city’super partners regularly with famous brands, opening pop-ups at Times Square store to delight customers with special-edition products. This time, the brand is delighted to introduce the Hong Kong-exclusive Akasaka Kakiyama Rice Cracker Pop-up. Akasaka Kakiyama is a traditional, time-honoured Japanese rice cracker brand, which has sold 100,000 of its signature Okaki rice crackers in Japan and been awarded the “Supreme” title at “This Secretary-Room” Licensed Hospitality Souvenir 2023 Awards in Japan. Available in beautiful packaging, they also make excellent souvenirs or even Father’s Day gifts. Special highlights include Kakiyama Select Rice Crackers and A ∙ La ∙ Kashiko Rice Cracker Gift Sets. The brand’s Okaki are crafted from Shin Taisho glutinous rice by skilful artisans to present authentic Japanese craftsmanship and aesthetics.
The brand’s story and its delicious secret:
Akasaka Kakiyama founded 52 years ago in 1971 and with flagship stores in Tokyo and Akasaka. The brand specialises in making traditional Japanese Okaki rice crackers using Shin Taisho glutinous rice, a speciality of Toyama Prefecture, offering customers the natural fragrance and umami of rice. Known as the “phantom’s glutinous rice”, Shin Taisho glutinous rice benefits from the sunlight and clean water of the Tateyama mountains, and has a stickiness and aroma that are superior to other types of glutinous rice. Due to its higher position on the rice stalk, the rice is more susceptible to damage by typhoons, making it rarer. Akasaka Kakiyama is currently one of the few brands in the industry that still uses Shin Taisho glutinous rice to make all of its Okaki.
Artisanal Craftsmanship of Akasaka Kakiyama:
The glutinous rice is freshly ground daily, and the Okaki are crafted using a housemade soy sauce.
- Steaming: glutinous rice is steamed using traditional wooden steamers.
- Pounding: the rice is pounded with a pestle to create smooth, chewy rice crackers.
- Hand-kneading: skilled craftsmen carefully knead and roll the dough by hand.
- Cutting: the dough is cut with precision down to the millimetre.
- Baking: the artisans carefully control the baking time to bake rice crackers to golden perfection.
Akasaka Kakiyama Rice Cracker Exclusive Pop-up Store
Date: From now until 30 June 2023
Time: 10am – 10pm
Location: city’super, B1/F
