KUSHIRO, Hokkaido (Kyodo) A company established by the Tokyo University of Agriculture's Okhotsk campus in Abashiri, Hokkaido, is producing special products derived from locally raised emus.
The products include two kinds of small pancakes containing emu eggs, oil, and an oil-based soap. A set of 10 pancakes costs 2,000 yen, excluding delivery costs.
The products, which are being marketed on the Internet, have drawn a steady flow of inquiries from the Kanto region, including Tokyo.
Tokyo-No-Dai Bio Industry was created last April by 13 people, including professor Toshio Nagashima of the university's biological industry faculty, local residents and students. The idea for selling the products got its start when a petting farm raising the flightless birds to educate children asked the professor for advice on how to breed them.
Nagashima then teamed up with bird, sales and other experts to set up the company as a way to promote local industry.
Emus, which resemble ostriches, come from Australia. Their eggs have a light flavor, and water from the Okhotsk Sea is used to give the emu pancakes a salty tang, according to the company.
Their oil, which is collected from emu fat, is readily absorbed by human skin.