Surrounded by sea, Okinawa Prefecture has long treasured salt, which is indispensable to people¡¯s daily lives. But the salt industry is facing a major challenge ¡ª to change how it produces salt and delivers it to end users, a process that emits a massive amount of carbon dioxide.
The production of salt ¡ª called maasu in the Okinawan dialect ¡ª involves generating high-temperature, high-pressure steam and boiling seawater or concentrated brine in a flat pan until crystals form. In Japan, coal-fired boilers are commonly used in this process.
¡°People even say salt equals coal ¡ª it uses an enormous amount of fossil fuel,¡± says Genei Matayoshi, CEO of Aoiumi, the operator of salt manufacturer Shima-maasu Honpo in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture.
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