[Interview: Part 1] From nourishing souls to feeding the hungry

JStories ー In 2010, Ryosuke Imai was at the top of Japan's music industry. A successful composer and music producer, he had created hit songs for some of the country's biggest stars, including pop icon Namie Amuro. His song "Baby I Love You" had become a massive commercial success. "To put it modestly, that song sold like crazy," he said with a smile.

Yet just one year later, a devastating natural disaster would completely alter his life's trajectory.

After witnessing the 2011 megaquake and tsunami that destroyed the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, Imai realized that "music can't fill someone's stomach." He left his thriving career to build Gochi Meshi, a digital platform that now feeds 80,000 children across Japan. JStories interviewed Imai recently in Tokyo to dive into his journey from hitmaker to social entrepreneur – and explore how the infrastructure lessons from Japan's music industry could help eliminate child poverty.

The 2011 earthquake shook more than just the ground – it shook Imai's fundamental understanding of his life's work.

"We musicians went to the disaster areas thinking we could encourage people with music, lift their spirits," Imai said. "But the damage was so severe that it wasn't the time for that at all." He witnessed survivors desperately searching for missing family members, struggling to find food, their homes and cars swept away by the tsunami. The basic necessities of life – food, clothing, and shelter – were what people desperately needed.

"Music can't fill someone's stomach; music can't help find missing relatives," Imai said. "I felt the momentary powerlessness of entertainment when it comes to people's survival. Athletes, comedians – we all felt the same thing. Entertainment doesn't become sustenance for people to live."

Even star figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, a Sendai native, questioned whether he should continue skating after witnessing the devastation. "If someone of his caliber thought that way, then of course someone like me working behind the scenes in music would think even more so,"  Imai said.

"At that moment, I wanted to commit to something related to people actually living – specifically, the category of food. Not just volunteering, but creating a proper business or platform."

The seed for Gochi Meshi came from an Italian tradition called "suspended coffee" (caffè sospeso), particularly practiced in Naples. When someone buys a coffee, they pay for an extra one left for the next person in need – perhaps a homeless person seeking warmth. The coffee is "suspended", held by the shop for someone who can’t afford it.

Imai discovered a similar practice in Japan at Yui, a restaurant in Obihiro, Hokkaido, run by a man named Honma. Local workers would eat udon or curry made with local produce, then pay for an extra bowl. A whiteboard outside displayed what was available: "Gochi Meshi available – 2 udon bowls, 1 curry." Hungry high school students would stop by after school, eat these meals and enjoy local flavors while receiving support from adults who wanted to encourage them.

"This was exactly what I wanted to do – the digitalization of this concept," Imai said. The problem was scalability. "If I wanted to support those high school students in Obihiro by buying them a 400-yen bowl of udon, I'd need to spend about 40,000 yen on airfare and accommodations to physically go there. Something felt off about that."

He wondered if he could send meals electronically "If there was an electronic system, I could support those Obihiro students from Tokyo through that restaurant."

Imai’s unique perspective came from his background in the music industry. Music, he noted, had something that food lacked: robust infrastructure for managing intellectual property and distributing value.

"In music, we have JASRAC in Japan, ASCAP in America, KOMCA in Korea—systems for collecting and distributing copyright fees that are already well-established platforms," he said. "This copyright and IP structure, combined with distribution systems, means people can be protected even from plagiarism and have legal recourse."

In contrast, choreographers, music video directors and other music industry professionals had no such copyright income streams because no platform existed. "If a system exists connecting restaurants, maybe we could solve social issues related to food support. That was the key insight from my music background."

Imai said he had no interest in opening his own restaurant. "It wasn't about me suddenly deciding I love Chinese food so I'll start a Chinese restaurant. The point was creating the system itself – and making sure it could work as a sustainable business, not just volunteering."

