The other day, I received a tax return gift from a municipality in Fukuoka Prefecture to which I donated last year. They are “Hakata Amaou” strawberries.
My children were delighted with the bright red, large strawberries. They ate them in no time.
The name “Amaou” is said to stand for the initial letters of the words “red, round, large, and delicious,” which represent the characteristics of this strawberry (variety), as well as a wish that it will become the king of sweet strawberries.
“Hakata Amaou” is the brand name used by the JA Group in Fukuoka Prefecture for sales, and is registered as a trademark (Japanese Trademark Registration No. 5042710) for “fruits” and other designated products. “Amaou” was also registered as a trademark for the designated goods such as fruits before “Hakata Amaou” (Japanese Trademark Registration No. 4615573).
Under the Trademark Law, the name of the variety cannot be registered as a trademark, but in the case of “Amaou,” the application for variety registration was filed before the product name was decided, so the variety name (“Fukuoka S6”) and the product name (“Amaou”) were different, and as a result, “Amaou” could be registered as a trademark and the brand could be improved. This resulted in the registration of “Amaou” as a trademark, and also led to brand enhancement (Hiro).
Hakata Amaou website
Amaou (Wikipedia: Japanese only)