In 2013, Sophia University launched a collaboration with Pan Akimoto Co., Ltd. as a project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the university. Pan Akimoto has developed canned bread as an emergency food that can be stockpiled and is soft and delicious. This is delivered to disaster victims in Japan and overseas through the Kyu-Can-Cho Project.

Students from the Office of Sophia Sustainability Promotion’s Communications Team conducted an interview with Senior Managing Director Nobuhiko Akimoto (position current as of March 2023) in which he discussed the details of the project and the Kyu-Can-Cho Project’s origin story.

Pan Akimoto is a bakery founded in 1947 based on the desire of its first president to work with food products fostered while experiencing food shortages in the period following World War II. It began developing canned bread products following the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, as the company had many connections in the Kobe area and wanted to deliver bread products to people affected by disasters.

At that time, they received a request from an elderly lady to “create a bread that is delicious and soft like sweet bread products but that also has the preservability of dried bread.” As they searched for a way to achieve this, they realized that if they put the bread dough in a can and then baked each can in an oven, the cans would be sterilized. Experiments were successful and after patenting the production method in Japan, the US, China, and Taiwan, the canned bread concept was fully realized.

The Kyu-Can-Cho Project was started on September 9, 2009 (which can be read as 999 numerically ), as a project that can participate in global famine relief activities by providing emergency food. The project was inspired by events following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, when people in the stricken area were running out of food and desperately sought food aid, no matter how old, while local governments in Japan were trying to find ways to replenish their canned food stock and dispose of old cans.

Although unintentionally, Pan Akimoto’s business is also linked to the SDGs, and it aims to be mutually beneficial to all stakeholder by benefitting customers, the bakery itself, and society. Ging forward, it will work to further raise the penetration of the Kyu-Can-Cho Project by increasing the number of companies that stock Kyu-Can-Cho, and if the limit for storing these cans is exceeded, many cans can be sent to people around the world who need them. Sophia School Corporation’s Office for Community & Alumni Relations, Bureau of General Affairs is selling cans of Kyu-Can-Cho Jr. featuring original Sophia University branding.

A portion of the proceeds raised will be donated to the SOPHIA Fund for the Future and will be used to support students enrolled at Sophia University who have been affected by large-scale disasters, including educational support, tuition fees reductions or exemptions, stopgap emergency payments, and support for living expenses.
*Original Sophia University branded Kyu-Can-Cho Jr. cans can be ordered via email.