In the previous article, we told the story of a young university student who poured his heart into acerola. Yasufumi Namazato — fresh out of graduate school in 1982. When he decided to start growing acerola in his hometown of Motobu, he had almost no one on his side. This time, we’ll share why he never gave up.
■ Two People, More Than 200 Farms
The first thing Yasufumi did was try to convince local farmers. Together with his wife, Tetsuko, he visited over 200 farming households across Motobu. He told them acerola could become the industry that would sustain the town’s future. But the responses were cold. “Academics talk in theories.” “If we fail with a crop nobody’s ever grown, who takes responsibility?” Some wouldn’t even open the door.
Still, the couple kept walking. Yasufumi knew that many of Motobu’s farmers were exhausted from the grueling labor of sugarcane cultivation and struggling with a lack of successors. Acerola, he believed, was a crop even elderly farmers could manage. In the end, eight households agreed. Out of more than 200. That number — eight — carries a weight we don’t want to forget.
■ Tetsuko Solved the Biggest Problem
In 1989, those eight farms formed the Tropical Fruit Research Group with the Namazatos. But another wall stood in their way: harvest without sales is meaningless. Acerola spoils within three days. Distributing the fresh fruit was simply impossible. The question was: how do you turn what farmers grow into income?
It was Tetsuko who found the answer. She developed acerola puree — processed immediately after harvest — and opened up sales channels to restaurants and food businesses. Then she built a system with a crucial promise: every single fruit the farmers grew would be purchased. By handling production, processing, and sales themselves as one integrated operation, acerola became viable as an industry for the first time. Yasufumi sowed the seeds with his unwavering belief in the future. Tetsuko made them take root with her ability to move the present. Their roles complemented each other perfectly.
■ The Passion Passes to the Next Generation
Yasufumi Namazato passed away in 2009 at the age of 50 — before acerola had become widely known across Japan. His legacy was carried forward by his second son, Kojiro, who became president of Acerola Fresh in 2019 at the age of 31. Building on the vertically integrated system his parents created, he continues to establish Acerola Fresh as a brand. “I want us to become indispensable to this community. I want the local children to grow up and one day say, ‘I want to work here.'” In Kojiro’s words, you can feel the same fire his father carried when he walked from farm to farm all those years ago.
One young man’s conviction, combined with his wife’s power to act — that’s what built an industry. And that industry is still growing, now in the hands of the next generation. Inside every red acerola berry, that entire story lives.