ABOUT US／1
Hello. I’m Hirakawa, the owner of Nakatsu Sweets Kanei which is located in Nakatsu city, Oita prefecture.
The shop started by just offering Japanese sweets, and we now offer not only our classic ohagi and manju with azuki bean paste, but also a variety of sweets including cakes and baked sweets. Since we opened in 2004, we have been supported by many people and are grateful to them. We couldn't have come this far without their support.
Here, I’d like to talk about how Nakatsu Sweets Kanei was started and the story up till now, as well as our thoughts about sweets and our customers.
“Fish shop” and “Japanese sweet shop” We were both supposed to be taking over family businesses
My wife was born the oldest of three sisters to parents who owned a famous local Japanese sweets shop called “Momoya Jinbei.”
She told me that her parents were strict when raising her as a successor for the sweets shop. Once she had disobeyed her father who always demanded a high standard for everything, and she left home to live by herself. However, when her father got sick and became unable to work as he was doing previously, she decided to come back home and become a Japanese sweets confectioner.
On the other hand, I was the oldest son of the owner of a long-established fish shop which opened in 1892, and I was brought up as a successor since I was a little.
I always helped with the shop since I was a little and I naturally learned how to prepare fish.
Then, we finally got married after overcoming the situation where we were both successors of family businesses. Our life as newlyweds started with us living in my family’s house.
Since there was a tendency where people generally thought “the oldest son should take over the family business,” I always had a feeling that I would become the owner of the fish shop one day…
Ever since I can remember, being a successor of the family business was in my mind.
So, even when I engaged in something else, I always had the idea, “One day I’ll become a fish shop owner.”
Even for something in which I got interested in and decided to do by myself, I might’ve unintentionally urged myself not to continue it for long. Anyway, my parents were working about 14 hours a day, 365 days a year. I remember my mother used to say that she often felt sorry for us children because she was too busy to spend much time with us.
Because I was brought up in such a situation, I became sick of my predefined future. Even after we got married, I couldn’t put my heart and soul into the fish shop business and I often left work and shut myself in my room.
I heard that the photo was taken in the early Showa era, about the time when my father was born. The place was Kyomachi in Nakatsu City (the old city area in the present day, near the castle), that was called uontsuji at that time. A variety of shops selling fresh food and daily commodities etc. were lined up beside the street, and there were especially many fish shops.
The driver is my grandfather’s younger brother, that is, my great-uncle. The guy next to him is an apprentice.
I heard that at that time there was only three of this motor tricycle in Nakatsu. My father was very proud of it (hahaha).
Started an apprenticeship under my father-in-law
It was my father-in-law who brought me to a turning point.
Since I first met him there were many things that made me think, “What a great person he was!”
My father-in-law had many Japanese hobbies such as calligraphy and the tea ceremony etc. What I was especially impressed of was that he wasn’t only applying his refined taste to those hobbies, but also to his work. So, he was expressing his unique way of seeing things in the world of Japanese sweets.
My father-in-law, who was different to someone like me with a mindset of “work is work,” was able to incorporate his own worldview into his work. He was someone who I really looked up to. He gave me so many things, and it is true that he was the person who opened up the door to a new world. Whatever sort of work I did, my feelings weren’t stable, but meeting him made me realize that I wanted to express myself the way I wanted. The world of traditional Japanese sweets was also quite new to me and looked very sacred.
“I want to become like my father-in-law who I respect,” I decided to become his apprentice.
My parents who were always worried about me didn’t oppose to my decision.
They said, “It’s good that you have found a goal to work towards. The belief of the fish shop with 100 years of history was to strive to make its customers happy.
It doesn’t matter which business you choose, as long as you can make the customers happy…” and quietly supported me.
That was how the fish shop which continued for three generations in my family was closed during my father’s generation.I felt that I finally found the way which I should’ve chosen.My father-in-law was willing to spend time teaching me and passing on of all his knowledge.I also tried my best to learn everything from him including his “skills” and “attitude” towards Japanese sweets.
It started with how to find the right ingredients, and of course, the process of sweets making. I found that even if we apply the same mixture, the flavor and end result turned out to be totally different depending on the person who made it.I also gained the attitude for carefully sourcing each product every day in whatever way I could and so on.
Every day was busy and so meaningful.
It was about three years since I started my apprenticeship. I still had many more things to learn and the number of customers was increasing.
All of sudden, my father-in-law, who was also my mentor for life, came down with an illness and passed away so soon.
My wife and I were shocked and spent days making sweets with great grief.
We were at a loss with two young children, but whenever we felt stuck, my parents came to help and looked after our children. Since we worked until nearly midnight every night, they cooked meals for our whole family, dropped off and picked up the children from childcare, gave them a bath and put them to sleep for us.
But before long, my mother who was always kind and gave me emotional support passed away, too.
We lost our precious family members one after the other and were in deep sorrow, but what we had to face was the management of my wife’s father’s Japanese sweets shop “Momoya Jinbei.”
For a young couple who were still in a middle of the apprenticeship, the responsibility was just too big. Not only making sweets, but also teaching and managing staff…and in addition to this, we had to raise our children…We were physically and mentally in a tight spot, and because of stress we once faced a marriage crisis.
We couldn’t take holidays, or get enough sleeping hours. This sort of “busy life” continued for about 7 years.
We started with a space of 3.3 square meters
While just working harder and harder, I started feeling conflicted about many things.
Days with too many things to do to run the business without having time to spend with my children, strained the relationship with my wife…my desire to make delicious sweets despite being in such a tight spot…All sorts of thoughts were circling in my head.
“At this rate I might not be able to go forward anymore…” I felt like I was being cornered by this feeling.
My desire, “I want to be with my children more” and “I want to make sweets which my wife and I really want to make,” got stronger day by day.
After 10 years since starting the apprenticeship under my father-in-law, our desire of having our own shop was accepted.In 2004, we renovated part of my family’s house into a shop and opened “Sweets Kanei.”The “Kanei” was a trade name which was one that my family used to use when they were running the fish shop business.I didn’t take over the family business but I wanted at least leave the predecessors’ mark, so I asked my father and took over the name.
It was a tiny Japanese sweets shop, which was only 3.3 square meters.But we started it full of dreams.No matter how small it was, because there were only two of us, my wife and I were so busy.We started working at 7 o’clock in the morning, and until we lined up the sweets on the shelves, which was until about 10 am, it was like being chased by time.While we finished making sweets for selling on the day, we also needed to get ingredients prepared for the next day.The number of customers gradually increased through word of mouth, however it was still far from making profits.Every day was just hectic and passed very fast.
Sweets Kanei was opened on the 2nd of March 2004. The shop sign was hand-carved.