Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

HOKKAIDO, May 27 — This year’s first auction of Yubari premium melons grown in the city of Yubari in Hokkaido was held on May 26 at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market in Sapporo. A total of 401 cases containing some 800 melons were put on sale, and a company selling local specialties in the Hokkaido city of Otaru made the highest winning bid for a pair of melons at 1 million yen. The highest bid was 2 million yen less than last year. Yubari melons, characterized by their orange-colored flesh low in fiber, have proven popular for their soft and juicy texture. The melons boast a high brand power, having … Continue reading →

KANAGAWA, May 27 – More than 0.3 million onigiri rice balls were sold, collaborating with Japan’s popular travel guidebook series, Chikyu-no-Arukikata (Globe-Trotter Travel Guidebook). The collaboration onigiri project is produced by Mitsuhashi Corporation, a Japanese rice wholesaler based in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture. The fun of adapting local delicacies such as “Yokohama-style ramen noodles” from Kanagawa and “Corn Rice” from Hokkaido into onigiri proved popular, and the company achieved its sales goal one month ahead of schedule. The first collaboration onigiri was released in June 2024 at supermarkets in the Kanto eastern region of Japan, followed by other types created based on people’s favorites from all over the country. The … Continue reading →

TOKYO, May 18 – DIC Corporation (Chuo Ward, Tokyo), a printing inks, pigments, and synthetic resins manufacturer, has developed a new technology that makes flowers glow in the dark. This innovation is expected to open up opportunities for flowers to be used in new and creative ways. The technology involves dyeing flowers with solutions developed by DIC, utilizing the company’s unique formula. When exposed to ultraviolet light, the dyed flowers emit fluorescent colors, including blue, red, and yellow. The hue and intensity of the colors may vary depending on the types and individual characteristics of the flowers. The company plans to commercialize this technology as “RADilys” in 2026, based on … Continue reading →

TOKYO, May 13 — A subsidiary of the National Federation of Agriculture Cooperative Associations known as JA ZEN-NOH, the marketing arm of JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) group, will strengthen sales of packed cooked rice it produces. JA ZEN-NOH Radfa, which boosted its production capacity by opening a new factory last year, launched an e-commerce website on May 12 and began offering packed rice online. Through making packaged rice more widely available, it hopes to stabilize supply of rice as insufficient distribution of the staple grain continues. The firm, based in the town of Shikama in Miyagi Prefecture, sold 7 million packs of retort cooked rice in fiscal 2024, up as … Continue reading →

MIYAZAKI and SAITAMA, Apr. 22 – Japanese mushrooms, especially log-grown shiitake, are gaining popularity overseas. Due to the trend toward healthy living, washoku Japanese cuisine is becoming more popular worldwide, making log-grown shiitake mushrooms much liked for their taste, flavor, and texture. The demand for vegans who only eat vegetables is also expected to grow. The Japan Special Forest Product Promotion Association supports research into overseas markets and product development using Japan’s subsidy program. According to the statistics from the Ministry of Finance of Japan, the export of mushrooms, including dried shiitake mushrooms, hovered at around 1 to 1.1 billion yen in the recent three years from 2021 to 2024, … Continue reading →