On February 2025, 2, the Corporate Management Research Laboratory of the Department of Natural Resources Management at Tokyo University of Agriculture (Abashiri, Hokkaido) held a tasting event for their "Mitten Crab Ramen," a product currently under development, at the cafeteria on the Setagaya campus.
The "Mokuzu crab" (algae crab) is a species of the same genus as the "Shanghai crab" (Chinese mitten crab), known as a luxury food, and its name is said to come from the fact that the thick hairs on its talons look like seaweed. It is widely distributed throughout Japan, but not only is it not widely distributed in the market as a food ingredient, but in Hokkaido it is also subject to extermination due to reasons such as damaging fishing nets.
The Corporate Management Laboratory has focused on mitten crabs, an unused resource, in order to solve local issues such as depopulation and the decline of local industries in Abashiri City, where the Hokkaido Okhotsk Campus is located, and to revitalize the region. The Department of Marine and Fisheries Aquatic Production Science Laboratory attempted to improve the taste of mitten crabs by cultivating them at the Okhotsk Critical Research Center using discarded vegetables as feed, and held a tasting event and sensory evaluation test in November 2023. Approximately 11 people from inside and outside the university visited the event and participated in the tasting and questionnaire survey.
This time, while the results of the previous survey showed that mitten crab was appreciated by people of all ages and regions, the low awareness of mitten crab and its difficulty in eating were issues. Therefore, instant ramen (soy sauce and miso) using mitten crab was prototyped and served to the many people who gathered at the venue.
Kiriyama (3rd year, Department of Natural Resources Management), representative of the Mitten Crab Product Development Project, said, "At the tasting event, we received many more comments saying 'It's delicious!' than we expected, and it once again brought home to us the possibility that mitten crab, which was previously considered a nuisance, can create new value. If we can create attractive products that make use of local resources while solving local issues, it should also lead to revitalizing the region. Through this project, we hope to go beyond simply developing products, but also to create local appeal and create economic circulation."
Professor Ueda Tomohisa of the Business Management Research Institute, who is in charge of the project, expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "In fiscal 2025, we aim to sell the products with the cooperation of local companies. We also want to try using them as gifts in return for hometown tax donations, although we still need to check the standards and other conditions."
