Where's the octopus? Japan 'takoyaki' shops sub in sausage, hike prices amid rising costs

The Mainichi

10 hours ago

TOKYO -- Rising costs in Japan have impacted even the popular delicacy, "takoyaki" fried octopus balls, with chains hiking prices and some shops in the Tokyo area even replacing octopus with sausage as food makers look to other ingredients like "kamaboko" fish paste and konjac (a firm, jellylike food made from konjac yam) as substitutes.
Will we no longer be able to casually enjoy the unique texture and flavor of octopus?
Prices rise even after replacing octopus
"Does not contain octopus" reads a sign this reporter noticed outside one takoyaki shop called Horaiya, near the Tokyo Sakura Tram's Machiya-ekimae Station in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward. I asked the store's owner, 77-year-old Masako Hasegawa, about the reasoning. "Post-coronavirus price increases have driven up costs too much to continue using octopus," she explained.
Formerly, the store sold takoyaki containing octopus at 180 yen (around $1.25) for five pieces. It started replacing octopus with sausage in November 2023, but since then, the cost of wheat flour and other ingredients has gone up, leading to a price increase of 20 yen to 200 yen.
While the items are "sausage-yaki," the taste holds up well, being served hot, freshly prepared with cabbage, red pickled ginger, "agetama" fried batter and a "dashi" broth and topped with a Japanese version of Worcestershire sauce.
"After switching to sausages, some customers drifted away, saying, 'I prefer octopus,' but the sausages are more popular with children and customers with bad teeth, as they are softer and easier to eat. Many patrons come in after work or school, so we want to continue to offer good food at an affordable price," said Hasegawa with a smile.
Costlier wheat flour and eggs, labor, electricity ...
Tokyo-based research firm Teikoku Databank Ltd. in December 2024 released a report citing how business was getting tricky for stores selling floury delicacies like okonomiyaki and yakisoba due to increases in the cost of raw materials such as flour and eggs, as well as operating costs such as labor and electricity. But above all, the rising cost of octopus had hit stores specializing in takoyaki.
When the firm estimated the cost of preparing takoyaki at home, it found that in 2015 the average price per 12 pieces was about 170 yen, but in 2024 this was more than 250 yen (approx. $1.70).
The data for Tokyo's 23 special wards in the Retail Price Survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications also shows that the average price of octopus was 277 yen per 100 grams in 2014, but by mid-May of this year, it had jumped to 528 yen -- almost double, and even pricier than tuna.
Takoyaki shops are challenged in part by the difficulty of passing price hikes onto customers given the snack's reputation as affordable street food. At least one major nationwide takoyaki chain raised prices by about 8% late last year.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have been enjoying takoyaki parties -- known as 'tako-pa' -- at home, but on social media, users report substituting traditional octopus with ingredients such as "chikuwa" fish paste, cheese and cod roe. Posts could be seen to the effect of, "Octopus is expensive, flour is expensive, and cabbage broke my spirit," expressing frustration over the rising cost of ingredients.
To cater to this rise in demand for substitutes, a kamaboko fish cake manufacturer in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, suggested in April on social media that its products have "chewiness that won't lose to octopus!" Meanwhile, a producer in Gunma Prefecture, a region known for konjac, has started developing chewy products that could be used in takoyaki.
Can 'takoyaki culture' be saved?
Is takoyaki destined to shift from an affordable treat to a luxury food? When this question was posed to Mana Kumagai, president of the Japan Konamon Association -- an organization that promotes flour-based foods -- she gave a measured answer. "Originally, 'radio-yaki' -- the predecessor to takoyaki -- included fillings like konjac and green peas, and it has never been rare to use various ingredients during home takoyaki parties," she said.
Radio-yaki and "chobo-yaki" -- which involved baking wheat flour dissolved in dashi broth and adding ingredients like beef tendon and konjac -- were developed in Osaka in the 1930s. In nearby Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, a type of egg omelet containing octopus was popular, which later led to adding octopus to radio-yaki, creating what became known as takoyaki.
According to Kumagai, octopus prices began to surge around 40 years ago, causing takoyaki shop owners' ongoing concern. Octopus used for the item in Japan is mainly imported from around Africa. While octopus was once called the "devil fish" in inland regions of Europe and the United States, it has become popular worldwide, and growing demand has driven prices up.
Kumagai commented, "Some restaurants continue to try to keep their focus on octopus by replacing the 'madako' common octopus with other species, such as North Pacific giant octopus. While enjoying the different types of takoyaki, we'd like to preserve the original taste of takoyaki so that it can be passed on to the rest of the world."