Matsuya Announces Limited-Time Collaboration Product With Nippon Ham's 'Kiwami-yaki' Series, a First

On October 1, Matsuya announced on its official X account that it will release a collaboration product with Nippon Ham for a limited time. Matsuya has repeatedly worked on projects that recreate its popular menu items as retail products made by food manufacturers, but this is the first time it has teamed up with Nippon Ham.

The Post and the Teaser the Day Before

The official X post begins with “A collaboration product with Nippon Ham is going on sale for a limited time (╹◡╹)✨” and continues, “Whether you’ve eaten at the restaurant or not, please do enjoy plenty of it 🤤🍅.” It was announced as a quote of a video post from the Nippon Ham Group’s official account (@nipponhamgroup) that read, “Matsuya’s popular menu item is coming out as Nippon Ham’s Kiwami-yaki series! That hugely popular flavor, made easy at home! 🤤” The line “Whether you’ve eaten at the restaurant or not” does not appear in any past posts on the official X account and is a one-off phrasing for this occasion.

The announcement was preceded by a teaser the day before. On the evening of September 30, Matsuya’s official account quoted a teaser post from the Nippon Ham Group, “The day you can enjoy that flavor at home is coming…!?”, and responded, “Tomato and garlic…!? Which means…” The sourness of tomato and the savory depth of garlic point to the special sauce of Matsuya’s signature “Umatoma” series. The “flavor” to be recreated in the “Kiwami-yaki” series is considered most likely to be Umatoma.

Emoji Used Differently Than Usual

The 🤤 and 🍅 at the end of the post are emoji that Matsuya’s official X account rarely uses. Until now, 🤤 had been used only in posts reporting that the account had actually eaten a product, and the only past use of 🍅 was in a September report on eating the tomato-sauce-based “Pork Chap Set Meal.” Seeing the two together in a pre-launch announcement departs from how they have been used so far. The kaomoji (╹◡╹) at the start, on the other hand, is a staple used in roughly one-third of all posts on the official account, and appears as usual.

A First With Nippon Ham, but Retail Collaborations Have Happened Before

Matsuya has previously teamed up with outside food manufacturers to turn its signature menu items into retail products that can be enjoyed at home. Products touting “Matsuya-supervised” status have appeared with companies such as Nissui, Shinjuku Nakamuraya, Yamazaki, and Nissin Foods, most recently Nissin’s “Matsuya-Supervised Founding Beef Curry” cup meal, released in 2023. Against that backdrop, the collaboration with Nippon Ham is a first for Matsuya.

If this “flavor” turns out to be Umatoma, its history is a long one. The “Tomato Hamburg Steak Meal” first appeared in August 2002 and has returned nearly every summer since. It officially became a regular menu item in May 2025, and in April 2026 the “Beef Bowl topped with Tomato and Cheese” (690 yen), which combines it with the beef bowl, joined the lineup and is still on the menu today. A signature flavor that has run for 24 years may now be landing on home dinner tables as Nippon Ham’s “Kiwami-yaki” series. The product name and release date had not been disclosed as of October 1.