Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

TOKYO, Sep. 17 – A dried sweet potato specialty store called “Hoshiimono Hyakka” has opened in the Kitasenju Marui Department Store in Adachi Ward, Tokyo. It’s a rare establishment that sells only dried sweet potato products in Tokyo, and the store name means “everything you want” in Japanese. With the current popularity of sweet potatoes, dried sweet potato snacks, or hoshi-imo in Japanese, are also becoming more popular. The shop sells various hoshi-imo products, not only hoshi-imo made of different sorts of sweet potatoes but also hoshi-imo ice cream and puddings, which are already popular among female customers with a sweet tooth. Approximately 90% of hoshi-imo in Japan are produced … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sept. 16 — The prices of Shine Muscat grapes this year have been below the average year, as the markets are seeing a lull in high prices amid abundant supply and dark clouds are looming over strong exports. Meanwhile, the scope of products using the variety is expanding, including processed items containing Shine Muscat grape juice. The Shine Muscat variety became widely popular due to its good taste, as well as its seedless feature and edible skin which makes it easy to eat. Overseas demand for the variety also increased, with shipments showing a growing trend both in terms of value and volume. More growers shifted production from black … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sept. 6 — The Tottori Prefectural Government in western Japan on Sept. 5 set up a crane game offering pears as a prize at its local specialty shop in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. The prefecture hopes to promote Tottori-grown pears by letting many people play the game and grab Nijisseiki pears, the variety which survived a typhoon in August. Tottori is the country’s top producer of Nijisseiki pears in terms of crop acreage and the amount of shipment. The area was hit by Typhoon Lan in August, but few fruits fell thanks to preventive measures taken by growers and the pears came to season in good condition. The game costs … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sep. 5 – Zen-noh Business Support Co., Ltd., one of the subsidiaries of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH), has released “Ouch Kikurage” boxed mushroom bed for growing kikurage wood ear mushrooms at home. It aims to make consumers feel more familiar with domestically-grown kikurage mushrooms through the experience of watching them grow at home. The kit contains a mushroom bed prepared in Akita Prefecture. It’s the company’s second mushroom growing kit, which comes after the first kit released in April 2022, “Ouchi Shiitake,” for growing shiitake mushrooms. Most of the kikurage mushrooms sold in Japan are dried products imported from China. The company hopes the kit … Continue reading →

MIYAZAKI, Sept. 4 — A variety of agriculture and forestry practices that make use of woodlands and mountain slopes have been handed down for generations in the three towns and two villages of the Takachihogo and Shiibayama areas in Miyazaki Prefecture, located in the middle of the Kyushu Mountains in southern Japan. The local people have established a sustainable system of agriculture and forestry to coexist with the mountains, including the traditional field burning in the village of Shiiba. The system was designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in 2015. On Aug. 16, a fire was lit … Continue reading →