Mielmie is a long-established honey specialty store in Kyoto operated by Kaneichi Shoten. The store has been in business on Sanjo Dori since 1930 and has continued to change with the times. I talked with Takusaburo Ichikawa, the president of the store, who travels around the country as a honey hunter and purchases honey directly from numerous beekeepers.

What is Mielmie, a honey specialty store established in 1930?

(Numerous honey products are displayed in the store.)

( Mead, a honey liquor)

ーーFirst of all, please tell us what kind of store Mielmie is.

As a honey specialty store, we do two major jobs: one is to sell honey directly to customers at our directly managed stores. The second is to wholesale honey to supermarkets and department stores nationwide.

Originally, when the company was founded in 1930, it was a wholesaler for Japanese confectionery shops, selling not only honey but also beans, sugar, agar, and other products. Through the division of the business, it gradually became a honey specialty store. Today, we have a store on Sanjo Dori and do business with customers all over Japan.

Recently, as a honey specialty store, we have been working on creating a brewery for a liquor made with honey called "mead," which is scheduled to open in Marutamachi on March 10, 2024. Mead is a product that has been nurtured by the stores on Sanjo Dori, although it was not well known when it was first sold. It gradually became popular at the company-owned stores, leading to the creation of a brewery.

ーーPlease tell us about your background and current work.

I was born in Sanjo Dori and attended a local elementary school. For junior high school, I took the entrance exam to a school in Kyoto City, and went to university in Osaka. I then went to work for an imported food company and worked in Tokyo and Osaka. Since I eventually planned to take over the family business, I returned to Sanjo Dori at the age of 26 and took over the family business as a company representative in 2016.

My current job is to purchase honey directly from beekeepers throughout Japan as a honey hunter as well as a representative of the company. Some of the beekeepers we purchase from have been with us since the previous generation, while others are new to our business, and we constantly purchase more than 100 types of honey from over 20 countries and 20 prefectures in Japan.

From community-based to a street of commerce

(Kinichi Shoten around 1945)

( Kaneichi Shoten around 1965)

(Kaneichi Shoten around 1975) (Photo) (Caption: Kaneichi Shoten around 1975)

ーーYou have been doing business on Sanjo Dori for generations and were born and raised here. Can you look back on the past and tell us what the area around your store has been like?

Mielmie is now at the corner of the street, but looking at old photos, it looks like there was a beauty parlor and a tobacco shop at the corner and our store was next to it. Later, I do not know the exact date, but we bought the place where the corner stores used to be, and our current store was built.

Around the store, many stores have changed since I was a child. There used to be a McDonald's on Sanjo Dori. However, compared to the scene today, I have the impression that it was more of a community-oriented street in my childhood. I have good memories of buying sausages at an old-fashioned butcher shop.

ーーHaving lived on Sanjo Dori since childhood, what are some of the memories that come to your mind when your think of this town?

I heard that in the past Sanjo Dori was not so much a commercial or shopping area as it was a banking district.

One of my most memorable experiences while living on Sanjo Dori was when we had fireworks in front of our store during the Gion Festival. I remember that the Gion Festival was a very special and big event for us.

ーーHow did Sanjo Dori change over the years while you grew up?

I believe that the opening of ShinPuhKan (a commercial complex in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City that utilized the former Kyoto Central Telephone Station) was a major catalyst for change in the Sanjo Dori area.

As a street connecting Sanjo Keihan Station and Karasuma-Oike Station, this area began to attract attention as a street where people could stroll around and do some shopping, and then ShinPuhKan was built. I was still a child at the time, but my impression was that the area became lively all at once.

What to protect through the business in Sanjo, which embodies the new Kyoto

ーーWhat kind of image do you have of the current Sanjo Dori?

I think Sanjo Dori is a very Kyoto-like street. The reason for this is that Sanjo Dori embodies not only the "old Kyoto" as you might imagine it, but also the "new Kyoto”.

The phrase "tradition and innovation" is often used to describe Kyoto's urban development, and Sanjo Dori is more a part of the innovation. Shijo Dori and Kawaramachi Dori are also popular when it comes to trends, but they are not necessarily equal to Kyoto style, as there are many chain stores.

Sanjo Dori has relatively few chain stores, and while there are traditional stores, there are also new restaurants and apparel stores. It is an interesting street for passersby, and as one of the interesting stores on Sanjo Dori, we would like to contribute to the liveliness of Sanjo Dori through our business activities.

ーーWhat are some of the best things about doing business on Sanjo Dori?

When you do business on Sanjo Dori, you often realize that Sanjo Dori is a brand. For those who live in Kyoto, just the name Kyoto Sanjo evokes the image of a "bustling commercial and central area," and the name Sanjo is also relatively easy to remember.

We have branded ourselves as "Kyoto Sanjo Honey Specialty Store" by putting "Kyoto Sanjo" in our company logo, so we are grateful to Sanjo Dori for nurturing us, and at the same time, we have a sense of mission to continue to make Sanjo Dori a place where people can enjoy honey together.

ーーPlease tell us what you would like to preserve on this Sanjo Dori.

I think that continuing to do business here means, in a sense, "resisting" the changes of the times.

Sanjo Dori has been changing rapidly over the past few decades. Because it is a street with a strong brand name, land prices have risen, and the number of people wishing to open stores and condominiums has also increased. In such a situation, our generation has the option of selling the land and living or doing business in a different location.

However, I am responsible for this place that I inherited from my parents, and by living and working here, I want to be a paragon of a businessperson for my children.

We will continue to do business on Sanjo Dori and protect it as a business that can be properly passed on to the next generation, which means leaving a place for people to live and work on Sanjo Dori. Therefore, we would like to continue our business here and leave this place to our children while resisting the changes of the times.