Coconut oil is now available around Japan thanks to one woman: Midori Ogino.
The question "Would I give this to my own child?" is Ms. Ogino's yardstick as she creates exciting products, always keeping an organic connection to the background of the foods that are used.
Her quirky, "anything goes" neighborhood is always a source of support, and she treasures her connections with the people there as she takes each new step to make her dream come true.
Organic food is about organic connections and cycles
"I wanted to be everyone's mom," chuckles Midori Ogino, the CEO of BROWN SUGAR 1ST. Renowned for its organic extra virgin coconut oil made from organic coconuts, the company was born four months after the birth of Ms. Ogino's daughter. One day when she was breastfeeding, her daughter broke out in a rash and became constipated for around 10 days.
"She hadn't had anything except my milk, so it could only have been caused by something I had eaten," says Ms. Ogino. "It really made me conscious that you are what you eat. Not only did I rethink what I was eating, I wanted easy access to foods that were safe to give to my child while still tasting great."
This was the beginning of BROWN SUGAR 1ST., a private brand where every ingredient is stringently selected based on whether Ms. Ogino would give it to her own child.
I started out selling handmade sweets at places like farmers' markets with my daughter on my back.
As sales grew, so did Ms. Ogino's consciousness of what was in her sweets.
"To make better products, I needed better ingredients," she explains.
Enter coconut oil.
Ms. Ogino threw herself into this new direction for her business, traveling as far as the Philippines to meet with coconut growers.
In between business trips, she promoted the benefits and great taste of coconut oil through a series of tastings. Audiences including various members of the press attended tastings on the roof of a building near Harajuku Station, where Ms. Ogino's office was located at the time.
"It was important to me to show people how coconut oil can be used, how it can be enjoyed," she says. "I knew that coconut oil would only become part of our culture if people knew how to enjoy it in their daily lives."
To Ms. Ogino, organic food isn't just about growing the food on an organic farm.
"With coconut oil, for example, palm trees grow in a rich natural environment with sun, land and water," she explains. "Then you have the generations of people who tend to them and grow the coconuts. And then mothers make sweets from coconut oil products and give them to their children. The people who use the products give feedback to the people who make them and let them know how they feel. I think it's those complex, organic connections behind the scenes that truly make a product organic. And so with that in mind, I aim to create a cycle where the people who make our products, the people who sell them and the people who eat them are all happy."
The quirky, anything-goes atmosphere builds connections and inspires dreams
Ms. Ogino settled in the Harajuku/Yoyogi area when her daughter was two months old.
Formerly a suburban housewife, Ms. Ogino wanted her daughter to have a mother who worked, so she moved to Sendagaya, an area that had always interested her.
"I like the way it's a slice of nature in the middle of Tokyo, the way the new and the old sit side by side," she says. "I moved into a vintage condo that had been well renovated. I love the way this area seeks out things that are shiny and new while still treasuring old things."
After her arrival, Ms. Ogino took her daughter for a walk every day to get to know the area. It was on one of these walks that she met Mamiko Sakamoto, the owner of a store called Rico Curry in the Jingumae area.
"From the moment we met, she treated me like an old friend," says Ms. Ogino. "She's a mom too, and when she saw my daughter and I told her I'd just moved into the neighborhood, she told me to come to her if I ever needed help with anything. She's been a big source of support in both my business life and my private life. She sells my products in her store and gave me information on the local pediatrician and nursery school."
At around the same time, she met the long-standing owner of a café on a back street off Omotesando. During a visit, she happened to hear that he/she planned to close the café.
"Without thinking, I said 'If you're going to close the café, can I borrow this space? I'm afraid I don't have any money, though.' (laughs) He/she said 'If you're so keen, why not?' and agreed to lend it to me! I think a lot of the older people here enjoy the dynamism of young people."
Ms. Ogino thinks that if you want to do something, it's important to just shout that out.
"This neighborhood is OK with that, and will help you make your dream come true," she says. "I think Harajuku is an experimental neighborhood. Nobody's bothered by differences; in fact, they like them. That's the culture here. And the people are laid-back enough to let you do what you want to do, even if there's no guarantee that you'll succeed."
A neighborhood that creates new subcultures and shapes people
The Harajuku/Yoyogi area has accepted many a dreamer and created all kinds of new subcultures. International designers and creators begin their careers in this down-to-earth neighborhood, and it's not uncommon for them to remain there after they hit the big time.
"In this world, people try to imitate others or find themselves fitting a mold where they model themselves after other people, but Harajuku is a filter that strips all that away so that only your true self remains", says Ms. Ogino. "But Harajuku is also a place where genuineness is built from imitations. And that in itself is where Harajuku's unique subcultures come from, and why the people with the potential to create a new subculture gather here."
