Kengo Suzuki of Space Seed Holdings Speaks at ATERUI2026, a Business Conference in Tohoku
Space Seed Holdings Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Kengo Suzuki; “the Company”) announces that Kengo Suzuki spoke at the session “Toward a Creative Hub That Captivates the World: Food and Agriculture Businesses Brewing Tohoku’s Future” at ATERUI2026 (organized by the ATERUI2026 Executive Committee), a business conference held at SENDAI GIGS in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, on Thursday, September 3, 2026.
ATERUI is a business conference in the Tohoku region that aims to “think about the future of local communities from a region at the forefront of challenges.” In its second year, under the theme “United Front,” it brought together companies, government, financial institutions, universities, entrepreneurs and students to face Tohoku’s challenges as fellow stakeholders. It expanded from one day and 522 participants last time to two days at two venues, with a total of 1,157 participants, featuring talk sessions, pitches by business successors and entrepreneurs, and 32 exhibition booths.
In the session, Suzuki argued that fermentation can be a technology that drives regional industry, suggested that sake brewed from table rice (rice grown for eating) may become a future trend, and described his plan to develop globally competitive beverages through sake made with Koshihikari rice from Uonuma.
Session overview
- Session: B-1 “Toward a Creative Hub That Captivates the World: Food and Agriculture Businesses Brewing Tohoku’s Future”
- Date and time: Thursday, September 3, 2026, 10:45–11:45
- Venue: SENDAI GIGS (Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture)
- Format: panel discussion
Speakers (in no particular order):
- Daishu Takahashi, Executive Director, Higashi no Shoku no Kai; Director, Oisix US Inc.
- Daiki Chiba, Representative Director, Mighty Chibashige Co., Ltd.
- Rina Sakai, Representative Director, Fermenstation Co., Ltd.
- Kengo Suzuki, Representative Director and CEO, Space Seed Holdings Inc.
- Yoshihiro Watanabe, Representative Director, Watahyo Co., Ltd.
The discussion
The session discussed how to raise the potential of Tohoku’s “food and agriculture”—its rich nature and long-inherited food culture and fermentation techniques—beyond the confines of primary industry into high-value businesses that can compete in global markets. Taking as given the challenges facing primary industry, such as population decline and climate change, speakers who have combined technology and creativity on the ground in food and agriculture shared, from their own practice, paths to success for “food and agriculture businesses from Tohoku.”
Sake, born from regional rice and fermentation techniques, was taken up as something that carries regional industry and culture to the world, and other speakers and audience members also spoke about new possibilities for sake.
Key points from Kengo Suzuki
- Fermentation is a technology that drives regional industry. Fermentation gives new value to regional primary products and creates industries unique to their place. Suzuki proposed that fermentation, which raises the value of raw materials through the power of microbes, can help revitalize industry in regions facing population decline.
- Sake brewed from table rice may be the next trend. Sake has conventionally been made from rice varieties bred specifically for brewing, such as Yamada Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku. Table rice, typified by Koshihikari, has been considered a difficult raw material because it is sticky and high in protein. Suzuki suggested that advances in brewing-process control are overcoming this barrier and that producing sake from table rice may become a trend, opening a path to turn the brand strength of Japan’s table rice directly into the value of sake.
- Developing globally competitive beverages with sake made from Uonuma Koshihikari. Tsunan Brewery Co., Ltd. (Tsunan, Nakauonuma District, Niigata Prefecture), where Suzuki serves as President and Representative Director, brews the junmai daiginjo “GO GRANDCLASS Uonuma Koshihikari Edition” from 100% Uonuma-grown Koshihikari. Suzuki expressed his determination to devote himself to sake made with Uonuma Koshihikari and to develop it as a beverage that is competitive in world markets.
Tsunan Brewery: a junmai daiginjo made from 100% Uonuma Koshihikari
“GO GRANDCLASS Uonuma Koshihikari Edition” is a junmai daiginjo brewed in Tsunan, Niigata Prefecture—one of the world’s heaviest snowfall areas—using 100% locally grown Uonuma Koshihikari. To address the brewing difficulties of table rice, with its stickiness and high protein, Tsunan Brewery designs its process with AI-assisted “smart brewing” in addition to traditional techniques, and combines it with the master brewer’s judgment to achieve both the rice’s umami and a clean finish.
The sake has earned international recognition, including a Gold Prize in the junmai daiginjo category at KURA MASTER 2024, a sake competition held in Europe, and a Platinum award at the Milano Sake Challenge 2025. Tsunan Brewery promotes premium sake made from table rice to overseas markets as “Premium Table Rice Sake.”
Table Rice Sake concept site: https://tablericesake.com/
Comment
“Fermentation has the power to give new value to the rice and crops of a region and to create industries found nowhere else. For regions facing population decline, I believe fermentation can be a major tool for revitalizing industry. In this session, other speakers and members of the audience also talked about new possibilities for sake, and I felt there are many people in Tohoku who share the same vision. Producing sake from table rice may become a trend. Japan’s table rice is a brand the world can be proud of. We will devote ourselves to sake made with Uonuma Koshihikari and bring it to the world as a globally competitive beverage.”
—Kengo Suzuki, Representative Director and CEO, Space Seed Holdings Inc.
Next steps
The Company will pursue efforts that connect regional resources to value in global markets, with fermentation at the core. It will deepen collaboration with the food, agriculture and fermentation practitioners in Tohoku it met under ATERUI2026’s theme of “United Front,” and expand new possibilities for sake and fermentation beyond regional boundaries. Alongside supporting Tsunan Brewery’s sake made with Uonuma Koshihikari and its overseas expansion, the Company will help revitalize regional food and agriculture industries with limited successors by building systems that pass on brewing know-how through data and technology.
ATERUI2026 overview
- Name: ATERUI2026
- Theme: United Front
- Dates: Thursday–Friday, September 3–4, 2026
- Venues: Day 1, SENDAI GIGS (Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture); Day 2, Communication Design Laboratory MEDIUM
- Participants: 1,157 in total
- Main program: talk sessions, Tohoku business-successor × entrepreneur pitches, exhibition booths (32), mentoring sessions, and more
- Organizer: ATERUI2026 Executive Committee (Sparkle Co., Ltd., U-Media Co., Ltd., TOHKnet Co., Inc.)
- Official website: https://aterui.world/
*The next edition, ATERUI2027, is scheduled to be held in Yamagata City.
About Space Seed Holdings Inc.
Space Seed Holdings Inc. is a space-focused deep-tech venture builder whose mission is “Turning science fiction into nonfiction.” Through investment, research and venture creation—centered on operating the “Fermentation and Longevity Fund” program, which supports the social implementation of fermentation and longevity technologies—the company creates businesses that address societal challenges. Together with diverse stakeholders, it aims to assemble by 2040 the technologies humankind needs to live in space.
- Company name: Space Seed Holdings Inc.
- Address: Hamamatsucho Dia Building 2F, 2-2-15 Hamamatsucho, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Representative: Kengo Suzuki, Representative Director and CEO (Co-founder and Executive Fellow, Euglena Co., Ltd.)
- Established: January 2024
- Website: https://ss-hd.co.jp/