Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

  Kuzumaki, a dairy farming region in the heart of Iwate Prefecture which has been tackling for more than a decade to facilitate the use of uncultivated farmland, was officially commended for managing to reduce the rate of such land to 1% of total farmlands in fiscal 2011. A region with an average altitude of 390 meters, Kuzumaki has 3,830 hectares of farmland, out of which 84% is used as fields to grow feed grains. Concerned with the situation where the aging of farmers and lack of successors led to increasing amount of farmlands standing idle, the agriculture committee of the local government began taking measures to reduce the area … Continue reading →

  The University of Shizuoka, a major beverage firm ITO EN and a social welfare service corporation Hakujujikai have confirmed through a research that taking green tea powder every day would help improve cognitive functioning of patients of dementia. They say the components of green tea, such as catechins – the antioxidant – and theanine which gives a full-bodied flavor, may be working effectively on the brain. The three institutions jointly conducted the research from July to September last year on 12 men and women, out of which 8 are patients with vascular dementia, 3 with Alzheimer’s disease and 1 with dementia with Lewy bodies. They ground green tea leaves … Continue reading →

  Prices of Japanese beef calves are continuing to show an unprecedented uptrend, due to supply shortage following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2010 and the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The average price of a calf marked 478,972 yen in June, up 19.6% from a year before, marking the highest level for June since 2007, according to the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (JA Zen-noh). The prices are expected to continue their strong performance, as there are few factors that can contribute to price declines. The number of beef calves traded in the nation’s 39 designated markets totaled 26,091 head in June, rising 3% from a year … Continue reading →

  Daisuke Matsumoto Beef imports in Japan are showing stable increase after the Japanese government eased import restrictions on American beef in February, but beef importers are controlling shipments in June in order to avoid the government from taking safeguard measures in August. Many predict, however, that the imports are likely to increase again in July, leading to intensifying competition between imported beef and domestic beef in the Japanese market. The Finance Ministry reported on Thursday, June 27, that beef imports in May increased 32% from a year before to 55,557 tons, with frozen beef imports rising 42% to 32,951 tons and chilled beef imports up 19% to 22,607 tons. … Continue reading →