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Cricket Protein Company in Japan Shuts Down After Right-Wing Conspiracies
Gryllus CEO Watanabe Takahito had a mission: to promote cricket protein as a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative to meat.
A Japanese company that specializes in making protein derived from crickets has said it’s filed for bankruptcy. The closure comes after a school in Tokushima experimented with the protein powder, prompting a conspiracy theory wave from Japan’s right wing.
The company, Gryllus (Japanese: グリラス), is named after a species of cricket, the Gryllus bimaculatus. Tokushima University researcher Watanabe Takahito wanted to popularize cricket protein due to its high nutritional value and low environmental impact.
At first, the company saw success. It launched a product with popular “off-brand” Japanese retailer MUJI and was running experiments with NTT. It had solid funding and around 50 employees.
However, all hell broke loose online when the company teamed up with a school in its home prefecture of Tokushima to offer food containing cricket protein to students. Gryllus and the school confined the experiment to a single food item, a pumpkin croquette…
