Also check out Part 1, which is full of chicken "trivia"!

Chicken is one of the indispensable foods on our tables.
Did you know that Nichirei Fresh, a Nichirei Group company, handles chicken meat from poultry raising?

The name of the chicken is JUNWAKEI Chicken.
As the name "Jun" implies, these chickens are purely domestic, having been born and raised in Japan since their parents' generation.
(For more information on the difference between "pure domestic", "domestic", and
"jidori", please refer to " Part 1: What do you know?)

Most of the chicken commonly eaten in Japan has a light flavor that suits the tastes of the West, where the original breed was born. However, JUNWAKEI Chicken has both a moderate elasticity and a rich, juicy flavor that Japanese people prefer.

The taste is also due in large part to the attention to detail in the breeding method.
While the chicken rearing period for a typical edible chicken is around 45 days, the JUNWAKEI Chicken is raised for more than 60 days. This makes them taller and their legs longer. In addition, their chests are shapely and tight, giving them a body shape similar to that of a model.

Currently, the chicken is available at supermarkets and co-ops mainly in the Kanto region.

So why does Nichirei Fresh raise chickens?
It has to do with a certain risk looming over the poultry industry in Japan.

Chicken meat labeled "domestically produced" is often seen in supermarkets. About 98% of such chicken meat is produced in Japan by importing parent chickens or their parent chickens from the U.S. and other countries.

The self-sufficiency rate from pure domestic source species is only a few percent. Under these circumstances, if there is an outbreak of avian influenza, etc., and imports are halted, ......?

This could lead to the disappearance of chicken meat from our tables.

In 2004, Nichirei Fresh took a stand in response to the first outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Japan in 79 years. The challenge was to protect Japan's food diversity by raising chickens bred and improved domestically. Ishii Corporation, an egg incubator company with which Nichirei has a close relationship, and with the cooperation of the Hyogo Farm of the National Livestock Breeding Center, which has been breeding and improving domestic chicken breeds since 1928, we decided to enter the poultry farming business.

The parent chickens chosen were "Koyuki" and "Benizakura," two precious breeds born in Japan. Although these breeds have been eliminated in the history of broilers, which pursue productive capacity, they are excellent in terms of taste and have a flavor that the Japanese like.

The poultry farm chosen was in the town of Hirono, located in the northeastern part of Iwate Prefecture and rich in nature. A new company, Nichirei Fresh Farm, was established and a chicken coop was built on a site equivalent to 2.5 times the size of the Tokyo Dome, where poultry farming began in 2007.

However, Nichirei Fresh does not have poultry farming know-how.

In fact, the company had a history of trying its hand at egg-laying chicken farming around 1960, but there were no employees left who knew anything about that time. Few of our employees had any poultry farming experience, and we were embarking on a new venture for the first time.

Moreover, JUNWAKEI Chicken are timid among chickens and are vulnerable to strong sunlight and sudden changes in the environment. We had to control the temperature, mix the feed, and spread rice straw on the floor of the chicken coop, among other things, in order to create the best environment for growth.

The chicken rearing period of about 60 days or more was also derived through trial and error.

The longer the chicken is raised, the more fibrous and tough the meat becomes. However, in order to bring out the full "richness of flavor" that JUNWAKEI Chicken is known for, we wanted to spend more time raising the chicken. ......

In order to find such an exquisite balance, the employees of the poultry farm almost raised their voices many times. It took several years to find the optimal chicken raising method and period.

Nichirei Fresh's commitment eventually extended to the feed that the chickens eat every day. This commitment to feed became a hook for expanding awareness of JUNWAKEI Chicken.
Part 3: How chicken farming led to the elimination of abandoned farmland!