Category Archives: Trade Talks

  Nearly 1,000 dairy farmers held a protest rally in Tokyo on Wednesday, July 31, calling on the Japanese government to protect key agricultural products, including dairy products, from tariff elimination in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations. Members of the Dairy Farmers Political Federation of Japan also urged the government to help stabilize their business which is hit hard by the rising prices of imported feed, brought about by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” economic policies leading to a weaker yen. The protesters marched through the streets of Kasumigaseki along the buildings of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and … Continue reading →

  Hiroko Obara 318 lawyers nationwide created a network to support the movement against the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks by analyzing and addressing the risks which the pact could impose on Japan’s legal systems, the representatives of the group announced Monday, July 29. The group, jointly headed by three lawyers including Kenji Utsunomiya, former president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, submitted a letter of request to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the same day, urging the government to withdraw from the TPP negotiations. “The TPP agreement poses a threat to all aspects of the people’s lives, including food, employment and environment,” Utsunomiya said. “It is an agreement which places … Continue reading →

  Japan Agricultural Cooperative in Kumamoto (JA Kumamoto) will run a 30-second television advertisement starting on Tuesday, July 30, to inform audience of the adverse impacts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks. The new ad, the seventh version of JA Kumamoto’s anti-TPP campaign advertisement, is scheduled to be aired a total of more than 130 times until the end of October on four commercial TV channels which can be viewed in Kumamoto. The ad, which comes in 30-second and 15-second versions, features a local TV personality Koichi Otaguro whose Kumamoto accent is familiar to viewers in the region. “What is TPP after all? I hear it is not just a … Continue reading →

  As many as 7,000 people gathered in Sapporo, Hokkaido, on Thursday, July 25, to stage a protest rally against Japan’s entry in to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, and pledged to strive to protect the nation’s largest agricultural region. The protest rally, held by 4 agricultural groups including the Hokkaido Prefectural Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA Hokkaido Chuokai), was supported by 43 groups such as the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, the Hokkaido Economic Federation, the Hokkaido Consumers’ Association and the Hokkaido Medical Association. “Hokkaido boasts a food self-sufficiency rate of nearly 200% and is an important agricultural region which supports the Japanese people’s lives,” said JA Hokkaido Chuokai Chairman Toshiaki … Continue reading →