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Cocoa production in Japan is limited to thesubtropical islands ofHahajima (of theOgasawara Islands) andOkinawa (of theRyukyu Islands). TheSōka-based Hiratsuka Confectionery Company was the first to attempt domestic cocoa production in Japan, with cultivation on Hahajima beginning in earnest in 2011. The company's "Tokyo Cacao"bean-to-bar products are marketed as being made fromTokyo-sourced cocoa, as Hahajima is administratively a part of the city. Cocoa cultivation on Okinawa is a relatively newer operation, withchocolates made from Okinawan-sourced cocoa only being announced in 2025.
Cocoa first arrived in Japan with Dutch traders during theEdo period, but the mass production and consumption ofchocolate in Japan did not begin until the latter half of the 20th century.[1][2]: 175 The cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical plant, cannot be grown on theJapanese mainland. However, small-scale cocoa farms have been attempted onHahajima of theOgasawara Islands andOkinawa of theRyukyu Islands, which have warmer,subtropical climates.[1][3][4][5]
"We have prioritized romance over business sense. Growing cacao in Japan was the dream."
Masayuki Hiratsuka, president of the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company based inSōka,Saitama Prefecture, was the first person to seriously propose the production of cocoa in Japan. He conceived of the idea after a 2003 research trip toGhana, where he saw cocoa trees in person for the first time.[3] The company sent another research team toVietnam in 2006, in order to study the cocoa production process.[4] In 2010, he began looking for potential cocoa farmers inHahajima, a subtropical island under the administration ofTokyo, despite being almost 1,000 kilometres south of the city center.[3][4] According to Hiratsuka, he chose Hahajima because it was a part of Tokyo, which "has brand power comparable toNew York,Paris, andLondon".[3]
The following year, Hiratsuka partnered with Kazuo Orita, a leading farmer on Hahajima who was the first to growlemons andmangoes on the island.[3][4][6] Hiratsuka spent¥110 million on the construction of wind-resistant vinyl greenhouses in Hahajima and importedcocoa beans fromIndonesia to cultivate. The growth of the cocoa trees was overseen by Orita and took five years oftrial and error, which included the loss of 167seedlings and the creation of specialised environments for the plants. As of 2020[update], 502 cocoa trees were being grown on Hahajima.[4]
According to Shin Hiraoka, a development officer for the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company, cocoa beans harvested from Hahajima arefermented in a laboratory in Sōka, and each harvest can yield anywhere from 10 to 100 kilograms of beans.[4] The first cocoa harvest on Hahajima was in November 2013, but due to difficulties with the fermentation process, it was not until 2015 that a chocolate made solely from Hahajima cocoa was produced.[6][7]
In 2019, the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company announced a limited launch of its debut line ofcommercial products made from Hahajima cocoa, named "Tokyo Cacao".[7] Thebean-to-bar chocolates were promoted as being "made in Tokyo" and wholly produced in Japan.[8] In 2022, the Hiratsuka Confectionery Company partnered withNestlé Japan to create Tokyo CacaoKit Kats, advertised as being made from "Japanese-grown cocoa" and having "a strong, fruity aroma and mild flavour".[9] The Kit Kats, however, included Ghana as a place of origin for their ingredients.[10]
Agriculturist and businessman Kei Kawai began growing cocoa inŌgimi, a village in the northern rainforest ofOkinawa Island (Yambaru), in the spring of 2016, shortly after moving there. He founded a company named Local Landscape to cultivate 2,000 imported cocoa in greenhouses and open fields. The cocoa trees bore fruit after six years of trial and error, with a small harvest of 100 cocoa beans (about 10 kilograms) in 2022.[11]
Kawai also runs a chocolate café in Ōgimi named Okinawa Cacao, and stated in 2023 his intention to create and sell chocolate made entirely from Okinawan cocoa once the harvest became large enough.[11] Okinawa Cacao reached this milestone in 2025, when it announced an "all locally produced" chocolate.[12] Previously, "Okinawan chocolate" sold by Okinawa Cacao and other shops on the island had included locally sourced ingredients such assugarcane, karaki (cinnamon), shiikwaasa (Citrus depressa), andawamori, but the cocoa was imported.[5][12][13][14] Timeless Chocolate, a chocolate café inChatan, promotes its products as Okinawa's first bean-to-bar chocolate, although its cocoa is not locally sourced.[15]
Minimal – Bean to Bar Chocolate, a chocolate specialty shop in Tokyo, began cultivating cocoa on Okinawa Island in 2021, with its first successful harvest in May 2024.[16]
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