Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

TOKYO, Oct. 30 ― As more Japanese consumers enjoy drinking wine and producers make more wines in Japan, the government has introduced on Oct. 30 new labeling rules that enforces tighter place of origin control for Japanese wines. Japan didn’t previously have regulations on the labeling of wine made from grapes, so makers of Japanese wineries had the industry’s voluntary wine labeling standards. Specifically, when they produced and bottled wines in Japan but using imported grapes, they labeled them as “Wine produced in Japan,” which experts say is misleading consumers. Following such criticism, the National Tax Agency developed labeling standards for manufacturing process and quality of wine in 2015. The … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Oct. 28 ― A recent survey has revealed that crops damaged by wildlife invasions in Japan fell 5 percent from a year earlier, as the central government and local authorities encouraged trapping and hunting wild animals such as boars and deer. Economic losses caused by wildlife was estimated at 16.4 billion yen in 2017, according to the agriculture ministry’s survey. Crop damage caused by wild animals has been declining constantly since 2013, The peak was 23.9 billion yen in 2010. But the survey also showed there was an increase in farm losses affected by wild animals in some regions. The government has instructed the agriculture ministry to look into … Continue reading →

BEIJING, Oct. 27 ― During his groundbreaking visit Beijing in October, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that China may ease its import restrictions on certain Japanese agriculture products, which has been placed in since the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima. “China said it will consider easing the restrictions based on the scientific assessment on food safety,” Abe told reporters after he met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Oct. 26. “We hope the Chinese people will enjoy Japanese produce more, and I believe active trade will deepen ties between the Japanese people and the Chinese people further,” he said. Relations between Asia’s two biggest economies have rapidly … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Nov. 18 ― Japan’s agriculture ministry said on Nov. 16 that a domestic pig at the livestock center park in Gifu prefecture was tested positive for classical swine fever, also knows as hog cholera. The announced came after the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) confirmed swine fever virus in the final analysis. This is the second case of domestic pigs found infected with the swine fever virus in Gifu. In addition, the carcass of a wild boar found in Gifu in September was also found infected with the virus. The swine fever is unrelated to the African swine fever that has broken out in China and other … Continue reading →