Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

  TOKYO, Aug. 29 — Candy apples, iconic summer festival treats in Japan which have been popular for decades, are evolving into fine-tuned sweets in recent years. Specialty stores are popping up, offering cute-looking products coming in different flavors using good-tasting domestically-grown apples. DIY kits are also being sold for those who want to make candy apples at home. The popularity of candy-coated apples is spreading, as not only women and young people but a wide variety of people now enjoy them as everyday sweets, giving apple growers the opportunity to boost consumption of homegrown apples. Pomme d’Amour Co. in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward uses apples from Aomori Prefecture to make … Continue reading →

TOKYO, HOKKAIDO, Aug. 16 – Japanese milk and dairy products are becoming increasingly popular abroad, as many inbound visitors to Japan have become fans of sold at convenience stores and all different kinds of ice creams with flavors unique to Japan after their Japan visit. Japan’s exports of milk and dairy products increased by more than 20% in value from a record high in the previous year, and dairy producers and industry groups are trying to take the opportunity to increase exports and the consumption of inbound travelers by making solid efforts.   Consumption growing in Asia According to the Farm Ministry of Japan, the country’s exports of milk and … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Aug. 9 — The Livestock Improvement Association of Japan announced on Aug. 8 that it has newly selected Fukukatsutsuru as an elite breeding Japanese Black cattle. Fukukatsutsuru is a son of legendary breeding cattle Fukunohime who died of acute heart failure in June. Assessments of carcass performance data of fattened steers and heifers of Fukukatsutsuru showed that the average Beef Marbling Standard (BMS) score marked 10.2, record high for the association. Its genomic breeding value, evaluated based on genetic information, exceeded that of Fukunohime in all traits, ranking top in carcass weight, rib eye area, thickness of short ribs and the dressing percentage. Fukukatsutsuru’s semen will be marketed starting … Continue reading →

KUMAMOTO, Aug. 7 — In the Aso district of Kumamoto Prefecture, vast grasslands spread on one of the world’s largest calderas, providing feed base for grazing some 5,000 Japanese brown cattle. The dynamic landscape of meadows, also a popular tourist destination, was not created naturally but nurtured through more than 1,000 years of constant human efforts to coexist with nature — pasturing, controlled burning and mowing. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the management of the Aso grasslands for sustainable agriculture certified as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The grasslands stretching 20,000 hectares are managed by 156 pasture unions, but … Continue reading →

TOKYO, July 30 — Exports of green tea have been showing brisk growth, with the value of shipments in 2022 increasing 50 percent from 2017 and those in the January-May period of this year up 4 percent from the same period last year. Coping with nontariff barriers, such as different pesticide residue standards depending on countries, has been a challenge. But it is becoming possible to respond to growing overseas demand as organic tea growing regions are expanding and the agriculture ministry has worked to increase the types of pesticides that can be used for cultivation of tea targeted at foreign markets. According to the farm ministry, the total value … Continue reading →