Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

【News】 Diet deliberation starts on TPP pact amid growing opposition to agreements on its trade liberalization (April 6, 2016)

Lawmakers of the Lower House began on April 5 debates on a draft approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade accord and related bills, including measures to support farmers, at its plenary session. “The TPP deal is the best possible result from the perspective of Japan’s national interests,” Prime Minster Shinzo Abe claimed. On the other hand, opposition parties such as the Democratic Party (DC) highly criticized Abe’s Administration by pointing out the Administration has agreed to unprecedentedly open the Japanese market of farm products, which “obviously violates the resolution of the Diet.” A TPP tug-of-war between the ruling block and opposition parties was played from the beginning of … Continue reading

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【News】 Abe’s Administration unveils “blacked-out” documents concerning TPP ministerial meetings between Japan and US (April 6, 2016)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Administration took a step of unveiling a part of documents concerning the ministerial meetings between Japan and the United States on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal to the opposition Democratic Party (DP) on April 5, which had demanded the Government to publicize the documents. All of the revealed documents, however, are blacked out only except headings and dates of each page. They are not copies of the meetings’ papers, but are partly redacted ones. The 45-page documents are briefing papers prepared for the Cabinet Office’s meetings, according to the Japanese Government’s TPP Headquarters at the Cabinet Secretariat Office. Most sentences of the documents have … Continue reading

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【News】 Citizens’ groups protest against heavily redacted TPP documents (Apr. 14, 2016)

As deliberations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement are expected to resume in the Diet, citizens’ groups gathered in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district on Wednesday, April 13, urging the government to disclose the details of the TPP negotiations. Citizens and farmers, angered by the government which presented heavily redacted documents concerning the negotiations, stood outside the Diet building, calling for thorough debate on the issue. As many as 200 people participated in the rally hastily planned by citizens’ groups including Stop TPP!!, although the notice was released as late as Tuesday evening. They put up copies of the redacted documents along with signs and banners criticizing the government for hiding information. … Continue reading

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【News】 Livestock and dairy farmers hardly hit by powerful earthquake in JA Kikuchi area, Kumamoto prefecture (April 17, 2016)

In early morning on April 16, Kumamoto region of Kumamoto prefecture on the Kyushu Island was severely struck by a powerful earthquake centering in the region, which registered an upper 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale. Tremors of the earthquake were more violent than those of an earthquake, registering an intensity of 7 on the scale, which hit the same area on the evening of April 14. The earthquake and a number of aftershocks caused widespread suffering in the Kumamoto region. Damages caused on agriculture by the earthquake have been reportedly increasing. The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that the earthquake striking the Kumamoto region before dawn on April 16 … Continue reading

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【Series】Noh no IKEBANA Let’s exhibit respective characters of each material (1) Arranging root vegetables respecting strength of earth (Apr. 1, 2016)

“Noh no Ikebana” is a type of Japanese flower arrangements in which farmers arrange agricultural products using agricultural implements and other familiar instruments as containers. In this series of articles, experts of “Noh no Ikebana” from all over Japan will demonstrate how you can best arrange the materials and containers you choose. Keiko Kowata, 79, Iwate Prefecture, has 40 years of experience in Noh no Ikebana. Root vegetables are suitable for the arrangement to be displayed for a long period of time, as they often require no water. In autumn, you can use fresh vegetables with leaves in order to celebrate harvest season. In winter, it will be interesting to … Continue reading

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