Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

Say hello to spring with rice flour buns with pink, green, and yellow rice topping

AICHI, Mar. 3 – People celebrate Hinamatsuri, the girls’ festival or the dolls’ day, on March 3 in Japan, and on March 2, Japanese-style confection stores in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, were busy making iga-manju, traditional sweets for Hinamatsuri in the Mikawa Region, or the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture today. They are steamed rice flour buns filled with sweet red bean paste and topped with cooked pink, yellow, and green glutinous rice. They are eaten to drive away evil spirits and pray for a good harvest. Izumiya, a local Japanese confectionery with a 92-year history in Okazaki City, makes iga-manju using carefully selected domestic ingredients. For example, they use … Continue reading

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A group in Ishikawa Prefecture collects more than 10 million yen in crowdfunding to recover quake-hit rice terraces

ISHIKAWA, Feb. 22 — A group working to preserve the Shiroyone Senmaida rice terraces in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, seriously damaged by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January, launched a crowdfunding campaign to recover the terraces and managed to collect funds topping the initial target amount of 10 million yen. The rice terraces are the collection of 1,004 terraced rice fields and the symbol of Noto’s satoyama and satoumi — traditional landscapes and seascapes where humans live in harmony with the natural environment — which have been added to the list of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The … Continue reading

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Dairy farmer in Hokkaido develops mine clearing vehicle from grass mower to avoid war casualties in Ukraine

HOKKAIDO, Feb. 24 – A 68-year-old cattle farmer in Hokkaido, Mitsuharu Fukayo, has made a commercially available grass mower into a mine sweeping vehicle for Ukraine. Wheels attached to a remotely controlled vehicle will apply pressure to the ground and let underground mines explode. “I want the war to end soon,” he said, praying for peace. Fukayo raises 600 dairy cows as a representative of United Farm, a dairy farm corporation in Betsukai Town, Hokkaido. As an amateur developer, he decided to do something to help people suffering in the war in Ukraine and came up with the idea to design this mine-sweeping vehicle. The vehicle is made up of … Continue reading

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Join ZEN-NOH’s general election and vote for your favorite gummy candy from 47 prefectures of Japan.

TOKYO, Feb. 19 – Vote to choose your favorite gummy! On February 19, the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) kicked off a nationwide competition among Nippon Yell Brand gummy candies made with fruits unique to each of the 47 prefectures of Japan. It will be a poll to choose the best gummy candy from 47 kinds representing 47 prefectures. The federation has set up a unique website for the vote, which is open to the public. The poll will be closed on March 10, and the top 10 winners will be announced on March 29. In November last year, ZEN-NOH completed the Nippon Yell Gummy Candies lineup from … Continue reading

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Rape blossoms in full bloom in central Japan

SHIZUOKA, Feb. 20 — Yellow rape blossoms are in full bloom on a field in the town of Minamiizu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Due to a warm winter this year, the blooming started in early December, about a month earlier than usual. Members of the town’s agriculture promotion association first planted rapeseeds on a 3.2-hectare field about 20 years ago and the place has since then become known as a sightseeing spot during spring. Boardwalks are created so that visitors can walk on the field and watch the blossoms closely. Shizuo Ishii, 69, a member of the association’s agriculture support center who manages the field, said, “The plants weren’t affected by typhoons … Continue reading

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