Category Archives: Cooperatives

KYOTO, May 26 – The Kyoto prefectural headquarters of National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) has collaborated with female college students in the Kansai area to develop photogenic green tea-flavored sweets, which are put on sale at its restaurant Minoru Shokudo located inside Takashimaya department store in Kyoto. Seven types of desserts, including a parfait and a custard pudding using green tea produced by a local agricultural cooperative JA Kyoto Yamashiro, are created and sold until July to appeal to young women who like to post photos on social media. Team KJ, a group of female college students in Kansai who collaborate with companies on product development, helped create … Continue reading →

TOKYO, May 20 — Japanese red beans grown in Hokkaido have been certified as Japanese space food for crew members at the International Space Station (ISS). The JA Obihiro Kawanishi of Hokkaido announced on May 19 that its red beans obtained approval from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to be used for a Japanese festive dish, called sekihan, to be sent to the ISS. At first, the Japanese farmers group sought the Safe Food Quality (SFQ) certification from the Geneva-based International Standards Organization (ISO). “The SFQ certification demonstrates our commitments to providing the highest quality of red beans to food processing makers to make sekihan,” said Toshinobu Arizuka, the … Continue reading →

TOKYO, May 25 – Five members of the curling team LS Kitami, Pyeongchang Winter Olympics bronze medalist for Japan, made a visit at JA Building in Otemachi, Tokyo, on May 24, 2018, and reported the results of the games to National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH), one of the supporters of the team. Satsuki Fujisawa explained that she always took rice grown in Japan and cooked it locally when she participated the games overseas. “Japanese rice tastes great even after it gets cold. It’s the best food for us to eat before competing,” she said. The meeting was also attended by Mari Motohashi, Yumi Suzuki, Yurika Yoshida and Chinami … Continue reading →

TOKYO, March 21 — Japan’s largest farmers’ group has exported rice to the UK’s first Japanese-run sake brewery in the heart of the English countryside for the first time. Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made of fermented rice. A bold move came when Osaka-based Dojima Sake Brewery Co. opened its first UK facility to offer a taste of the traditional Japanese beverage at Fordham Abbey in Cambridgeshire. The Japanese sake maker asked the National Federation of Agriculture Cooperative Association (ZEN-NOH), the marketing arm of JA group, to ship Japanese-grown rice to the new UK facility. Test brewing is to start in April. This is significant because there have already … Continue reading →