roasted with far-infrared heat. Its light, crunchy texture makes it so delicious that once you start eating, you can’t stop.
This has long been a popular product, but its name has also been updated to make it easier to read, along with the packaging.
We spoke with Hirano Yoko about the future of Kaiko Sansai Honpo.
Kaiko Sankou Honpo (FP Tsuhan Co., Ltd.) Information
For information on stores carrying the products and morning market appearances, please check the official website or Instagram.
| Organization | Kaiko Sankou Honpo (FP Tsuhan Co., Ltd.) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food and confectionery manufacturing and sales |
| Representative | Sanada Yasumasa |
| Established | 2009 (founded in 1999) |
| Address | 658-14 Nishiachi-cho Shinden, Kurashiki City |
| Contact | 086-466-4665 |
| Website | Kurashiki Kaiko Sankou Honpo |
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