Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

Japanese restaurants abroad with official recognition grow

TOKYO, May 22 — Restaurants and retailers abroad who obtained official recognition of Japanese food supporters keep growing, as the popularity of Japanese dish, or washoku, has hit new heights around the world in recent years. The number of Japanese restaurants and retailers abroad who acquired the certification totaled 2,931 in 2017, more than 20 times from 133 a year earlier, according to the agriculture ministry. The ministry started a certification system in 2016 for overseas restaurants and stores who use Japanese food and ingredients. Under the scheme, for example, restaurants have to consistently serve food using Japanese food products and alcoholic beverages, showcase them on the menu, and promote … Continue reading

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JA Obihiro’s red bean gets certified as Japanese space food

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

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Missing foreign technical trainees in Japan hits record in 2017

TOKYO, May 17 — The number of foreign workers who entered Japan on technical trainee visas and disappeared while working in the country surged to a record high in 2017, data from the justice ministry has shown. The foreign technical trainees who went missing totaled 7,089 in 2017, up from 5,058 from a year earlier. Of those, there were 1207 missing foreign trainees in the agriculture sector. “We suspect those missing foreign technical trainees went for better-paying jobs during their stay in Japan,” said an official from the justice ministry. The accumulated number of foreign technical trainees who entered the country reached 274,233 at the end of 2017. The number … Continue reading

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Curling team LS Kitami say ZEN-NOH rice from Japan is power source when competing overseas

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

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New vending machines in Tokyo Station offering you nice relaxing experience with tea in chabacco, not tobacco!

TOKYO, May 18 – It looks exactly like a box of tobacco, but it’s not. It’s “chabacco”- a box of powdered Japanese tea leaves, and its sales in vending machines have just been launched in Tokyo Station. Each box is beautifully designed with the motifs of tea plantations, Mt. Fuji, and tea-picking ladies, for example. One box contains a total of eight sticks of powdered tea leaves in variety such as fukamushi deep steamed green tea and roasted bancha tea. It costs 500 yen per box. The chabacco vending machines were placed on May 14 in Gransta in-station shopping and dining area in Tokyo Station ahead of the World No … Continue reading

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