He traveled to Obihiro to meet Honma. "The 'Gochi Meshi' name was perfect, but the trademark was available. Since I work with copyright, I couldn't just take it without permission." Imai asked Honma to become the first shareholder and gave him equity. "I registered the trademark in hiragana, and we've been spreading this service nationwide together." Although Yui eventually closed, its spirit lives on digitally.

Gigi Corp. launched the Gochi Meshi app on Oct. 31, 2019. "We came to the launch day so proud of this app we'd spent a year building, our beloved child," Imai said. The initial business plan included not just peer-to-peer gifting, but also "Biz Meshi" for corporate meal benefits and children's food support.

Two months later, Covid-19 struck. "We'd spent millions of yen creating this service where people go to restaurants to eat,” Imai said. “Suddenly, an era came when everyone couldn't go to restaurants. All the founding members cried."

However, the crisis revealed the startup's greatest strength: agility. "That's when I want to tell aspiring entrepreneurs – startups' strength is their nimbleness," Imai said.

He realized Gochi Meshi's structure – where restaurants received a payment when a meal was purchased but before the recipient  arrived – could be repurposed. The meal gifts  were paid immediately by credit card, he noted. The recipient turned up after they became available. “So there was already a gap between payment and customer arrival."

This meant the platform was inherently designed for advance payment. "When Covid hit, restaurants had no money and no customers,” Imai said. “What if people could support their favorite restaurants through advance payment?"

In March 2020, just months after launch, they created "Sakimeshi" (advance meal) – a service not in any original business plan. Through social media, matching between supporters and struggling restaurants spread rapidly. Suntory Corp. soon partnered with them, and the platform saw a surge to 15,000 registered restaurants.

"The typical customer acquisition cost per restaurant for cashless services is 10,000 to 15,000 yen," Imai said. "At 15,000 restaurants, we basically created a network worth nearly 200 million yen. We would have needed 200 million yen for that kind of merchant acquisition normally."

From the beginning, Imai designed Gochi Meshi to charge no commissions to restaurants – a decision that investors doubted.

"When we went to banks for startup financing, they said a business that doesn't charge restaurants can't exist, that there's no precedent,” he said. “We were denied startup financing.  "Every investor in food tech said there's no way it works without charging restaurant fees."

But when Covid hit and Sakimeshi launched, everything flipped. "Suddenly everyone said, 'What a wonderful service that doesn't charge restaurant fees!'"

"Yesterday and today, it completely changed," Imai said. It was a lesson he had learned repeatedly in the music industry. "When I write edgy songs, people tell me, 'Songs like this won't sell in Japan, Imai-kun.' But when a song suddenly fits the era and sells, it's like taking the corner in Othello – the whole board flips instantly."

The key insight: "It's not about whether people are good or bad – it's about the era and timing."

Reflecting on his journey from music to social entrepreneurship, Imai emphasized conviction over consensus. "External people are always external people," he said. "They're not giving irresponsible opinions – they're giving their most professional opinion from their own expertise and perspective. But you can't listen to everything at the same temperature. Somewhere, you have to decide what you're going to do."

Team dynamics matter, too. "Having team members you can speak honestly with is crucial." And above all, he said, taking action changes everything. "Living in a world where you tried something, even with struggles, versus living in a world where you never tried your good idea – the experiences and character you develop are completely different."

"Even now, years into this business, things aren't always stable. But compared to a world where I hadn't started this, I've definitely met amazing people I never would have met otherwise. That alone makes it worthwhile."

Imai’s willingness to act on conviction – despite rejection from traditional investors – will prove essential as he  moves toward his most impactful work yet: addressing child poverty in Japan, a crisis invisible to most but devastating to millions.

[Part 2 Preview] Building "Kodomo Gochi Meshi" and creating a pay-it-forward economy

Written by Toshi Maeda | JStories

Edited by Kwee Chuan Yeo | JStories

Top photo: Photo courtesy of Gigi

For inquiries regarding this article, please contact jstories@pacificbridge.jp

Click here for the Japanese version of the article