Hallmark of high quality

THE Sumida area is home to one of Tokyo's tallest attractions, the Tokyo Skytree, but the area is also known for its long history of supporting modern light industries.

The Economic Development Section, Industry and Tourism Department, Sumida City Office is on a mission to promote businesses in the area, to help raise the brand value of industries there and also as a way to promote Sumida.

To do this, it introduced the Sumida Brand Certification to recognise products of high quality. Many of the companies in the Sumida area are over six decades old, but still they are finding ways of keeping traditional production methods alive while innovating at the same time.

"Many companies in the Sumida area are strong practitioners of the monozukuri philosophy," says Katsunari Sawada, chief executive officer of JAPANPAGE, a media platform that promotes Japanese brands by highlighting …