New “Jimoto” series celebrates the unique flavours and charms of different parts of Japan.

To mark its 30th anniversary in Japan, Starbucks has announced a new initiative called the Starbucks Jimoto Program, which includes the release of exclusive drinks and products only in select prefectures. With “jimoto” being the Japanese word for “local area“, the new program aims to celebrate the culture, nature and local produce that make different parts of Japan so unique.

Set to begin on 5 August, the program will start in Aomori, Gunma and Okinawa prefectures, where you’ll be able to pick up unique exclusives in each region that won’t be sold anywhere else in the country. What makes the new releases even more special is that they’ll be available year-round as permanent menu items, so you can get a taste of them whenever you’re visiting the area.

Up in Aomori, the prefecture famous for apples, customers will be able to purchase the Aomori Yadaramee Apple Almond Milk Frappuccino.

▼ “Yadaramee” comes from the Aomori dialect, where it means “extremely delicious“.

Made with locally grown Aomori apples, this drink is said to recreate the texture and taste of biting into a fresh apple, allowing customers to enjoy the prefecture’s renowned fruit year-round. Stores across Aomori will also offer a unique customisation option, where customers can add juicy chunks of Aomori apple to select drinks and even food items.

Over in Gunma, customers will be able to choose from three Frappuccinos inspired by the famous local mountains, all containing locally produced drinking yoghurt. Each Frappuccino is designed to represent one of the Jomo Sanzan (“Three Great Mountains of Jomo“).

▼ The “Mount Akagi” version contains strawberry…

▼ …”Mount Haruna” contains kiwi fruit…

▼ …and “Mount Myogi” contains pineapple.

The colours match the mountains’ traditional depictions in the beloved local Jomo Karuta card game, and each Starbucks store in Gunma will sell just one of the three Frappuccinos, encouraging fans to visit different locations to try them all.

▼ Gunma stores will also be selling an exclusive 355-millilitre (12-ounce) Forest Connection Tumbler, priced at 3,600 yen (US$21.98).

Made using thinned timber from forests in Minakami, the lightweight tumbler highlights the prefecture’s forests while repurposing wood that would otherwise go to waste. Its natural finish is inspired by the colours of both the Minakami woodlands and a Starbucks latte, while the back features the logo of the Minakami UNESCO Eco Park.

In Okinawa, the focus is on the prefecture’s famous brown sugar, made from sugarcane grown in the island’s subtropical climate. Locally grown shikwasa citrus also appears in several food items, adding a distinctive Okinawan flavour.

▼ The star drink is the Maasan Brown Sugar Frozen Milk Coffee.

This drink takes its name from the phrase “Ma-san kame kame”, which means “delicious, eat, eat” in the Okinawan dialect. The beverage combines frozen milk and iced coffee with rich Okinawan brown sugar, while keeping small pieces of sugar in the mix so you can enjoy the feeling of eating brown sugar.

▼ An Okinawan Brown Sugar Iced Milk Tea will also join the permanent menu.

Three exclusive food items – a BLT sandwich, BBQ chicken sandwich and jerk chicken wrap – contain Okinawan shikwasa as a secret ingredient to give them a special local flair.

Starbucks stores in Okinawa will also gradually begin displaying unique fish sculptures made from plastic waste collected from the prefecture’s beaches, celebrating the Okinawan spirit of yuimaru (“helping one another”).

These regional exclusives look so good they’ll be worth travelling for, and with Aomori located north of Tokyo, Gunma in central Japan and Okinawa down south, it won’t be too hard to tack on a daytrip to one of these regions while visiting some of the bigger cities nearby.

Now that three regions are getting their own exclusives, we have high hopes that the Jimoto program will work alongside the new Discovery Series to include more regions of Japan in future. With Starbucks previously creating an exclusive Frappuccino for every one of Japan’s 47 prefectures, they do have a blueprint, or should we say a Frappuccino-print, for a whole nation of regional exclusives.

Source, images: Press release
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!