Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

TOKYO, Feb. 26 – The market for porridge products is recently expanding amid growing needs for the food as a daily meal, with food manufacturers introducing new items. Porridge has typically been regarded as a dish for the elderly and the sick, but consumers became aware of the benefits of low-calorie, ready-to-eat porridge products while they stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies are coming up with new products which are filling and easier to eat. More people are now having porridge for breakfast or a light meal, triggering hopes for increased rice consumption. Major food maker Ajinomoto Co. will start selling on March 18 a new chicken porridge pouch … Continue reading →

HYOGO, Feb. 25 – Kobe beef, a widely-known top-quality wagyu brand from Hyogo Prefecture, will be shipped to Saudi Arabia for the first time. It will also be the first export of Japanese beef to the country. Hyogo plans to ship Kobe beef equivalent to 150 cows in a year. The move is an attempt to make inroads into one of the leading economic giants in the Middle East as part of efforts to increase beef producers’ revenues and expand production of Kobe beef. A ban on exports of Japanese beef to Saudi Arabia was lifted in 2020. In October last year, Sanda Meat Center in the city of Kobe … Continue reading →

WAKAYAMA, Feb. 19 – It turns your smartphone into a farmers’ market. A local agricultural cooperative in Wakayama Prefecture (JA Kinosato) has started offering a virtual tour of Mekkemon Hiroba, its local farmers’ market in Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture. It allows online customers to enjoy shopping as if they are actually in the market. Distant and elderly shoppers who can’t easily visit the market can virtually walk around and find something new and attractive from the rich lineup of agricultural products in the market. That way, it can also create a new demand. The virtual reality (VR) service is accessible via smartphones and personal computers. The users can move freely … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Feb. 1 — The agriculture price index for 2022, released by the agriculture ministry on Jan. 31, showed that the index for production materials was 116.6 with the base year being 2020, which means materials prices rose 16.6 percent in two years. The prices marked the highest since 1951 when data became available, up 9.3 percent from the previous year. The index for fertilizers was 130.5, up 27.1 percent from a year before and that for livestock feed posted 138, up 19.4 percent, pushing up the index for overall production materials. The agriculture price index shows changes in prices of agricultural production materials and farm produce. While materials prices … Continue reading →

FUKUOKA, TOCHIGI, KUMAMOTO, OITA, MIYAGI, IBARAKI, WAKAYAMA, SAGA, and NARA, Jan. 15 – Did you know January 15th is Strawberry Day in Japan? A Japanese word for strawberries, ichigo, sounds like ichi (one), go (five), and that’s why. The strawberry is a hot product in Japan, as many prefectures accelerate the strategic introduction of unique new-generations locally to heat up the competition. The new varieties include high-yield berries with good flavors, large ones suitable for branding, and firm-fleshed fruits good for export. And after the race among the fruits with different characters, their unit prices improved, and the total domestic production increased by 20% in 10 years. The competition to … Continue reading →