Established in 1995, Saka Biscuit is a famous biscuit brand which is well-known to people in Hokkaido. Next to the head office and the factory, there is a private museum Retro Space Saka where features various products that are going to be vanished as time goes by. The museum is crammed with everyday products mainly produced in Showa era including Shochu (distilled beverage) labels, stamps, tickets, cameras, old photographs, vintage magazines, paintings and drawings, promotional goods, stuffed animals, lingerie, dolls, etc. A director of Saka Biscuit and an owner of the museum, Mr. Kazutaka Saka has a motto “not spending money”. One day he picked up a mannequin in a trash station. Since then, he started to collect various things. He found out cultural value in the trashed mannequin. It’s been 15 years since the museum opened in 1994. They houses more than tens of thousands of collections. One of the reason for the huge number of the collection is not only as customers bring things to add them to the collection in these days, but also it must be something to do with the personality of the owner. The admission is free. They don’t sell the exhibited items, but features postcards and original products on sale. They also offers a music event Retro Space Mini Concert regularly, listening to records of the 60’s and 70’s masterpieces. There is a direct access from the museum to the shop where you can purchase biscuits. This place gives nostalgia to the adults and new discovery to the younger generations. You will notice an importance to preserve cultures that are going to be vanished with times and feel this place is sending a message to our materialistic lives. You might find things you’ve lost.
