Category Archives: Others

【News】Economic damage by TPP in Hokkaido prefecture estimated 116.9 billion yen by regional agricultural institute (June 5, 2017)

The Hokkaido Regional Agricultural Institute has announced its latest estimate of 116.9 billion yen for an economic damage to be occurred in Hokkaido prefecture by putting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact into effect. The estimation has been made on the basis of the broad TPP agreement announced by its member countries in October 2015, as well as on an amount of decreases in Hokkaido agricultural, forestry and fishery production that was estimated as 59.8 billion yen by the Hokkaido prefectural government in February 2016. The total economic loss by the TPP free trade deal in Hokkaido is broken down into 72.5 billion yen, an estimated loss of the … Continue reading

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【News】Japan court rejects citizens’ claim that TPP is unconstitutional(June 8, 2017)

The Tokyo district court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a civil society group that claims the Japanese government has violated the constitution by agreeing to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal. The court on June 7 also rejected the group’s request to block the government from signing the pact, explaining this is in the realm of executive power and a civil lawsuit cannot stop it. Moreover the judge said the plaintiffs failed to state a claim that the deal undermines basic human rights, because the TPP has not yet come into force. The group of nearly 1,600 people includes farmers, workers and healthcare professionals. It filed the case against the … Continue reading

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【News】Local governments turning to YouTubers to attract tourists (May 18, 2017)

An increasing number of local governments are turning to YouTubers – people who make money by creating online videos – to promote their local specialties and tourist spots. Some videos by popular YouTubers have attracted more than 1 million views, showing the power of social media in marketing efforts targeted at young people. The city of Iki located in Iki Island in Nagasaki Prefecture posted a video on YouTube in December 2016 to promote local specialties such as Iki wagyu beef and sea urchins, the products that are offered as gifts to people who donated money to the city under the hometown donation system. Yuka Kinoshita, 32, a popular YouTuber … Continue reading

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【News】Steam whistle echoes through the Fukushima rice fields (May 21, 2017)

Billowing black smoke, a steam locomotive pulling passenger cars ran through the rice fields in the Aizu Basin in Fukushima Prefecture on May 20, as the region entered a rice planting season. The locomotive, named Shinryoku meaning fresh verdure in Japanese, carried 250 passengers for a 60-kilometer, two-and-a-half-hour ride between Aizuwakamatsu and Aizukawaguchi stations of JR Tadami Line, as a part of a special event held over the weekend to ride on the train. The train passed by the shining water-filled paddy fields reflecting the early summer sky, blowing steam whistles as it wound through the basin known as the major production area of rice varieties such as Koshihikari, Hitomebore … Continue reading

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【News】French government to invite 5 Japanese teachers of agricultural high schools at Paris and Arras in northern France (May 23, 2017)

Five teachers of agricultural high schools will leave Tokyo on May 29 for Paris to visit agricultural high schools in France in a one-week itinerary. These teachers have been selected from among 40 applicants to an interaction program that is first sponsored by the government of France aiming at promoting exchanges of agriculture-related persons between France and Japan on a long-term basis. The Japanese governmental agencies, especially the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) have been cooperative with the French government sponsoring this new project. The participants in the one-week trip to France plan to visit three agricultural … Continue reading

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