Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has recently drew up guidelines to promote fair trades of “tofu (bean curd)” and fried bean curd, which are popular food items sold at supermarkets and other retail shops. MAFF plans to improve unfair trade of those products so that the manufacturers will be able to make a reasonable profit, which will possibly help to secure the income of soybean producers. Tofu does not keep for a long time. It is apt to be sold as bargain items at the retail market, where a number of problems are occurring between manufacturers and retailers frequently abusing their superior power. MAFF conducted researches on sales … Continue reading →

Kumamoto prefecture in Japan marked one-year anniversary of massive earthquakes, including ones of 6.5 and 7.3 magnitude, on April 14, when a watermelon producers group of Kamimashiki Agricultural Cooperative (JA) held a watermelon shipment ceremony at JA’s grading center at Mashiki town in the prefecture. The ceremony was organized just prior to a peak season of shipping watermelon, which is one of the major products in the town. A number of farmers and JA’s representatives gathered to express their condolences on victims of the quakes and pledged to accelerate their efforts to revitalize agricultural production in the JA’s territory. The strong earthquakes claimed 37 lives in Mashiki town, whom the … Continue reading →

Officials of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government revealed on April 7 that a six-month old boy in Adachi ward, Tokyo, died due to infant botulism after his family fed him honey. The Government of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the honey industry have been renewing their basic statement warning that honey should not be given to babies younger than one year. Japan Apiculture Association organized by about 3000 beekeepers in the country announced a strong message on its website on April 10, urging that consumers should never give honey to babies younger than one year. The Apiculture Association has been guiding its members to put the warning message on the label … Continue reading →

Domestic production value of agriculture and food related industries rose to 111.8479 trillion yen in 2015, 4.1 percent up over the previous year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced. The domestic production value in 2015 was the second largest one since 2001 in recent years. The agricultural production value rose by 5 percent to 10.4009 trillion yen thanks to price hikes of livestock products, which pushed up the whole amount of the domestic production value. More specifically, the value of livestock production reached to 3.5678 trillion yen, 7.1 percent up over the previous year, mainly because price of beef hiked in a tight market, which made a … Continue reading →

Japan Tourism Agency of the Japanese Government plans to promote “sake brewery tourism” for international tourists visiting Japan. In fiscal 2017, the Japan Tourism Agency will select model districts in various parts of the country, where planning of a tour around sake breweries is respectively to be undertaken. The Agency’s project aims at finding out problems to be faced in receiving overseas tourists at the model districts as well as training interpreters for the sake brewery tourism. Most of sake breweries are traditional Japanese-style buildings, where tourists can get informed about sake brewing and enjoy tasting various kinds of local sake or Japanese rice wine. The Japanese Government hopes that … Continue reading →