Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

Japan has enough butter for Christmas despite global shortage

TOKYO, Dec. 2 — Baked cakes and other buttery treats are reasonably available for the coming Christmas season in Japan, despite a global butter shortage, industry groups have said. The agriculture ministry held a meeting on Dec. 1 to discuss the supply and demand situation for butter with bakery chains, supermarkets and distributors. “There is no shortage and we have good supply of butter,” said a supermarket operator at the meeting. An official from a bakery chain also said: “We are well prepared as the Christmas holiday season nears.” Japan’s butter production in April-October fell 8.7% to 33,530 metric tons from the same period a year earlier, due to a … Continue reading

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Japan’s food exports rise to a record level in Jan-Sept 2017

TOKYO, Nov. 24 — Japan’s food exports have grown this year to a record level, thanks to the strong demand for Japanese wagyu beef, data from the finance ministry has shown. Japanese total exports for food rose 5.4% to 568.3 billion yen in the nine months that ended September 30, 2017, compared to the same period the year earlier. The beef exports in January-September jumped 44% to 1,715 metric tons, making up 90 percent of last year’s record exports of 1,908 metric tons. Hong Kong, the top destination for Japanese beef, saw a 38% increase during the period. Beef exports to the United States, which is Japan’s second-biggest market for … Continue reading

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Births of Japanese black cattle exceed 500,000 head in 2016

TOKYO, Nov. 22 — The births of Japanese Black cattle, one of four wagyu breeds, have surpassed to the 500,000 mark in 2016 for the first time in four years, data taken from Japan’s National Livestock Breeding Center shows. The Japanese Black cattle numbers grew for a second straight year to 502,066 head in 2016. Japanese Black cattle expanded by 4,000 head in 2015 compared to the year earlier, and it jumped by over 10,000 in 2016, according to the NLBC. Japanese breeds of beef cattle typically produce marbled meat with unsaturated fat, which makes the soft and flavorful steaks the world’s most expensive meat.

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Japanese tea machine maker invents portable tea canisters

SHIMADA, Nov. 19 — Drink your tea anywhere, anytime. That’s the concept for Katsuyoshi Asahara when he invented a new tea canister. It resembles a marker pen and it’s fairly compact. Push the pen point gently so that the tea powder is released into your cup. Then pour hot water. Voilà, the tea is ready. There are seven different types of tea powder, including Japanese green tea and oolong tea, explains the president of Shimada-based Asahara Industry in Shizuoka prefecture, one of the tea-growing regions in Japan. Asahara calls the tea canisters “Cha-ckee,” named after a popular marker pen brand “Hi-Mckee” made by Japanese stationary manufacturer Zebra. “I hope people … Continue reading

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Agricultural heritage in Japan: Living and farming on steep mountains for more than 400 years in Nishi Awa region, Tokushima Prefecture

TOKUSHIMA, Nov. 12 – Peak season for buckwheat harvest began in the fields in the mountains in the western part of Tokushima Prefecture, in the area designated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries as one of the agricultural heritages in Japan in 2016. The steep slope farming system here in Nishi Awa region is very unique, traditional, and considered so rare in the world that it’s one of the candidates for the world agricultural heritage of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Nishi Awa comprises four areas: Mima, Miyoshi, Tsurugi, and Higashi-Miyoshi. At the sloped fields in a 350-meter-high-altitude Sakurai Village in Tsurugi town, a … Continue reading

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