Age-old buns that sell like hotcakes

In the center of Nankinmachi Chinatown in the Japanese city of Kobe people line up outside the Roshoki pork bun restaurant. The first owner, who came from China, and his Japanese wife created a stuffed pork bun by making Tianjin baozi, Chinese steamed buns, with different seasonings to suit Japanese tastes. Butaman steamed pork buns are a specialty of Kobe, where there are many long-established shops and restaurants famous for the food. In 2011 the Kobe Butaman Summit was established to enliven the city through butaman, with the initiative taken by Takashi Ando, managing director of Sannomiya Ikkanrou, a company that operates Chinese restaurants also known for their pork buns. Since 2022 Roshoki has organized the Dream Butaman Project in which pork buns that are developed in collaboration with food-related businesses in the city are sold for a limited period, with proceeds being used for food and nutrition education projects.