Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

【News】 Local protests rising over nuclear dump site in Miyagi (Nov. 5, 2014)

  Kozo Hikage Farmers of Kami, Miyagi Prefecture, are strongly protesting against the government’s plan to construct in the town a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste, including those collected from the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The Environment Ministry was scheduled to begin late last month a drilling survey at three locations in the prefecture including Kami, selected as candidate sites to store radioactive substances exceeding 8,000 becquerels per kilogram. But the surveying work was stalled in Kami amid demonstrations by residents. The ministry hopes to end the survey by the end of this month before snow starts falling, but prospects are unclear as farmers insist … Continue reading

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【Opinion】 Shinji Hatta ; Abolition of the Central Union’s auditing will deteriorate competitiveness (Nov. 4, 2014)

  <The auditing function of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu) has been one of the focal points of the arguments over the reform of the Agricultural Co-operatives (JA). Shinji Hatta, professor at Aoyama Gakuin University offered his view in his contribution to the Japan Agricultural News> The Japan Revitalization Strategy, which was revised on June 24, placed “shift into aggressive agriculture, forestry and fishery industries” as a key policy to improve competitiveness of the industries. In any industry, it is difficult to secure economic rationality and creative business operation unless independence as an economic entity and sound competition have been promoted, and the agricultural industry is no exception. … Continue reading

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【News】 Take a walk in the stars! (Nov. 2, 2014)

  Hiroki Arai – Bamboo Lantern Festival (Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture) – In Kanagawa Prefecture, community groups are already playing an important role in managing, and conserving bamboo forests while using them as a symbol for enlivening communities, under the leadership of a non-profit organization, NPO Japan Bamboo Fan Club. On October 25, 2014, the NPO held the 11th Bamboo Lantern Festival at Kozukue-joshi Shimin-no-Mori park in Kohoku-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture, and turned the park into a stadium of stars. More than 5,000 bamboo lanterns were used to create the fantastic sceneries along the walkways in the bamboo forest of approximately 2,000 square meters. Volunteers lit all the floating candles in … Continue reading

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【News】 Look! That’s Totoro! (Nov. 1, 2014)

  Kotaro Yamada For Reijiro Tsukida, 70, woodpile is a work of art. Using firewood for his wood-burning stoves at home, the flower grower creates mosaic. The artwork is built out of konara oak firewood he keeps under the eaves at his home. Each piece of firewood has different colors and tones, and all are in different diameters. He builds motifs making use of all such unique features of each piece of the materials, sometimes placing them in different angles. The patterns he chooses are also varied from famous animated characters to his own family and flowers he grows. Every spring, he goes to the surrounding mountains to cut trees … Continue reading

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【News】 “Plurilateral” approach possible under WTO, European think tank says (Oct. 30, 2014)

  Satoko Adachi – Geneva Many countries which support the agreement on trade facilitation under the World Trade Organization should go ahead with its implementation without the consent of the entire membership, a European research institute said in a recently released policy proposal. The European Centre for International Political Economy, an independent trade policy think tank based in Brussels, suggested that the agreement can follow the approach taken for the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which was originally settled by a relatively few countries but its benefits were later made available to all WTO members under the principle of most-favored-nation treatment. If the idea is adopted, it is likely to draw … Continue reading

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