Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

The Chinese government is struggling to improve the quality of agricultural products amid a number of scandals involving pesticide residues exceeding the maximum limit found in food items. In an effort to provide safe farm products, the government has been designating organic food production areas nationwide to promote cultivation of what they call “Green Food,” products made with less or no use of agricultural chemicals. In China, it is common for consumers to immerse vegetables in water for a couple of hours after they purchase them. Some people even put vegetables in salt water for tens of minutes in order to reduce the health risk of pesticide residues as much … Continue reading →

A single cluster of high-grade grapes named “Ruby Roman,” one of special products in Ishikawa prefecture, hit a record price of 1.1 million yen (900 grams・seedless grapes) at a season-opening auction held at the Kanazawa City Central Wholesale Market in the prefecture on July 7, breaking a previous record of 1 million yen in 2015. The best quality cluster of red-colored grapes “Ruby Roman” was bought at the auction by “Konishi-Seika,” operating food markets in Amagasaki-shi, Hyogo prefecture. The company of “Konishi-Seika” received media and Internet attention when its representative bought two pieces of “Yubari Melon” at a record-price of 3 million yen at a season-opening auction held in the … Continue reading →

ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations), agricultural cooperative’s (JA’s) national business organization, headquartered at Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, and Renaissance, Inc. at Sumida-ku, Tokyo, one of the major fitness business companies in the country, unveiled a significant effect of a healthy weight-loss program on July 5, which is a combination of “onigiri-centered meals” and exercises. The diet success rate of participants in the program reached to as much as nearly 70 percent. The weight-loss program was created jointly by ZEN-NOH and Renaissance. Daily calorie-intake is advised for respective dieter, which is calculated with his or her basal metabolic rate based on age, gender and size as well as quantity of motion. … Continue reading →

A survey on what is searched with a Japanese keyword of “agriculture” through the Internet was conducted jointly by the Japan Agricultural News and Faber Company Inc., one of the major information technology corporations in Japan, headquartered at Minato-ku, Tokyo. According to the analysis on the survey, there is a growing tendency that the keyword of “agriculture” is searched through the Internet with additional words related to “labor.” It has been also found out that “agriculture” is the keyword for Website users mainly to look for information on how to join the farming sector as well as on agricultural businesses. The results of the survey were analyzed with the software … Continue reading →