Fermenting Forward: From Koji Traditions to Next-Generation Food Innovation

Japan Society of Northern California hosts Fermenting Forward on Thursday, December 3, 2026, from 2:00 to 5:00 PM at Morrison Foerster, 425 Market Street, with the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco. Registration opens at 1:30. Consul General Kotaro Otsuki opens the program. Speakers listed include San-J International president Takashi Sato, Fujiwara Techno Art executive Naosumi Nishimura, and Stanford bioengineering professor Vayu Hill-Maini, with food-tech investor Hitoshi Hokamura moderating. JSNC president Steve Pollock closes before networking through 5:00. Apply on Luma. Approval is required. No walk-ins. Food-industry executives get priority. The building QR arrives by email the day before; bring a government ID for lobby check-in.

Japan Society of Northern California is the Bay Area’s long-running US–Japan cultural and business convenor. This afternoon is about koji systems, brewing machinery, fungal biology, and how traditional fermentation scales into modern CPG—lab and factory people in the same FiDi conference room. It is not a holiday mixer and not a virtual M&A webinar.

R&D leads, product developers, chefs working with industrial partners, and Japan food-export teams will get the densest introductions. A free Monday mixer or a Sunday chamber gala will not substitute for this room. If Luma approval stalls, write jsnc@usajapan.org before you clear the afternoon.

425 Market Street means downstairs lobby check-in with ID and the emailed QR. Aim for 1:30 if you want the early networking block. Save your approval email; the Luma page is the live speaker order.