Shojinmeat Project

Founded	February 2014[1]
Founder	Yuki Hanyu
Legal status	Non-profit
Location	Tokyo[2], Japan
Field	Cultured meat

The Shojinmeat Project^[a] is a citizen science movement,^[6] non-profit organization,^[7] and art project about cultured meat. Their approach to developing and popularizing cultured meat has been noted as unique from efforts in the field before it, in that it envisions cultured meat as something that can be made at home with a process understood by its consumer,^[8][9] analogous to home brewing.^[10] The Shojinmeat Project was created in Japan by Yuki Hanyu (Japanese: 羽生 雄毅),^[11][12] but has become a collaborative^[13] and international effort welcoming a variety of talent.^[2]

The shōjin of Shojinmeat's name (Japanese: 精進)^[14][7] is a Japanese Buddhist term, meaning "devotion" to the path to Nirvana. Hanyu is not a Buddhist, but views the resource-intensive methods required for livestock meat such as deforestation as contrary to this path to Nirvana,^[15] and named Shojinmeat in tribute to the devotion required to follow that path sucessfully.^[11] The term is also part of shōjin ryōri, meaning "devotion cooking",^[16] the diet eaten by monks under the precept of not eating anything able to "run away when chased";^[17] which has excluded nearly all kinds of animal-based meat until, arguably, the invention of cultured meat.^[18][19]

History[edit]

In February 2014, Yuki Hanyu had held a PhD. in Chemistry^[12] and worked as a system engineer for Toshiba when he decided to apply his knowledge to some form of futuristic technology, having been interested in science fiction since childhood. Among other choices like space travel and energy, he chose cultured meat because it was "what the world needs now".^[11] His first partners in this project were obtained at an "informal coworking space in Tokyo"^[1] called Lab Café^[7] after he had asked for those skilled in cell culture to help him theorize how meat could be grown on Mars.^[20]

The Shojinmeat Project has no formal definition of membership, though in 2020, Hanyu reckoned it to have between 20 and 30 active members. Also in 2020^[update], he reported Shojinmeat's English Slack channel to have about 250 members total, and the Japanese channel about 150 members.^[20]

Content[edit]

Education[edit]

Shojinmeat is involved in education: in both the science^[21] and preparation of cultured meat, through printed media^[22] and public presentations, and to children and adults alike.^[15] Students as young as 10 have cultured animal cells,^[20][8] and a teenager has presented a demonstration with her home incubator on NHK news.^[23] Hanyu has also given presentations at both general and cultured meat-focused science conferences in Japan^[24][25] and internationally.^[26][1]

Fine Art[edit]

Hanyu's love of science fiction media that's served as an impetus^[27] and inspiration in this venture^[1] is something he believes can also work to the benefit of developing personal interest in others for what Shojinmeat teaches. In a 2020 interview with Hive Life, Hanyu states:^[9]

The role of art is very important for getting people involved in complicated, scientific concepts. There's a very popular anime series in Japan called Sword Art Online that talks a lot about VR technology—if you ask any middle school or high school students in Japan about VR and AI, they will think of Sword Art Online. The same goes for cultured meat—it's a new, scientific concept that people are just not familiar with or interested in.

Thus, the Shojinmeat Project has spawned its own fictional universe conveying visions of a future with cultured meat. Sisters Miyo and Aco^[8] feature in these works, in 2D but primarily 3D media, showcasing futuristic cultured meat technologies in places such as Mars,^[28] the Moon,^[2] and underwater. At least one fanzine associated with Shojinmeat has been sold at Comiket.^[1]

Collaboration[edit]

IntegriCulture Inc., another company founded by Yuki Hanyu, was registered in 2015 "as a vehicle to gain access to lab equipment" for Shojinmeat before becoming its own startup,^[1] whose operations continued to overlap with Shojinmeat's past the 2010s.^[20] Shojinmeat has been the subject of a 20-minute spot on NHK's News at 5 [ja]^[23] and of several interviews of Hanyu, primarily in the alternative protein space, including one by New Harvest,^[7] with whom Shojinmeat has been featured in events and work.^[15][29] Shojinmeat has been in functional collaboration with them, as well as the Good Food Institute, since 2015.^[1]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]