Croissants and Japan

One of my favorite breakfast staples are croissants. I really like to feel the texture as my teeth penetrate the soft but somewhat crunchy layers of the bread. I always enjoy the rich butter flavor coming out and filling my mouth. It goes very well with a hot dark coffee. That's perfect!

The origin of croissants, kipferl, can be found in the 13th century in Austria, and croissants were a variant of kipferl that became popular in France in the 19th century. Even though it became a breakfast staple in France at the end of the 19th century, it still had remained a luxury type of bread in other countries due to the great deal of time and effort required to bake it.

Surprisingly, the breakthrough was brought about by the Japanese company, Rheon, which was established by Mr. Torahiko Hayashi in 1963. He introduced applied science of rheological engineering into automated food production to mass produce high quality "manjuu", a traditional Japanese sweet. Later, in 1968, he established a way to apply the same technology to bake various kinds of modern complex breads like croissants, and he established branches in the US and Germany. Following the introduction of the technology, not only bakeries but also many supermarkets became able to stock croissants without needing a great deal of time and effort. The company's machinery is still very popular all over the world, and it is producing various kinds of traditional foods automatically in 112 countries today.

Sadly, nobody even in Japan would recognize his name or his success. However, I always deeply respect the silent forces behind the scenes. I hope one day, I can be someone like him, who secretly brings a lot of happiness to people all over the world.