The neighborhood shapes people, those people create subcultures and those subcultures shape the neighborhood. And this wonderful cycle is all the result of people's passion for their dreams.
"But while this is a place where dreams can become reality if you're passionate enough, if that passion wavers then you won't be able to keep up," says Ms. Ogino. "Harajuku creates but it also consumes. Values change at an incredible speed, and that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. So there needs to be something at the heart of what you're doing or you'll get lost in the crowd."
Ms. Ogino herself says that this hit home to her during the boom surrounding coconut oil.
"In business, you have the falsehoods of our image-obsessed world and the truth you're trying to protect," she says. "At BROWN SUGAR 1ST., we're always conscious of our image as we create our products, but what we're really trying to protect are those organic connections behind them. This neighborhood taught me how important it is to keep that balance between "falsehood" and "truth" and hold firm to your vision."
Ms. Ogino's vision is all about conversations.
"Most problems can be solved by talking, and when you talk to people, you get to understand each other and connect," she explains. "And what you share with each other isn't just economic value, it's excitement. Those connections are extremely organic to me."
Photos
Mamiko Sakamoto, the owner of Rico Pua
In addition to running Rico Curry (Jingumae) and Rico Pua (Sendagaya, pictured), Ms. Sakamoto sells her curries in a food truck called Rico Car.
"We only supply it to places that have a use for a product like this, and settle for an inconsistent supply," says Ms. Ogino. "Otherwise, you end up with food loss again. We're also planning to lend our brand to a factory and have them produce organic maple syrup under the name BROWN SUGAR 1ST. This project began after I really started thinking about expiry dates and industry practices. Something that seems like common sense can be completely reimagined if you question it. You can't make a product that will excite people, a product that will blow people away, if you do things the same way they've always been done. With that said, I'm not turning common wisdom completely on its head. Organic products start with a conversation. Looking for the best way forward is something that we all need to do together."
This belief of Ms. Ogino's is so strong that she was even willing to rethink her own rules when she created organic black chai gin in a collaboration with a long-standing London distillery.
"An alcoholic beverage may seem like an odd choice for me, given that my yardstick is 'Would I give this to my child?'" she says. "But alcohol adds cheer to a meal and gives people a richer enjoyment of what they're eating. And that food culture is something I do want my child to experience. I probed my own rules, and the result was this amazing gin."
Last year, Ms. Ogino started the "Plan for a Japan with No Food Loss" with the aim of eliminating food loss in Japan.
"These days, there is a need for food that is healthy and environmentally friendly," she explains. "Industries' rules to achieve zero risk in these areas are one of the causes of food loss. Companies can opt to donate food instead of throwing it away, but in either case, the value of these products is now zero. This project looks for another way, turning these items into new products with different value. We're solving the issue of food loss through business. It's important to us that we all think of solutions and work on them together - we even ask for new ideas on social media."
This project led to the creation of persimmon chutney from persimmons that would otherwise be thrown away.
Ms. Ogino's aim is to convey to the children the food culture they want to connect to the future.
"I want to make my children eat delicious things with peace of mind, and at the same time, I think it is necessary to convey the culture of food that enriches my mind through eating. The food style will change in the course of becoming a part of the food culture. I think"
It is said that everything that Ms. Ogino is working on is parts for that.
"We talk together, we all work together and lead to one dream. I think that the city that gives such wisdom and the city that makes that dream come true here is Harajuku."
Before long, Midori Ogino and her daughter have finished their photo session in the park.
The plan was for our team and Ms. Ogino's daughter to part ways, but when she sees that we're shooting at Rico Pua next, her eyes light up and she begs her mother to let her have a curry there. Despite the store being closed, Ms. Sakamoto agrees to make her favorite curry, much to her joy.
"I think her mother's milk was curry," laughs Ms. Ogino, and indeed, Ms. Ogino ate there almost every day when her daughter was a baby. Today, the two enjoy their favorite curry together.
The BROWN SUGAR 1ST. products featured in this article can be purchased here.
「ORGANIC 1ST.」
http://www.organic1st.jp
A project started with the aim of eliminating food loss. The members use social media to gather ideas on how to add new value to ingredients and products that would otherwise be thrown away due to rules about expiry dates and the practices of the food distribution industry. Their successes are made into products or otherwise commercialized.
A company that examines breast milk. The components of breast milk are chemically analyzed to find specific solutions to issues. The company aims to create an environment where mothers can breastfeed with confidence by providing correct information on how factors such as a mother's build and diet affect the components in breast milk.
Midori Ogino started BROWN SUGAR 1ST. with her mother in 2011, when Ms. Ogino's daughter was four months old.
Originally a handmade sweet store, the store went in a new direction after Ms. Ogino encountered coconut oil, and the business was incorporated in 2013.
She imports and wholesales organic products, always asking herself "Would I give this to my child?"
