Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

FUKUOKA, Jul. 4 – The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) is teaming up with Chiikawa, a popular Japanese manga/anime, at Minori Cafe Fukuoka PARCO. On July 4, the cafe in the department store in Fukuoka City on the Kyushu southernmost island of Japan started to offer a limited menu featuring domestic ingredients-milk from Fukuoka Prefecture and fruits from Kyshu. The menu includes three types of yogurt drinks that look like Chiikawa characters enjoying (frozen!) onsen hot spring. You can choose the topping from fig or seedless Kyoho grape from Fukuoka or mandarin oranges grown in greenhouses in Saga Prefecture. Yogurt made from milk from Fukuoka is placed in … Continue reading →

With the new bills set to be issued in Japan on July 3, a snack bread resembling a new Japanese 10,000-yen banknote is creating a buzz. It is made from domestic wheat and produced by a gift shop in Kita Ward, Tokyo, named Shibusawa Ippinkan Tsunagu Marche. The shop dedicated to Eiichi Shibusawa, the legendary Japanese businessman featured on the new 10,000-yen bill, has already sold approximately 1,200 of these special breads since its sales launch in late April this year. The square-shaped snack bread is made from wheat produced in Japan, including Hokkaido, and filled with a sweet potato paste. (Both a banknote and a sweet potato are called “osatsu” … Continue reading →

TOKYO, June 12 — National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) announced on June 11 that it has developed Benitsurugi, a new columnar apple variety. Columnar apple trees grow in an upright form without the branches extending horizontally like in typical apple trees, making it easier for growers to manage them and enabling them to harvest the fruit using picking machines, leading to improved work efficiency. It is a mid-season variety and is comparable to major varieties in terms of quality such as sugar content, NARO said. It is the first time a columnar apple grown for eating raw that meet a certain standard was developed in Japan. It took … Continue reading →

SHIMANE, May 23 – “Night Strawberry Picking” in Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture, is becoming a popular tourist attraction. The unique experience of picking strawberries in an illuminated greenhouse to break the plants’ dormancy is drawing in repeat visitors. The Omori Farm of Strawberries in Yasugi City began the night event in 2021 as a seasonal event in May every year. The farm is open to visitors five days a week (closed on Monday and Friday) at night from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The greenhouse is lit to break the dormancy of strawberry plants, creating a unique atmosphere for the attraction, and you get to enjoy picking two varieties, Kaorino … Continue reading →