Promoting Kumamoto’s Charms from the Tokyo Metropolitan Area! A Report on “Autumn Kumamoto Umakamon Fest in TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY,” an Event Featuring Gourmet Food, Local Sake, and Comedy

Hello! I’m Sanada from the Public Relations Division, Bureau 4.

Have you ever been to Kumamoto? Kumamoto is famous for its gourmet food, local sake, and magnificent nature, including Aso and Amakusa. And of course, Kumamon is absolutely essential!

To promote the charms of Kumamoto City’s gourmet food, history, culture, and tourism resources from the Tokyo metropolitan area, we held the “Autumn Kumamoto Umakamon Fest in TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY” at Gateway Park in TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY for two days only, on October 17 and 18.

“Umakamon,” which appears in the event title, means delicious food. Kumamoto’s “umakamon” (delicious items) such as karashi renkon, processed horse meat products, and Kumamoto ramen gathered at Takanawa, Tokyo’s new gateway. It was an excellent opportunity to enjoy authentic Kumamoto cuisine while in Tokyo.

SUNNY SIDE UP was responsible for planning and managing the event, operating the product booth for the host, Kumamoto City, and handling PR activities including media promotion and press release distribution.In this report, I, Sanada, who was in charge of this project, will share the details!

The objective of this initiative was to increase the exchange population for our client, Kumamoto City, and to make the city’s attractions better known to people in the Tokyo metropolitan area. We planned an event that combined all elements: Kumamoto City’s tourism and food, and appearances by celebrities associated with Kumamoto.

Media Experience Session

While this was a public event, we held a media experience session before the event began.

Given the limited two-day period, attracting media was challenging, but we successfully exceeded our target for the number of media outlets and attendees! Media participants were able to sample products from each booth and experience the charms of Kumamoto City, which led to media coverage.

Autumn Kumamoto Umakamon Fest in TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY

The event content was divided into two main parts. One was the operation of eight booths related to Kumamoto, centered on gourmet food. The other was a stage performance on the second day only, featuring Karashi Renkon, a comedy duo from Kumamoto, and Kumamon, Kumamoto Prefecture’s Sales Manager and Happiness Manager.

Eight Booths Related to Kumamoto, Centered on Gourmet Food

Even before the event opened, passersby stopped at the sight of the booths lined up at the venue and the delicious aromas coming from the food trucks. Finally, the event opened to the BGM of the Hi no Kuni Matsuri, Kumamoto’s summer tradition!

The Kumamoto City product booth operated by SUNNY SIDE UP was bustling with many customers. Customers from Kumamoto who happened to pass by were deeply moved by the array of classic Kumamoto products! They shared memories of the products, saying things like “This was always served at school lunch!” and “I always ate this as a snack.”

Looking at the other booths… customers were intrigued by authentic Kumamoto cuisine that is difficult to find in Tokyo.

Booth Introductions

Here are the booth introductions!

①Takahashi Shuzo
Sold highballs and lemon sours made with authentic rice shochu “Hakutake KAORU” and “Hakutake Shiro.” Tasting sets were also popular.

②Fukutoku
Sold Kumamoto’s specialty karashi renkon (*) and horse meat croquettes and minced cutlets.

③Bancho
Sold Kumamoto akaushi beef tendon negiyaki, beef tendon yaki udon, and pork belly skewers.
Akaushi is
a Japanese brown cattle raised in Kumamoto, characterized by a balance of healthy lean meat and moderate marbling. You can enjoy the authentic flavor of wagyu beef.

④Senko Farm
Sold Kumamoto’s specialty horse meat jerky, horse tendon curry, canned horse meat, and Suganoya cream (lemongrass, sakura, citrus). These are delicious shelf-stable products from Senko Farm, Japan’s top horse meat producer.

⑤Keika Ramen
Sold packaged ramen and cup noodles of Kumamoto ramen “Keika Ramen” for home use. Established in Kumamoto City in 1955, this is the birthplace of “ma-yu” (garlic oil), a characteristic of Kumamoto ramen. The flavorful white broth soup with the aroma of ma-yu is addictive.

⑥CLASSIC INC.
Sold Sapporo Draft Beer Black Label. The Sapporo Draft Beer Black Label “Kumamoto Castle Reconstruction Support Can” has been sold in limited quantities since 2017 to support the restoration and reconstruction of Kumamoto Castle. At this event, visitors enjoyed perfectly poured draft beer in beer hall style using swing carafes.

⑦Kumamoto City Product Booth
Sold agricultural products shipped directly from Kumamoto, as well as popular sweets, seasonings, and snacks from Kumamoto.

⑧Kumamoto City × Minato Ward Booth
Introduced sites in the Takanawa area associated with the Higo Hosokawa family through panels. Provided tourism information about Kumamoto City and held a capsule toy lottery where visitors could win Kumamoto novelty goods.

Stage Content

©2010 Kumamoto Prefecture Kumamon

On the second day, there was a stage performance by Karashi Renkon, a comedy duo from Kumamoto, and Kumamon, Kumamoto Prefecture’s Sales Manager and Happiness Manager.

Karashi Renkon performed a comedy routine packed with the charms of their hometown Kumamoto, and loud laughter could be heard from the audience.

©2010 Kumamoto Prefecture Kumamon

After the comedy routine, Kumamon appeared, and the two acts, who have performed together before, took on a special challenge. In response to questions from the MC, Karashi Renkon and Kumamon attempted the “Telepathy! Pose Sync Challenge,” testing whether they could strike the same pose or reaction through “telepathy.”

Whether the poses matched the questions was judged by the volume of the audience’s applause. Questions full of Kumamoto flavor appeared, such as poses representing the size of Mount Aso and reactions to eating karashi renkon for the first time. Kumamon, who displayed impressive and bold poses, won all the questions. The audience-participation stage energized the venue.

Finally, Kumamon performed “Ka Mon! Kumamon!” which was released to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his debut. He taught the audience the dance and chants, and everyone enjoyed dancing together.

The event concluded with a highly satisfying stage performance that filled hearts and bodies through comedy, special challenges, and the Kumamon dance.

Interview with Team Members About PR for This Event

SUNNY SIDE UP members in charge of this event. From left: Iijima, Sanada, Ueno

We spoke with Iijima and Ueno from SR Department 2, who were in charge of media outreach for this project.

――How did you attract media despite the challenging aspect of a two-day limited event?

As a foundation, we put effort into providing information to media on a regular basis, such as promoting the fact that we are handling Kumamoto City projects whenever we meet media representatives for other projects.

Additionally, for this event, we focused particularly on the pre-event announcement stage, aiming for coverage in announcement articles. From that stage, we communicated carefully and successfully connected media outlets that published announcement articles to on-site coverage at the experience session!

――Please tell us about the points you focused on for the media experience session.

We designed it so that participants could obtain additional information beyond what was in the press release by attending the experience session on the day, allowing for deeper exploration of the information.

At the experience session, in addition to greetings from the organizers, event explanations, product tastings, and gifting, we escorted media to all booths so that the spotlight would shine more on the exhibitors and their products, and booth representatives could thoroughly explain their booths and products.

By doing so, we promoted not only the taste of the products but also the background of the products and Kumamoto’s food culture to the media.

We would be delighted if this event could increase the exchange population of people who want to visit or relocate to Kumamoto City.

SUNNY SIDE UP established the “Regional Revitalization Unit” in 2023 to support local governments, companies, and communities in solving their challenges through the power of PR and communication.

What can be achieved through the power of communication? We welcome inquiries starting from such questions.
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