Materials
Seaweed-derived materials, including biopolymer and bioplastic applications.
An innovation initiative of Seafood Fukui Co., Ltd.
Seaweed-based innovation, grounded in practice.
We explore the next generation of seaweed-based industries — building on a working macroalgae business, and partnering with research to move ideas toward real commercialization.
Aman Iman — “water is life,” in the language of the Saharan Tuareg.
Vision
Creating new value in seaweed, and rooting seaweed culture across the world.
01 — Who we are
A working macroalgae company, not a research institution.
AMAN IMAN is the innovation initiative of Seafood Fukui Co., Ltd. — a commercial macroalgae company whose core business is the B2B supply of seaweed and marine food ingredients to the Japanese foodservice and industrial market.
That commercial foundation makes us a different kind of partner. We approach seaweed not from research alone, but from sourcing, processing, supply, and market — the full path that turns a marine organism into a product people use. Where research institutions develop the science, we know what it takes to carry it into supply chains and real products.
Commercial foundation
A working supply business with real market contact.
Research partnership
A partner positioned to help translate science into products.
International reach
Experience in sourcing, supplying, and selling across borders.
02 — How we work
We begin with function, not with a fixed species.
Most seaweed ventures begin with a particular species and look for uses. We work the other way around.
We start from the use — a material property, a nutritional value, a process need — define the function it requires, and then search for the organisms that meet it. Wherever possible, we look first to the native species of the region in which we work, and build cultivation and processing around them.
This order — use, then function, then species — is the method we carry. It does not depend on any single strain or coastline: the knowledge travels, while the biology stays local.
- 01
Process knowledge
Process knowledge across sourcing, handling, and processing of macroalgae at commercial scale.
- 02
Functional selection
A functional approach to selecting and developing species for a defined purpose.
- 03
Path to market
The ability to carry research outcomes into supply chains and real products.
03 — What we explore
Toward the wider value of seaweed.
Seaweed is far more than food. We are interested in the broader value marine biomass can hold, and in the realistic pathways that turn that potential into industry.
Energy
Marine biomass as a feedstock for bioenergy.
Nutrition and functional ingredients
Protein extraction and the functional value of algae, beyond conventional food categories.
Cultivation and supply
Scalable approaches to growing and supplying marine biomass for these uses.
We do not assume a fixed model in advance. Collaboration might take the form of joint research, pilot-scale validation, technology implementation, regional production and local use, or a startup pathway — and we prefer to define the right shape together with our partners, rather than commit to one before the work begins.
04 — Foundation
Built on six decades in seaweed.
AMAN IMAN is grounded in a working business. Our group core, Fukui Co., Ltd. — a wholly owned subsidiary of Seafood Fukui, founded in 1963 — sources, processes, and supplies seaweed and marine ingredients. The group records annual sales of approximately ¥6 billion.
On a dry-weight basis, we handle and supply roughly 100 tons of red macroalgae and 200 tons of green macroalgae each year. Because our seaweed is dried to under 10% moisture, the fresh-weight figure is close to ten times larger. Around two-thirds of our raw materials are imported, giving us hands-on experience in international sourcing and seaweed supply chains, and our own retail products reach some twenty countries.
Through six decades of managing this working business, the group has accumulated long-standing knowledge of the sea and its materials. From this ground, AMAN IMAN looks forward — into research collaboration, new materials, and the seaweed-based industries of the coming decades.
Aman Iman. Water is life.
05 — Contact
Get in touch
If you work on algae, seaweed, marine biomass, or aquaculture and are interested in commercialization, we would welcome a conversation.
incubation@aman-iman.comKuwana, Mie, Japan