Category Archives: Research

September 1st, 2017 Norinchukin Research Institute Co., Ltd. Basic Research Division SHIMIZU Tetsuro, Director-General Manager ■Abstract Agricultural structure policies of Japan have been implemented until today on the basis of a fundamental policy for developing “efficient and stable agriculture management”, which was announced in a long-term vision of agricultural policy for the 21st century, named the “New Direction of Food, Agricultural and Rural Policy” of 1992 as well as in the “Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas Basic Act” enacted in 1999. The purpose of this paper is not only to reveal real conditions of Japan’s agriculture primarily by referring to results of the 2015 Census of Agriculture and Forestry, but … Continue reading →

                                                                                                                                   August 1st, 2017 Norinchukin Research Institute Co., Ltd. HIRASAWA Akihiko, Senior Chief Economist ■Abstract Japanese people have been able to reach the current level of food consumption by increasing imports of agricultural products due to its limited farmland resources. As a result, however, Japan is … Continue reading →

September 10th, 2017 Norinchukin Research Institute Co., Ltd. KAMEOKA Kohei, Researcher On July 20, the Working Group on Fisheries was newly established within Japan’s Regulatory Reform Promotion Council. Going forward, the Working Group will discuss how to proceed with the deregulation of the fisheries industry. Here, I will review the development of the discourse on the deregulation of fishery rights (especially specific demarcated fishery rights), which is at the center of the debate on deregulation in the fisheries industry, up to the present. 1.Sequence of discourse on deregulation up to the present The first demand for the deregulation of the fishery rights system was made by theJapan Economic Research Institute, … Continue reading →

April 1st, 2017 Norinchukin Research Institute Co., Ltd. RUAN Wei, Research Counselor ■Abstract China embarked upon a full-fledged marketization of the economic system at the beginning of the 21st Century, in which Chinese authorities introduced a price support policy for farmers with income transfer being accompanied in order to realize a balanced growth of agriculture with non-agricultural sectors as well as to boost food production in the country. Increases in farmers’ income and food production were concurrently achieved by raising the support prices. At the same time, however, this has brought about a reversal of price difference between imported grains and domestically produced ones. In addition, lower tariff rates on … Continue reading →

January 1st, 2017 Norinchukin Research Institute Co., Ltd. SHIGETO Yukari, Senior Chief Researcher ■Abstract The Bank of Japan (BOJ) made an unprecedented move towards negative interest rates in January 2016 in an attempt to invigorate the economy. This caused Japan’s household financial assets to dip 0.4% in March from a year earlier, their first decline since September 2009. They fell a further 1.7% in June, accelerating the pace of decline. The introduction of negative interest rates also eroded Japanese banks’ profitability from lending and investing in securities. In the first half of fiscal 2016, 47 out of 64 regional banks reported declines in net income, and 38 of them recorded … Continue reading →