Category Archives: Others

TOKYO, June 28 — Japan is seeking to boost the country’s production of wheat and barley by encouraging more wheat and barley farmers to be involved in sales of new products at a new outlet in Tokyo. The National Rice Wheat and Barley Improvement Association has opened a shop for testing sales of new products that use Japanese-grown wheat and barley. The association names the Tokyo shop “Mugi kurabe”. It has a fully-equipped kitchen, a place to display locally-produced new products and seating areas to eat them. The association will offer serving staff and transport costs for small businesses or growers to present their products in the Tokyo outlet. Japanese … Continue reading →

TOKYO, June 23 – Along with the development of nontropical banana plants that can survive cold weather, banana production is increasing in various parts of Japan, the nation which imports 99 percent of bananas it consumes. The bananas are cultivated using plants developed by Tomoiki BIO, a seeds and plants manufacturer in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. The new technology involves freezing banana plants’ growing point by decreasing the temperature of a freezer to minus 60 degrees Celsius, then defrosting and cultivating them. The plants that went through this freezing procedure are found to be resistant to cold weather and pests. Kagoshima Prefecture – traceability appealing to food safety conscious consumers Kami … Continue reading →

TOKYO, June 9 — Air Do, a regional carrier based in Hokkaido, offers a local specialty drink for free: Yubari melon soda. Yubari city in the northern island of Hokkaido is famous for its melons and the name is in Japan’s geographical indication systems. The drink was jointly developed by Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage, a Nagoya-based beverage maker, and the country’s largest farmers’ co-operative JA group. Yubari melon soda was released in 2009.

KUSHIRO, June 4 — Japanese sheep farmers have launched a project with New Zealand to rebuild their sustainable sheep production base in the northern island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido has a local specialty: “Genghis Khan” lamb, a shareable hot platter of lamb medallions surrounded by grilled vegetables. As domestic demand for sheep meat has grown, Japanese lamb imports reached more than 20,000 tons in 2017. On the other hand, the country’s lamb production was merely 152 tons in 2014. Hokkaido was once home to sheep farming, but a flood of imports forced sheep farmers out of the industry, and today it has only 200 farmers with 11,529 sheep. That’s why Hokkaido … Continue reading →