Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

Maniwa in Okayama Prefecture, Japan’s largest breeding area for Jersey cows

OKAYAMA, Oct. 3 – The city of Maniwa in Okayama Prefecture is known as Japan’s largest breeding area for Jersey milk cows, raising 2,000 such cows, about 20% of those reared nationwide. Brown cows can be seen grazing peacefully in the 40-hectare pastures in the Hiruzen Highlands, located in the northern part of the city at an altitude of 550 to 650 meters. The Jersey is a breed of dairy cattle from Jersey, the largest island of the British Channel Islands. They have brown hair and are characteristically friendly. Because Jerseys are smaller in size than Holstein cows and produce less milk, they are rare in Japan, occupying less than … Continue reading

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Mibu no Hana Daue rice planting rite held in Kita Hiroshima with no audience to preserve tradition

HIROSHIMA, Sept. 27 – “Mibu no Hana Daue (Taue)” in Kita Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, was inscribed in 2011 on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. About a dozen cows powerfully help plow a rice field while a dengaku troupe with traditional musical instruments and saotome rice planting maidens perform the ancient rice planting rite. Usually, over 6,000 people gather to see the event. However, the locals decided to have it without spectators this year. “We could lead the cows safely, although we couldn’t practice enough due to the COVID-19,” Mitsugi Shiramasa, the 53-year-old head of Oasa-kazari-ushi Hozonkai (a local group for preserving the rite), said. … Continue reading

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Festival showing gratitude for water held in Kagawa in western Japan

KAGAWA, Sept. 23 – Hyoge Matsuri, a festival to give thanks for the blessing of water and pray for a rich harvest, was held in the Asano district of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, in mid-September. Around 160 local residents, wearing eccentric makeup and dressed as vegetables, paraded for some 2 kilometers in the district. The festival, named after a word “hyogeru” from the local Sanuki dialect which means to clown around, has a history of more than 300 years. It was resumed this year after being canceled two years in a row due to the spread of COVID-19. The event had been organized by a preservation group made up of local … Continue reading

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Convenience stores’ new luxurious onigiri rice balls ride on stay-at-home economy boom

TOKYO, Sept. 21 – Convenience stores in Japan are introducing high-priced onigiri rice balls featuring carefully-selected brand rice and domestic agricultural and livestock products. Thanks to the rising need for a modest luxury among people enduring the COVID-19 pandemic, household spending is increasing. Agricultural and livestock producers hope that such rice balls that you can easily buy at nearby stores will be an excellent promotion to increase the consumption of their products. According to a family budget survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, annual spending on rice balls per household with two or more people was 4,746 yen in 2021, up 5% from the previous … Continue reading

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Long-term research with 100,000 subjects: Higher fruit and vegetable intake can cut death risk by 10%

YOKOHAMA, Sept. 8 – Eating vegetables more often can cut the mortality risk by nearly 10%, according to the report released on September 7, 2022, by a group of researchers from Yokohama City University (YUC), National Cancer Center Hospital, and other institutes. The data was obtained through the study of nearly 20 years on 100,000 male and female examinees in Japan. It’s the first research in Japan to reveal the relationships between the portion of fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of death, while there are some studies already done in Europe and the U.S. The study reconfirmed the importance of eating more fruits and vegetables. The researchers used … Continue reading

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