Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

TOKYO, Nov. 8 – The number of Japanese restaurants in foreign countries totaled 118,000 as of October, up 30 percent in the last two years, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced on Nov. 7. The increase reflects the growing popularity of washoku Japanese cuisine along with the rise in the number of foreign people visiting Japan. The ministry plans to further strengthen promotion of Japanese food in order to help boost exports of agricultural products. The ministry has been conducting a survey jointly with the Foreign Ministry and asking 238 diplomatic establishments abroad to compile figures on Japanese restaurants. The number was about 24,000 in 2006, topped 50,000 … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Nov. 8 — Malaysia has lifted a 7-year ban on beef imports from Japan which could boost Japanese exports to Muslim markets. Shipments of eligible Japanese beef have been allowed to enter Malaysia since Nov. 7 without any age limit conditions, the Japanese agriculture ministry said. Japanese cattle producers need to comply with Malaysian halal standards. Slaughterhouses in Kumamoto and Tokushima prefectures have been certified as halal compliant by the Malaysian Muslim authority. In 2010, Malaysia banned import of Japanese beef due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Japan. Tokyo had requested Malaysia to lift the ban, and the two discussed food safety conditions for imports. Lifting the … Continue reading →

LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai (center) experiences rice harvesting with a binder in Ome, Tokyo, on Nov. 4. TOKYO, Nov. 5 – Twelve Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers participated in a rice harvesting event on Nov. 4 held in the city of Ome, western Tokyo. The event was part of a project proposed by LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai to let LDP lawmakers experience rice cultivation. Under the project, Kinuhikari brand rice and glutinous rice seedlings were planted on a 10-are paddy in June. Around 60 people attended the event, including Nikai, Hiroshi Moriyama, the LDP’s Diet affairs chief, and Tetsuro Nomura, head of the party’s agriculture and forestry division. “We can’t speak … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Nov. 4 — Japan’s beef imports grew for a second straight month in September, despite Tokyo’s introduction of the World Trade Organization (WTO) special safeguard measures, data from the finance ministry has showed. Overall beef imports to Japan surged 44% to 60,849 metric tons in September, compared with the same month a year earlier. That was the biggest rise since July 2013. Frozen beef imports from the United States rose 21% to 10,405 metric tons in September from a year earlier, even after the Japanese government raised the tariff on imported frozen beef to 50 percent from 38.5 percent on Aug. 1. Australian frozen beef imports in September jumped … Continue reading →