Around 20 people waited in line at the Onigiri Burger shop in Kansai International Airport a little after 5 p.m. on a recent summer day—just as usual.

The popular restaurant is in the international departure area of the airport’s Terminal 1, overlooking a runway. It serves onigiri burger fusion dishes, with meat sandwiched between rice and seaweed.

Jason Liu, 20, a university student from Shanghai, ordered a popular item from the menu, Kobe beef steak wrapped in rice. Liu and a friend devoured one each, despite the hefty price tag of 5,500 yen ($38) per onigiri.

“This marks the grand finale of our two-week trip to Japan,” Liu said on the day in mid-August, ahead of the airport marking its 30th anniversary. 

Yasushi Yoshikawa, 61, the branding director of Okagesamade, the company that operates Onigiri Burger, explained that “foreign customers appreciate the value of truly delicious specialties.”

Okagesamade opened a shop at Kansai Airport in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Believing that “inbound tourists will surely return” someday, a limited-time-only shop was then put in place without concern for immediate profitability.

In December 2023, the company installed a permanent Onigiri Burger shop to coincide with the terminal renovation work at the airport.

Prices were determined just before the outlet’s opening.

Okagesamade prides itself on the shop’s quality ingredients and flavors.

It received advice from two prestigious restaurants well known even among foreign visitors: Niku no Takumi Miyoshi in Kyoto Prefecture and Sushi Kizuna in Osaka Prefecture.

As one of the advisers recommended that “appropriate prices should be set for fine foods,” Okagesamade boldly decided to charge more than 5,000 yen for at least one menu item.

This strategy has proven so successful that Onigiri Burger currently attracts around 20,000 patrons a month. Sales are “more than triple the estimate made before the outlet’s introduction.”

Okagesamade is looking to raise Onigiri Burger’s profile further at Kansai Airport and expand overseas in the future.

HARDSHIPS, BOONS

Kansai Airport celebrated its 30th anniversary of operation on Sept. 4.

When it opened in September 1994, the airport was expected to quickly become a global airline hub right away.

However, after the asset-inflated bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s, flights were in low demand and Kansai Airport was labeled “Osaka’s burden.”

Despite the setback, the airport is now thriving as a major gateway for foreign travelers arriving in Japan.

Kansai Airport formerly catered primarily to Japanese passengers heading for destinations abroad. Nowadays, its main customers are visitors from outside the country.

Japanese accounted for 78 percent of international flight passengers at Kansai Airport in fiscal 1995, the year after the airport opened. But in fiscal 2023, foreign passengers made up 79 percent of the total.

The government’s immigration control statistics show that 25 percent of all foreign visitors to Japan in 2023 entered via Kansai Airport, just behind the 31 percent who came through Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

At one time, Kansai Airport’s heavy dependence on inbound tourists posed a significant risk.

Passengers on international flights at the airport were down 99 percent from the previous year in fiscal 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading across the world.

However, domestic flights provided a lifeline to the airport during the pandemic. Buoyed by the state’s subsidy program for travelers, it managed to remain operational.

Peach Aviation, a budget carrier that began service mainly at Kansai Airport in 2012, played a particularly important role.

CARGO TO THE RESCUE

Cargo flights were also key to keeping Kansai Airport afloat through those difficult times.

One early August morning, just before 3 a.m., an aircraft descended onto the quiet runway and parked near the facility of logistics giant FedEx Express.

Early morning hours are used for freight transfers at Kansai Airport. Cargo planes from Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere take off for destinations abroad such as Memphis, Tennessee, and Oakland, California, in the United States.

FedEx set up the transit base within Kansai Airport in 2014.

“The airport’s prime location, coupled with the convenience of 24-hour service, was significant, particularly for round trips across the Pacific,” recalled Kei Kubota, head of the Japanese branch of FedEx.

Kubota expressed his gratitude for the assistance of the airport operator known as Kansai Airports.

“Additional conveniences have recently been added too, such as extending the parking space for freight aircraft,” said Kubota.

He said flights have increased 1.9-fold since FedEx incorporated the transit base.

The airport’s facilities can already sort 9,000 parcels per hour, and Kubota explained that the airport “may expand its scale if cargo volume increases.”

Cargo flights, including those for FedEx, increased during the COVID-19 outbreak.

More goods were imported to consumers staying at home, and shippers who could no longer transport items on passenger aircraft relied on dedicated cargo flights.

The number of international cargo flights in fiscal 2020 soared more than 1.7 times over those of the previous year.

Hayato Shingu, 51, an executive officer of Kansai Airports, stated that the “coronavirus crisis once again highlighted the critical role of freight planes.”

Some 15 years earlier, Kansai Airport embarked on the development of a temperature-controlled warehouse and other facilities to attract cargo shippers.

The total amount of freight volume passing through has remained almost constant but its value has gradually risen.

Data from Osaka Customs shows that exports from Kansai Airport shot up from 4.2 trillion yen in 2010 to 6.3 trillion yen in 2023. Imports climbed in value from 2.7 trillion yen to 4.4 trillion yen as well.

As demand for goods bought online continues to be strong, Shingu emphasized that the number of cargo flights from a wealth of manufacturers in China could further increase.

“Kansai International Airport’s geographic proximity to China is one of our strengths,” he said. “We will be improving our cargo handling efficiency so as to attract more freight.”