Author Archives: The Japan Agricultural News

War witnesses sit in ripe rice fields

KOCHI, Aug. 16 – In Maehama, Nankoku City, Kochi Prefecture, there still are reinforced concrete bomb shelters, called entaigo in Japanese, built in wartime to protect battle plains. The gray ferroconcrete structures were sitting in green ripe rice fields. There are seven entaigo remaining in this area, and the biggest one, the No.4 Entaigo, measures 44 meters in width, 23 meters in depth, and 8.5 meters in height. The dome-shaped structure built to house a two-engine large-sized plane is still partially covered with camouflage soil and grasses. After the war, local farmers started using it to keep agricultural machinery and as a place to work in winter. Shinji Fujimoto is … Continue reading

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Farm-run café in Niigata offers a picturesque view of rice paddies

NIGATA, Aug. 8 — A café run by a farm in the city of Niigata, a major rice growing region, is proving popular due to a picturesque view of rice fields spreading out of its large windows. Roughly 55,000 people a year visit Farmer’s Kitchen Blackbird operated by Kurotori Edamame Laboratory, a farm that cultivates a hectare of wheat and 2.5 hectares of edamame young soybeans. The café has large windows where visitors can enjoy a view of the countryside. “Even the landscapes you see everyday offer different impressions depending on how the views are cropped,” said an official of Kurotori Edamame Laboratory. “Farming is a continuation of unglamorous work, … Continue reading

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Strong high-quality “shamisen” strings developed: NARO and Japanese silken threads maker

SHIGA, Aug. 6 – Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) and Marusan Hashimoto Co. (Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture), a Japanese silken thread manufacturer, announced on August 5 a successful joint development of new highly-durable strings for shamisen, a traditional Japanese instrument similar to a banjo. The newly-developed strings feature silken threads from cocoons of a new silkworm strain “Kyomei,” a strain known for producing high-strength silken threads. Instrument strings made from silk produce beautiful sounds and resonate well. However, they are weaker and easier to break than resin strings, which are more commonly used. NARO and the thread maker plan to expand the use of silk strings to … Continue reading

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ZEN-NOH starts selling new protein powder products featuring high-quality domestic ingredients

TOKYO, Jul. 30 – The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) announced on July 29 that it developed a new line of protein powder featuring domestic ingredients. The products made with domestic milk whey, azuki red beans, and hojicha roasted tea powder as protein sources and flavorings are the first protein powder products sold under ZEN-NOH’s Nippon-Yell brand. The association thinks they will help expand the use of domestic ingredients in the growing protein market. The new Nippon-Yell protein items were developed with Takeuchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo) and as collaboration products with the company’s popular protein brand, “THE PROTEIN. Of the protein ingredients, 7% is whey … Continue reading

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A document listing rice prices since 1781 presented to agricultural coop in Ibaraki

IBARAKI, Aug. 5 — A document showing how much a 60-kilogram sack of rice cost every year between 1781 — the start of the Tenmei era in the Edo period — and 1979 was presented to a training center in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, operated by JA group Ibaraki, a group of agricultural cooperatives in the prefecture. The Ibaraki prefectural federation of cooks in Mito donated the rice price list, which will be displayed at the training facility to be used in food and agriculture education. The document is a piece of paper roughly 83 centimeter wide and 45 cm high, with rice prices written in chronological order in brush letters … Continue reading

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