100 Stories1970 The Untold Story Behind Developing the Disposable Hand Warmer, Attakasan

Disposable hand warmers that warm your freezing cold hands and body in the cold winter. Not many know that Asahi Kasei is the pioneer of this type of hand warmers.

They are currently unavailable because they have been withdrawn from the market, so not many people associate them with Asahi Kasei, but the prototype for the first disposable hand warmer was actually developed and launched for the first time ever by the Explosives Department at Asahi Kasei.

The origin of the hand warmers that keep us warm in the winter is said to be the Onjaku (heated stone), which was prepared in the Edo period by heating a stone and putting it in your pocket. Before disposable hand warmers were created, people were using the fuel hand warmers, which operated by vaporizing fuel and heating it.

At the time in the 1970s and 80s, explosives were regarded as a declining industry, so the Explosives Division was planning the development of new products. One of the products that the development team was working on was the heating element that became the base for the hand warmer. They took inspiration from the disposable hand warmers used by US Army and started planning the development of hand warmers as a product using this heating element.

However, many challenges were lying ahead of the development of this product. “We were struggling every day thinking about many aspects, such as how to incorporate oxygen and prevent the contents from leaking. These issues may seem trivial, but in reality, things were not going so well. When trying the sample, it was normal for our undergarments to be stained with activated charcoal. We sometimes had to choke back our tears when we went to the bathroom while using the precious sample and accidentally dropped it in the toilet,” says one of the employees at the time about their struggles.

After overcoming numerous struggles, the final product received an excellent reputation. However, some people in the company were skeptical whether people would buy a disposable product that can only be used once.

On the other hand, the development team claimed that disposable products were gaining more popularity. They argued that the product will definitely be a hit as it keeps you warm anytime and anywhere without using fire. The product was named Attakasan. They further improved it by leveraging its convenience and suggesting its use during sports, such as fishing, golf, and skiing.

They were expecting it to be in high demand among skiers, but they were worried about whether it will maintain the desired temperature in cold regions. To overcome this issue, they went to ski resorts multiple times and repeatedly rode the ski lift to try the product.

Furthermore, they not only wanted to offer the product to the general public but also to professional sports players, so they requested the cooperation of a professional baseball team. They collaborated with Lotte Orions, who had won the league the previous year. The product received great feedback from the team who emphasized that the cold was the enemy of baseball players. It was so well-received by the Lotte players that they requested extra samples, providing the development team with great confidence.

After that, the team explored various other purposes and markets for the product during its test marketing, such as medical settings, racehorses in horse racing, and for hair coloring. However, when they proposed their original disposable hand warmers plan at the meeting, others suggested that this was not a product that Asahi should focus on as a material manufacturer. As a result, it was decided that the company would focus its efforts on developing the heating element and non-woven fabric into a product and commercializing them.

When Asahi Kasei withdrew from the hand warmer market, Orions’ parent company, Lotte, launched Hokaron—a hit product that became a representative brand of hand warmers. Perhaps Attakasan played a role in launching Hokaron.