Founded in 1948. With four directly managed stores in Nagoya, Narita is a supermarket specializing in Korean food with a history of more than 70 years. The store offers a wide variety of Korean foodstuffs, seasonings, and original products developed by the store. Since its establishment, this long-established supermarket has been loved by many people, including Korean residents in Japan living in the Tokai region.

This time, we visited the "Daimon Branch," which also serves as the central kitchen, to hear about the dramatic history of the company's founding, the secret story behind the development of original products, and much more. In the latter half of the interview, we will also introduce our recommended menu items!

The Daimon branch is located on Taikodori, Nakamura-ku. It is about a two-minute walk from Nakamura Kuyakusho Station. The store is filled with Korean foodstuffs and seasonings.

There is a central kitchen at the back of the store, where the staff prepares delicious Korean food every day.

Narita offers not only imported ingredients, but also exclusive products. Even busy mothers and people living alone can easily enjoy authentic Korean cuisine.

There are also alcoholic beverages such as makgeolli and Korean beer that are hard to find in Japan. Even if you don't go to the site, you can get anything here.

Moving to Japan for my family

Managing Director Nobutaka Narita.

First, we asked about the history of the company's founding.

Mr. Narita: "Narita was founded in 1948 (Showa 23), about 70 years ago. It all started when my grandfather opened the Seafood Wholesaler Narita Shoten behind Nagoya Station.

I heard that my grandfather was from Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, and was born as the eldest son of a farmer. My grandfather, who lost his father when he was 10 years old, seems to have made a living by working in the fields and collecting firewood in the mountains every day to support his mother and three younger sisters who were left behind.

After that, my grandfather went to Japan to work as a migrant worker and decided to work in a coal mine in Kyushu. However, the labor there was extremely harsh, and many of his friends died. "At this rate, I will die too". Grandfather and his friends plan an escape and jump on a train in the dark. However, due to censorship on the train, he jumped out of the running train and fled into the mountains. ”

To support Koreans living in Japan

Mr. Narita: "He ran desperately and escaped to the cowshed of a farmer. My grandfather was hiding there quietly so as not to be caught, but the farmer noticed the shadow and thought maybe the person hiding was hungry. The farmer left a rice ball in front of the hut.

At that time, my grandfather felt the gratitude of the food and the kindness of the people. After that, he moved to Niigata Prefecture . It seems that his job at that time was to make a living by doing something like a broker who exchanged daily necessities.

After that, my grandfather moved from Niigata to Nagoya to support his family. He rented a 3-tsubo barracks behind Nagoya Station and started selling red peppers and Alaska pollack, which are essential to the Korean diet. This was the beginning of the founding of Narita. "

Inheriting the thoughts of my grandfather

Mr. Narita: “My father, who grew up watching people work hard from early morning to late at night, took over Narita after graduating from university. As a result of providing seasonings and ingredients that people want, we have been used by customers for more than half a century as a Korean food specialty store.”

To recreate the taste of memories of my late mother

The Daimon store has Narita's central kitchen, where kimchi, side dishes, pancakes, and other items for all stores are prepared. We also asked about the behind-the-scenes story behind the development of the product.

Ms. Narita: "At the Daimon store, we mainly prepare side dishes for all four stores. We also develop new products based on the Daimon store, where we make prototypes. This is a series of foods, starting with soup, and now we are developing a variety of products such as frozen pancakes and frozen cheese Hattogu.

Originally, I was good at developing seasonings and side dishes, but I couldn't make soup that I was satisfied with. I loved the Korean soup that my late mother made, so I wanted to recreate it and have customers eat it. As a result of repeated research on taste and trial and error, it took a year to finally complete "Yukgejang Soup". ”

Mr. Narita: “First of all, we put a hot pot in the shop and started selling it for 400 yen per cup so that customers could eat it. I decided to develop a frozen soup that can be eaten deliciously all year round.

In this way, we have developed more than 20 types of frozen Korean soups, including soups that have been popular in Korea for a long time, new soups, and soups that have been developed to suit the tastes of Japanese people. It is now available. In addition, we are increasing the lineup to meet customer needs, such as retort soups that keep for a long time and soup kits. ”

In addition to soup, frozen side dishes and frozen pancake frozen snacks are also available. With Narita's frozen series, you can easily enjoy delicious Korean food just by warming it up.

Conveying Korean food culture

Mr. Narita: "A new employee gave me the idea for the Korean snack 'Hattogu (Korean-style American dog),' which is very popular in Japan as well. Recently, thankfully, the number of stores nationwide who want to carry Narita products has increased.

Our goal is to deliver Narita's gochujang to dining tables throughout Japan. This goal will never change. On top of that, I would like to continue to create products that will please everyone in the future. And someday I would like to deliver products from Japan to Korea. ”