Who Is Miaomada? The Story Behind the Name, and Why a Small Tokyo Company Is Going Global

“What kind of company is Miaomada, exactly?”
It’s a question I get from people who’ve come across the ALENNE protein dispenser or our Little Konbi trading cards storage boxes and want to know who’s behind them.

About Miaomada

Miaomada Co., Ltd. is a small manufacturing company based in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo. Showa Denki Co., Ltd. is our parent company. I’m the founder, Keiichiro Honda. With a small team, we design and develop products for everyday use.

Our flagship product is the ALENNE Protein Dispenser, a household dispenser with a patented dosing mechanism that delivers a precise serving of protein powder with one lever pull.

“Why would a company this small pick this product to bet on?” The answer ties back to where the name came from and how Miaomada got started.

The Name “Miaomada”: Greek for “One Team”

Miaomada comes from the Greek phrase μία ομάδα (Mia Omada), which translates as “one team”.

A small group of people, each bringing their own strengths, building one product together and getting it out into the world. That’s the way I wanted to work, and I built the name around it.

Not “one strong individual” but “one team”. That’s the working philosophy I wanted to hold onto, and I built the name around it. Showa Denki handling manufacturing, our industrial designer, our overseas media partner, everyone bringing their specialty to the same product. There’s something quietly powerful about a small group of people, each doing what they do best, building something together. The name is just a description of how the work actually happens.

Spinning Out from Showa Denki, So We Could Bet on Our Own Products

Miaomada started as a project inside Showa Denki Co., Ltd.

A new category, a household protein dispenser, had moved from concept to a real path to production. In December 2022, we incorporated Miaomada Co., Ltd. as a separate company.

Why a separate company? The reason is simple: Showa Denki’s main business is contract manufacturing. For decades the company has made parts for other companies’ products. Selling a ‘household protein dispenser’ under the name of a parts factory was never going to land with consumers.

More than that, I wanted to make clear, inside and outside the company, that we were going to keep making original products from here on. Not just contract work. Our own products, on our own brand. Miaomada was built to be the vehicle for that.

When we set up the company, I was still officially an employee in Showa Denki’s Business Planning Office. Miaomada was little more than a name on paper. Step by step, we turned ideas into products, got them out into the world, and built up to where we are now.

Japanese Manufacturing, Inherited from Showa Denki

The foundation of how we make things comes from Showa Denki’s manufacturing capability.

Showa Denki has spent decades in precision metalwork, plastic molding, and assembly. For the protein dispenser, plastic molding and final assembly happen at the Yabuki Plant in Fukushima Prefecture, and the metal base parts come from the Iwase Plant nearby. Design and production both stay inside the same group.

The dosing mechanism, the core of the product, took 19 rounds of prototyping to reach. Try, break, try again. That’s the kind of slow, deliberate work a small team can actually pull off.

The ALENNE Protein Dispenser is designed, prototyped, and produced entirely in Japan. “Made in Japan” gets said a lot, but household products where the design and the actual production both happen here are increasingly rare.

Betting on the Protein Dispenser

The ALENNE Protein Dispenser is the first serious household product Miaomada has put out.

The core of the product is the dosing mechanism, registered as Japan Patent No. 7580860. Three elements working together (a ring-shaped chamber, a cover plate, and a leveling edge) let you pull a lever and get a precise single serving of protein powder from the bottom.

Along the way, the product has picked up a few things:

• Two successful crowdfunding rounds on Makuake (Japan’s largest reward-based crowdfunding platform).
• Winner of the Itabashi Industry Association Award at the 23rd Itabashi Product Technology Excellence Award.
• Currently sold on Rakuten and Amazon Japan.

A household protein dispenser is a category that barely existed in Japan before. We’re trying to build it out properly, with real Japanese manufacturing behind it.

Related reading:

• What Is a Protein Dispenser? How It Works and Why It Matters
• 19 Prototypes to a Dosing Mechanism — The Engineering Behind the Protein Dispenser
• Inside Our Patented Dosing Mechanism: How the Protein Dispenser Stops Leaks and Doses Consistently

Taking It to the US on Kickstarter: Japanese Manufacturing, Out to the World

In May 2026, Miaomada took the next step and launched the protein dispenser on Kickstarter, aimed at the US market.

Why the US? Because that’s where protein is most established as a daily habit. It’s the market where the habit is most ingrained. That’s why we picked the US as our first market abroad.

Whatever the outcome, a small Japanese manufacturer reaching directly into an overseas market on its own is no small thing. The experience itself becomes part of what Miaomada is from here on.

What’s Next: Making Powder Life Smarter

Our concept at Miaomada is “Make powder life smarter.”

It started with protein, but the broader theme is household powders in general, more precise, more hygienic, more enjoyable to handle. That’s the middle-to-long-term direction.

We’re building out the next products on top of the current protein dispenser. Not just protein powder. Eventually, the goal is to make the various powders that live in kitchens easier to deal with across the board.

We’re small, but as “one team” we move one thing at a time, carefully.

Try the ALENNE Protein Dispenser

The ALENNE Protein Dispenser is currently available in Japan. We’re working on bringing it to the US market. If you’d like to put the patented dosing mechanism through its paces, stay tuned.