We hope that becoming familiar from childhood with how foods are made will encourage an interest in monozukuri (manufacturing). We also hope that children will learn the importance of diet and become more fond of eating fish. With these hopes, we have opened our four food manufacturing plants –Hachioji General Plant, Himeji General Plant, Anjo Plant and Tobata Plant – to local elementary school children for factory visits to learn about food. (We do not conduct tours for the general public.)

Tour of Anjo Plant

Visiting an Elementary School to Give a Lesson (Himeji General Plant)

On November 15, 2023, the Himeji General Plant welcomed 16 third-graders from Yagi Elementary School in Himeji City for their first plant tour in four years. Until fiscal 2022, lectures were held at the school as a precautionary measure due to COVID-19, replacing the regular plant tour. Dressed in lab coats, the students actively participated in various programs, handling ingredients such as Alaska pollock, surimi and fish paste, observing the production process of fish cakes, and tasting freshly made fish cakes.

Saiki City, Oita Prefecture, where the Oita Marine Biological Technology Center is located, has always had a thriving fishery industry. The Oita Marine Biological Technology Center, which specializes in aquaculture, has been established in such an area, and in order to better acquaint the community with this research facility, it accepts elementary school children on educational field trips and offers workplace experience to junior high school students. The program has been designed so that it will motivate children to take an interest in fishery and aquaculture, in the hopes that future researchers will be born from those who take part.

Field Trips for Elementary School Children

On November 22, 2024, the Oita Marine Biological Technology Center welcomed 30 third-grade students from Saiki Higashi Elementary School for a program designed to provide hands-on experience with the Center's research activities and fish feeding. The program began with an overview of aquaculture research and a fish quiz. Many children demonstrated familiarity not only with Japanese amberjack and tuna but also with freshwater prawns—as would be expected of Saiki kids! During the observation of feed plankton under a microscope, reactions ranged from “cute” to “gross,” while the fish feeding activity captivated everyone and became the highlight of the day. Although the tour lasted only about two hours, many children expressed a desire to stay longer, thoroughly enjoying their hands-on experience with fish.

Workplace Experience for Junior High School Students

On June 24, 2024, two students from Saiki Municipal Tsurumi Junior High School participated in a workplace experience program. These students, who had previously visited as third-graders, were eager to delve deeper into aquaculture research. They engaged in activities like the daily management of live feed (plankton for fish), fish feeding, and practical lab work including measurements and dissections of test fish. They learned about the daily tasks critical to biological research and how data analysis from cultivation tests can lead to new insights. Their keen interest in feeding, recording data, and performing dissections showed their potential as budding researchers.

Workplace Visit Day for Employees' Families

On August 16, 2023, the Oita Marine Biological Technology Center hosted a workplace visit day for employees’ families. The event featured a presentation by the Center Director on Nissui and aquaculture research, a business card exchange experience, a facility tour, and hands-on fish feeding. Afterwards, attendees enjoyed tasting various Nissui products, including Kurose Buri (Japanese amberjack), Shirahime Ebi (white shrimp), and grilled rice balls. The family members were impressed by seeing their loved ones at work, which sparked conversations that continued long after they returned home.

Nagasaki Shipyard hosts workplace tours as part of field trips for local high school students. In fiscal 2023, Nagasaki Shipyard welcomed a total of 37 students from two high schools in Nagasaki City, explained the types of ships and construction processes and took them on a tour inside the factory.

Workplace tours for high school students

Implementation Status for FY2021-2023

The Nissui Group company, King & Prince Seafood Corp. (USA, “K&P”) has been holding 2-day programs called “Seafood University.” The program communicates an overview of K&P, the products of K&P, selling tips, and initiatives for sustainability through the plant tour and the shrimp boat educational cruise.
Employees, suppliers and customers of K&P take part in this activity, which began in 1976, and more than 4,400 people, to date, have “graduated” from the “Seafood University.” This provides an opportunity to communicate K&P’s initiatives by involving the stakeholders, and has been recognized by the participants as being “an outstanding training program, standing out from other manufacturers who do similar training.”