What are your current work responsibilities?

I am involved in searching for new functional ingredients and evaluating their effectiveness. Society today faces many problems related to health such as an increase in metabolic syndrome and other lifestyle-related diseases, and rising medical expenses. In order to contribute to maintaining and improving the health of our customers in this context, we need research based on solid evidence, and I am conducting research to acquire such data.

Suntory has conducted research and development on a number of functional ingredients, including sesamin derived from sesame, oolong tea polymerized polyphenols (OTPPs) in black oolong tea, and quercetin glycosides in Iyemon Tokucha tea. While utilizing the techniques my seniors developed, I am constantly thinking about using new ingredients and the benefits they may offer, while continuing to work on my own research.

Can you tell us about your career to date?

When I joined the company, I was involved in product development of soft drinks, especially functional beverages (such as DAKARA), and was engaged in creating healthy yet delicious tastes in beverages containing functional ingredients. Currently, I am searching for ingredients that are one step further advanced and conducting fundamental research on evaluation of their efficacy. I approach my work on functional ingredients keeping in mind the perspectives of both fundamental research and product development.

Is there anything in your work that has left an impression on you?

In order to search for ingredients with new functionality, it is necessary to establish new evaluation methods. It was extremely difficult to create something new from scratch, and despite many attempts and repeated trial and error, I experienced a series of failures. After all this, I managed to establish an evaluation method not only by reading papers by myself, but also by looking externally, through discussions with team members and interviews with external organizations.

I was a student, many people around me who had done fundamental research, but the people in the same group as me now have various backgrounds, including one who developed beer in the past and another who was involved in quality assurance. By looking at things from different perspectives, I was able to find unexpected clues and realized anew how interesting research can be.

What is the dream you want to achieve at Suntory?

I was a street performer when I was a student, and I came to realize, while researching day and night on how to do so, just how difficult it was to surprise the audience in front of me and make them laugh. So, when an audience in front of me is difficult to surprise and entertain, I feel that its not that easy to provide “surprise” and “fun” through our products to people I have never even spoken to before. It may be a rash challenge, but I undertake my research with the dream of people being surprised and enjoying their drinks, and saying things like “I didn’t know drinking this would bring me these benefits!”

When I was engaged in product development, I was fortunate that products I was involved in were introduced to the market, but none of the ingredients I am currently researching have yet made it to the stage where they are used in products. I would like to gain more experience, discover functional ingredients that offer new value, and be able to propose products that our customers will enjoy as soon as possible.

A typical day’s schedule