Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

Tottori Prefectural Government opened a special market of pears in Tokyo on October 28, which were shaken off from trees by a powerful earthquake striking the central part of the Tottori prefecture on October 21. Although most of the pears are partly damaged in their skins, they have been well matured. Many consumers of the Metropolitan areas gathered in the market to purchase them for a purpose of supporting pear producers hardly hit by the earthquake. Marketing of pears is organized at a special counter in a pilot store of the Prefectural Government called “Tottori-Oakayama Shinbashi-Kan” located in Minato ward, Tokyo, which is jointly operated with a neighboring prefecture of … Continue reading →

JA ZEN-NOH Hyogo, a Hyogo prefectural headquarters of ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Association) or a national business organization of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) opens a directly-managed restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo on October 27. The restaurant serves “Kobe beef” and other dishes prepared with premium ingredients produced in Hyogo prefecture to increase lovers of its Kobe beef and other local foods among consumers in the Tokyo metropolitan area. A pre-opening party was held on October 24, inviting both of JA-ZENCHU’s president Choe Okuno and ZEN-NOH’s president Yoshimi Nakano. Okuno celebrated the opening by saying “This restaurant, I hope, will become a base for further broadening the appeal of Japanese beef … Continue reading →

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) set up “Council for Promotion of Talent Matching in Agricultural Sector and Economic Circles” on October 24. The Council, main members of which are JA-ZENCHU, an apex body of agricultural cooperative (JA) organizations in Japan, Japan Agricultural Corporations Association (JACA), and Japan Business Federation (KEIDANREN), is expected to play a vital role in recruiting human resources from private enterprises into a farm sector of agricultural corporations, JAs, and other related organizations. MAFF hopes that the agricultural sector will be active in recruiting talents from the private sector to make use of their technical knowledge on management and marketing as well as their personal … Continue reading →

A Halloween sales battle is getting heated in Japan toward a world-wide Halloween festival to be held on October 31. Increased public recognition of the Halloween has been continuously expanding the Halloween sales market, which now exceeds 100 billion yen. Halloween is becoming the most popular festival next to Christmas among the people of the country. A number of young people celebrate Halloween by joining costume parades in many streets of big cities. On the other hand, people have increasingly celebrated Halloween by tasting autumn foods with their family members at home. With a view to keeping up such trend, producers of related commodities and retailers are making efforts to … Continue reading →