Canning Museum

Welcome to the Canning Museum, the birthplace of Japan’s canned tuna. The present building served as the administrative office when tuna canning was first developed here and when exports were first dispatched overseas; it originally stood about 300 meters south of this site. Relocated as a commemorative structure, it now presents the history of the canning industry at Shimizu Port and in the surrounding region.

 

Shimizu once shipped large volumes of green tea to the United States. After the 1929 stock-market crash that precipitated the Great Depression, American demand for green tea declined. In redirecting exports, canned tuna made from Japanese maguro was developed, and in 1930 SHIMIZU SHOKUHIN KAISHA, LTD. (SSK) began exports to the United States.

 

On the right as you enter, a group photograph shows all employees of SHIMIZU SHOKUHIN KAISHA, LTD. at the outset of exports. The building visible in the background is the office of that time—namely, this very structure. The prominence of women in the photograph reflects wartime conditions. Around Shimizu Port, the canning industry developed as a means of supporting local livelihoods, particularly those of women and children. Today, more than 97 percent of Japan’s canned-tuna production takes place in Shizuoka, which styles itself the “Canning Kingdom.”

 

As seen in Room 2, the design and printing techniques used for overseas tea-chest labels known as ranji were later applied to can labels. At the time, labels were printed on paper and affixed to each can by hand. The beautiful labels displayed in the museum, together with photographs of the workforce, testify to how the people of Shimizu engaged with international markets while sustaining everyday life in the port community.