01-07-2025
Freezing tech allows luxury sushi to reach anywhere in Japan
Thanks to the development of an advanced freezing technology, a Tokyo luxury sushi restaurant is gaining popularity for its service to allow customers to enjoy its dishes nationwide.
In May, Ginza Onodera, a high-class sushi restaurant in Tokyo's Chuo Ward operated by Onodera Group, launched a service shipping sushi meals that are quickly frozen after being freshly made. The group has won bids for the first tuna of the year auctioned at the Toyosu fish market in Tokyo's Koto Ward for five consecutive years.
The restaurant has been working on the freezing method for about three years in cooperation with DayBreak, a special freezing technique developer in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, in order to make sushi made with tuna purchased from Yamayuki, an intermediate wholesaler in Toyosu, available for customers even in distant locations.
Artlock Freezer, a commercial freezer sold by DayBreak, "can prevent sushi toppings from drying and changing color, as it freezes them with gentle cold air from all directions," a DayBreak official said.
Ginza Onodera sells vacuum-packed frozen sushi using this technology online. Customers can store the meals in their home freezers for about two weeks after their arrival.
"The meals taste good, as water does not come out of them when thawing them with weakly running water for about 1 hour and 10 minutes," a Ginza Onodera official said.
The sushi restaurant sells a set of frozen sushi meals for ¥5,400, with 10 different kinds of fish toppings available, including those sent directly from landing ports to the Toyosu market, such as medium-fatty and lean parts of tuna from the town of Oma, Aomori Prefecture, and splendid alfonsino from the city of Katsuura in Chiba Prefecture. The toppings vary with the season.
Collaborating with a home appliance maker, Ginza Onodera is developing a microwave oven that enables short-time thawing to meet business-use demand from hotel restaurants and others.
"We've become able to thaw frozen sushi meals in a delicious way in some 5 minutes, by adjusting the microwave irradiating the sushi rice and toppings," the sushi restaurant official said, aiming for commercial use.
