History of “Mirage”, the decadent Sea Urchin Delicacy
In 1979 at the age of 24, our representative arrived on Rishiri island to learn the ins and outs of the trade at various companies.
In 1982 Ichikawa Hokkai Shokuhin started as a sole proprietorship on Rishiri Island after learning the secret manufacturing methods from the fishermen of the region.
The company incorporated as Ichikawa Hokkai Shokuhin Co. alongside repeated research and development on recipes in 1990.
1996 saw the birth of the prototype of the “Maboroshi” product. The first attempts to sell the product began but due to pricing being too high; the operations were halted.
25 years later, in 2021, Haruyasu Ichikawa learns about Makuake crowd funding. Due to the belief that the manufacturing secrets may potentially becoming extinct, proposals for sales at Makuake are drawn.
June: Through a chance meeting with the CEO of REASON Co. who had previously had experience with Makuake, we were able to learn more about his experience. This information was used to persuade our representative to proceed with crowd funding.
August: Makuake Project commences
September: The commencement of sales of “Maboroshi” Sea Urchin in both miso and soy flavors on Makuake.
October: We are able to achieve 1000% of our initial sales target; far exceeding our proposed plans.
November~December: Products were delivered to our customers who had made initial purchases.
At the end of 2021, we received many feedback from our customers which we plan to build on and futher improve our product.
Early 2022: The “Maboroshi” Sea Urchin commenced official sales as a new product in Soy and Miso flavors.
June 2022: Maboroshi Sea Urchin began sales in miso, soy and an added salt flavors using Rishiri summer sea urchin.