Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

TOKUSHIMA, Apr. 4 – Approximately 500 weeping sakura cherry blossom trees are in full bloom in Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture. The flowers are smaller than usual this year due to a lack of rainfall, but they began to bloom on March 28. Kinichi Sasaki, a 92-year-old sudachi citrus grower, planted the cherry blossom trees covering an approximately 1.5-hectare site. (Sudachi is a small, round, green citrus fruit of Japanese origin and a specialty product of Tokushima Prefecture.) He started planting the trees 18 years ago with only three seedlings of Kamiyama Weeping Cherry Blossoms he received from his friend. Even after he gave up farming due to old age, he … Continue reading →

AKITA, Mar. 29 – The Akita branch of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH Akita) will sell a limited number of Sachihokore finest-quality rice produced in Akita Prefecture in 2-kilogram bags featuring an original illustration by popular illustrator Nagi from Yuzawa City in the prefecture. The rice bag has an illustration of the side face of a young woman and cherry blossoms in full bloom. A person from ZEN-NOH Akita in charge of the unique rice project hopes that consumers will enjoy both Nagi’s illustration and Akita rice. Nagi is popular among young women for her style of drawing many facets of women adorably. So far, she has … Continue reading →

OSAKA, March 11 — Kubota Corp. unveiled on March 10 its versatile autonomous agricultural vehicle to be exhibited at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai due to open next month. The height and width of the vehicle are adjustable. Using a variety of equipment and implements, a single robot can autonomously handle a wide range of agricultural tasks including tilling, pest control and harvesting, which have traditionally been performed by separate machines. The release date of the robot is yet to be determined, but the firm plans to conduct tests on farmlands and aim at commercializing the product. The robot was shown at an event promoting the Future City pavilion of the … Continue reading →

OSAKA, Mar. 7 – Zojirushi Corporation, which will have an onigiri rice ball shop at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, opening on April 13, unveiled its half-automated onigiri rice ball making system on March 6, The company automated most of onigiri making processes, excluding feeding cocked rice into the tank, putting ingredients, and wrapping. The system was created jointly with Suzumo Machinery Co., Ltd., a supplier of onigiri robots for convenience stores as the first system of this kind to fit in a small room of about 5 square meters. Customers can order onigiri with their favorite ingredients using smartphones that can read a QR code in front of … Continue reading →

KOCHI, March 2 — Shipments of Tosa Buntan pomelos grown outdoors are in full swing in Tosa, Kochi Prefecture. Farms’ work areas and fruit sorting facilities are filled with liveliness of workers and the fresh scent of the citrus fruit that signals the coming of spring. The city of Tosa is where the pomelos were born and it is also the nation’s top producing area of the fruit. In the city, the fruit is cultivated by 94 farms that belong to the Tosa Buntan growers’ group of JA Kochi, a local agricultural cooperative. Tosa Buntan pomelos are harvested between December and January. They are then kept outside in temporary storage … Continue reading →