This winter, Patissier S. Koyama, a Western-style pastry shop in Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, will release "SUSUMU KOYAMA'S COLLECTION," featuring award-winning creations from international competitions in Paris and London. The launch event was held on November 29, 2016, at the Strings Hotel Tokyo InterContinental in Shinagawa. Owner, pastry chef, and chocolatier Susumu Koyama, who values communicating his passion for his products in his own words, passionately explained the secrets behind each chocolate creation.

This year's chocolate theme was "Coexistence of Nature and Humans." Sixty-five new chocolates were created in 2016. They were narrowed down to four and submitted to the C.C.C. Competition in Paris, where they won the top prize, the "SUSUMU KOYAMA'S CHOCOLOGY 2016" (1,728 yen including tax). Each of the "Soy Sauce Nouveau," "Peach Fragrance & Mango," "Coffee Cherry (Geisha) & Lychee," and "Nara Pickle Praline" flavors has its own story. The "Nara Pickle Praline" flavor, in particular, was a discovery for Koyama, who disliked narazuke (pickled vegetables) until he met Stephan of Kyoto's Ryoriya Stephan Pannel. Narazuke is made using a "high-temperature, high-pressure instantaneous press" to create flakes. A set of these four flavors, along with last year's "SUSUMU KOYAMA'S CHOCOLOGY 2015," is also available as "THE BEST SUSUMU KOYAMA PREMIUM CREATIONS 2015-2016" (8 pieces, 3,672 yen including tax). "Secret Chocolate," from Mirai Seisakusho, a shop within Patissier S. Koyama that's open only to children under 12, has also been commercialized. This was apparently in response to requests from mothers who had heard about its deliciousness from their children.

Regarding his tireless creative endeavors, Koyama said, "If you dig deep into the everyday, you will find interesting things. To do that, you must keep the door to curiosity open."