FY2026 Hachinohe City Marine Processed Food Branding Promotion Subsidy

This subsidy is operated by the Hachinohe City (Aomori Prefecture) Food Distribution & Brand Promotion Office for FY2026. Its purpose is to promote the branding of Hachinohe-origin seafood products, expand consumption of marine products, raise fish prices, and strengthen marine processing technology by subsidising both (a) the production of trial new processed-seafood products and (b) market-expansion activities for products already certified under the Hachinohe Marine Brand Certification scheme. It is structured as two sub-programs: 'Marine Processing Trial-Product Support' and 'Marine Processing Market-Expansion Support'. Eligible applicants are operators with a place of business inside Hachinohe City that meet all of the following: (i) not subject to the city's anti-organised-crime exclusion ordinance, and (ii) no delinquency on individual municipal tax, corporate municipal tax, fixed-asset tax, light-vehicle tax, or national-health-insurance tax. For the trial-product track, the trial item must use marine inputs for roughly 30% or more of total weight (preferably Hachinohe-port-landed) and must not be an existing product. For the market-expansion track, the item must already be certified under the Hachinohe Marine Brand scheme. Eligible expenses on the trial-product side cover trial-production materials, advisor fees (honoraria, travel, commission), package design, project personnel costs, market-research costs (travel, competitor sampling), and promotional costs for the trial product. For the market-expansion side, eligible items are exhibition/business-meeting participation costs (booth fee, equipment rental, transport, utilities, travel, temporary labour), advisor fees, and advertising/PR costs (promotional materials). Required submissions include the application (Form 1), business plan (Form 2-1 or 2-2), budget statement (Form 3), survey sheet (Form 4 — trial only), and optional advance-start notice (Form 5). The subsidy rate is 1/2 of eligible expenses, capped at JPY 750,000 per project for the trial-product track and JPY 500,000 per project for the market-expansion track (rounded down to the nearest JPY 1,000). The application window for the trial-product track is May 15 - June 19, 2026; for the market-expansion track it is May 15 - July 31, 2026 (must arrive by 17:00 for hand delivery). The project period runs from the grant-decision date to March 31, 2027. Performance reports are due within 30 days of project completion or by April 9, 2027, whichever is earlier. Applicants should consult the Food Distribution & Brand Promotion Office (TEL 0178-43-9061) before submitting by mail, email, or in person.