Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

Minuma’s road of spring in full bloom

SAITAMA, April. 5 ― Cherry blossoms on the banks of an agricultural canal in Minuma, Saitama Prefecture, are now in full bloom. They bloom brilliantly around the region called Minuma Tambo in which there are many fields for agricultural use. Minuma Tambo was created in the middle of the Edo era by draining wetlands of about 1,260 hectares. Its surrounding areas have been urbanized, but you can still enjoy the view of vast rice fields and green areas, and the rice fields are surrounded by the canal and 1984 cherry trees, mostly someiyoshino, planted on the banks. The area already had a long row of the cherry trees in the … Continue reading

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JA-ZENCHU and JICA to jointly help developing nations through agricultural aid, international support and know-how sharing

TOKYO, April 23.  ― JA Group and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are signing a new partnership agreement on the initiatives to provide agricultural support to developing countries in Asia. The Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-ZENCHU) is going to act as a liaison office for agricultural cooperatives (JAs) all over Japan, while JICA is going to be a liaison office for developing countries. The two will then dispatch JA workers and young farmers to the countries needing agricultural aid. They plan to support the farmers with the creation of local agricultural cooperatives using JA’s expertise. This way, they can help small family-run farmers make more profit and their villages … Continue reading

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Global ICA vice-president visits coop welfare facility in Tokyo

TOKYO, March. 17 ― Jean-Louis Bancel, vice-president of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the apex global cooperatives’ body, has visited a cooperative welfare facility in Tokyo. On March 16, Bancel visited a facility, “Workers Net Rings,” a cooperative of workers with disabilities that provide cleaning services in the local community. Some of workers are former drug addicts, homeless people, or diagnosed with schizophrenia, and they have found themselves very difficult to get a decent job in the Japanese straitjacket society, explained Shiro Kinoshita, head of Workers Net Rings. “This cooperative facility manifests that the business is about collaboration and helping one another,” Bancel said. Bancel was visiting Tokyo as one … Continue reading

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Japan ends SBS tenders to buy Australian rice for fiscal 2018

TOKYO, March 16 ― Japan has ended the simultaneous buy and sell (SBS) tending system to import table rice from Australia for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without the U.S., also known as TPP-11. The last tender for the fiscal 2018 was held on March 14 and 15, reaching a total of 1,120 metric tons, according to the agriculture ministry. That was about a half of quota that Australia was given for the first implementation year of the TPP-11, which went into effect on Dec. 30, 2018, with six signatories: Japan, Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada and Australia. From the second year starting … Continue reading

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Strawberry shaped handmade dolls welcome visitors at Tochigi

MOOKA, March 3 ― Mooka, north of Tokyo, is Japan’s largest producer of strawberries. Now, the growers welcome visitors with strawberry-shaped handmade dolls hanging from ceiling. The timing coincides March 3, a Japanese traditional holiday, also known as Girls’ Day or Hina Matsuri, which wishes for the good health for young females in a family. It is customary to display beautiful dolls in the house. The strawberry growers started hanging the handmade dolls from ceiling since last year, as a way to promote the National Strawberry Summit, which will be taken place in March 2020 in Mooka, Tochigi prefecture.

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