Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

Shizuoka invites Thai actress with 700,000 followers; Bow Maylada finds Shizuoka attractive place to eat and travel

SHIZUOKA, Jan. 31 — A popular Thai actress, Bow Maylada, made her fourth visit in Shizuoka city, Shizuoka Prefecture. The city of Shizuoka invited her for four consecutive years as part of its promotional activities to have potential travelers from Thailand and other countries know about the attractive destinations they’ll find in Shizuoka, while Japan is becoming more and more popular among inbound tourists. Bow also visited a pilot shop run by an agricultural cooperative in Shizuoka city, JA Shimizu, and posted some pictures of what she found in the city, both local attractions and foods, on her social networking service (SNS) accounts. Bow has nearly 700,000 followers on Instagram, the … Continue reading

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“Evil out and fortune in!” Throw and get showered with dry roasted soybeans in Honbetsu, Tokachi, Hokkaido: Honbetsu Mamemaka Night Festival

HOKKAIDO, Feb. 4 – On February 3 each year, people in Japan does a “mamemaki” (literally “bean scattering”) traditional ritual of throwing soybeans to cleanse away evil spirits symbolized by oni, supernatural demons that often appear in Japanese folklore. But, people here in Honbetsu town, Hokkaido, have a lot more to do with the mamemaki. They have an event called Honbetsu Mame-maka Night (literally “you gotta throw beans tonight in Honbetsu”) that uses 2 tons of dry roasted soybeans to drive away an ill fortune. The youth group of a local agricultural cooperative (JA Honbetsu-cho) supports the event to promote soybeans, the local specialties of Honbetsu. This year’s festival was … Continue reading

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Japan’s flower exports hit 13.5 billion yen in 2017 as bonsai becomes increasingly popular

TOKYO, Feb. 1 — In 2017, Japan’s flower exports reached 13.5 billion yen, according to the statistics released by Ministry of Finance of Japan. It grew 50% from the previous year, exceeding 10 billion yen for the first time. The growth was driven by the growing popularity of bonsai miniature potted plant in overseas markets, which lead to the large shipment of garden trees and bonsai miniature potted plants mainly in China. Exports of garden trees and bonsai plants accounted for 90% and saw an annual jump of 57% over the previous year to 12.6 billion yen. Japan’s biggest flower market overseas was China, to whom it exported the products … Continue reading

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Consumer Affairs Agency to adopt stricter rules for labeling of non-genetically modified foods

TOKYO, Feb. 1 – The Consumer Affairs Agency’s expert panel agreed on Jan. 31 to introduce a stricter standard to certify non-genetically modified food products, allowing only foods with technically zero genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be labeled GM-free. Under the current rules, foods containing 5 percent or less of GM ingredients can bear the GM-free label. For instance, soybeans can be labeled non-GM even if the product contained up to 5 percent of GM beans due to unintentional mixing in the process of production or distribution. However, consumer groups have been calling for the revision of the rules, saying the current standard is misleading for consumers. In the expert … Continue reading

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Japan tackles wildlife overpopulation to reduce crop damages

TOKYO, Jan. 20 — Japan’s agriculture ministry is stepping up efforts to reduce crop damage caused by overpopulated wildlife across the country. Economic losses caused by wildlife was estimated at 17.2 billion yen in 2016, down 3% from a year earlier, according to the ministry. Deer and wild boar accounted for nearly a half of the overall losses. Crop damage caused by wild animals has declined from the peak of 23.9 billion yen in 2010, yet the level of farm losses affected by them remains high, the ministry said. The government has now set a target to reduce the number of deer and wild boar by half by 2023. It … Continue reading

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