On Wednesday, June 17, 2026, the J-PEAKS joint event “TAKU” was held at Osaka Metropolitan University’s I-site Namba, co-hosted by Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) and Osaka Metropolitan University.

As part of the J-PEAKS project, this event aims to strengthen collaboration between the two universities and “rethink the value of rice through fermented food culture, thereby fostering the development of new industries.” While the “TAKU Project” has been held four times to date, primarily in the Kanto region, this marks its first event in the Kansai region.

Under the theme “Nagaoka’s Traditions (Rice and Fermentation) × Osaka’s Sophistication (Dashi and Food Culture),” this event aimed to create a new food culture that transcends regional boundaries. This event brought together corporate representatives, researchers, and stakeholders from Nagaoka and Osaka across a wide range of fields, including agriculture, fermentation, manufacturing, media, tourism, and international expansion.

■Part 1: Nagaoka and Osaka—A Relay Discussion with 20 Participants

Discussion with 20 Participants Professor Wataru Ogasawara of NUT and Professor Shuji Yokoi of Osaka Metropolitan University served as moderators, and the 20 participants introduced themselves and took part in a relay-style discussion. University representatives presented their latest research, while corporate representatives introduced their businesses, and multifaceted insights on fermentation, dashi, and food culture were shared in a relay-style format. Many participants could be seen listening intently while taking notes.

■Part 2: “Cooking” Workshop

We held a workshop titled “The Science and Techniques for Cooking Delicious Rice,” featuring Junichi Shirai of the “rice-cooking” food unit “Gohan Domei” as the instructor. The workshop explored the depth of the everyday act of “cooking rice” from a scientific perspective, and participants deepened their understanding of the techniques while observing a live rice-cooking demonstration up close.

This joint event, which brought together the distinct regional expertise of Nagaoka’s rice and fermentation technology with Osaka’s dashi and food culture, served as an opportunity to further deepen the collaboration between the two universities. This initiative, which reinterprets everyday food culture—including fermentation, dashi, and rice cooking—through science and technology, embodies the philosophy of “Bringing regionally-driven social impact to the world” championed by J-PEAKS at NUT. It is hoped that the questions sparked by the act of “cooking” will eventually become the seeds of new industries.

Issued by

Head Office for Research Strategy, Nagaoka University of Technology: Saito, Takei