【News】 Exports of Japanese apples, green tea, and beef to hit record respectively exceeding 10 billion yen in 2016 (Nov. 2, 2016)

Exports of apples, green tea and beef produced in Japan are continuously increasing this year. They are likely to respectively break the past record by the end of the year. According to the latest trade statistics published by the Ministry of Finance, all the values of these exports in a period from January to September 2016 have exceeded those in the same period of the previous year. There had been concerns that recent yen appreciation would put a sudden break on export growth. Strong exports of these commodities, however, have been supported by spreading Japanese-food boom in many countries and increasing inbound tourists. An export value of apples grew to … Continue reading

Posted in Food & Agriculture | Comments Off on 【News】 Exports of Japanese apples, green tea, and beef to hit record respectively exceeding 10 billion yen in 2016 (Nov. 2, 2016)

【News】 Noh no Ikebana exhibition in Tokyo gives new lives to old agricultural implements (Oct. 7, 2016)

Members of Noh no Ikebana Tokyo Group held an exhibition of their arrangements on October 6, 2016 at one of the major plant nurseries in Tokyo, Shindo Sogo Engei Center in the city of Musashimurayama. The arrangements are created using agricultural products and old agricultural implements to give new lives to the obsolete instruments. The leader of the group, Yoko Hamanaka, 73, said, “I hope this will offer an opportunity for everyone to recall a life on a farm in old times.” The old farming utensils belong to Susumu Shindo, a 65-year-old manager of the plant nursery. He has been collecting old farming tools such as daihachi guruma (a large, … Continue reading

Posted in Noh no Ikebana, Photos | Comments Off on 【News】 Noh no Ikebana exhibition in Tokyo gives new lives to old agricultural implements (Oct. 7, 2016)

【News】 127 wild mushrooms on display in Nagano to call for care to avoid eating toxic, some deadly, mushrooms (Oct. 5, 2016)

As the peak season for mushroom hunting started in Japan, the number of reports on mushroom poisoning is on rise. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, as of October 3 this year, 17 people became ill after mistakenly eating poisonous mushrooms. During the past ten years, approximately 1,500 people were reported to have suffered from the mushroom poisoning. Five among them died. On October 4, the food hygiene association of Nagano Prefecture started a display of 127 types of wild mushrooms in the farmers’ market of JA Nagano, an agricultural cooperative headquartered in Nagano Prefecture, as one of its initiatives to prevent wild mushroom poisoning. The mushrooms … Continue reading

Posted in Food & Agriculture, Photos | Comments Off on 【News】 127 wild mushrooms on display in Nagano to call for care to avoid eating toxic, some deadly, mushrooms (Oct. 5, 2016)

【News】 JA-ZENCHU to hold “Top Forum” at six places to share successful performance of self-reforms with top leaders of agricultural cooperatives throughout Japan (Nov. 2, 2016)

JA-ZENCHU (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives) or an apex body of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) in Japan held the first session of consecutive “Top Forum” in Osaka city on November 1, which is to be organized at six cities this month in the country. JA-ZENCHU aims at successfully promoting a three-year campaign of self-reforms in agricultural cooperative activities, which were pledged by JAs’ representatives throughout the country at their 27th National Convention held last autumn, by confirming a steady progress of the campaign in its first year with executive leaders of JAs at the Top Forum. Participants in the Top Forum particularly shared practical experiences among themselves in raising agricultural income … Continue reading

Posted in Cooperatives, Food & Agriculture | Comments Off on 【News】 JA-ZENCHU to hold “Top Forum” at six places to share successful performance of self-reforms with top leaders of agricultural cooperatives throughout Japan (Nov. 2, 2016)

【News】 SBS rice wholesaler doubts why MAFF excludes his testimony on actual selling price from its investigation report (Nov. 2, 2016)

The Japan Agricultural News found out on October 31 that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) had excluded information on actual selling prices of rice imported under “simultaneous buy and sell” (SBS) system, even though MAFF had gotten wholesalers’ testimonies on their selling prices set for rice users after deducting so-called “adjustment money” paid by trading houses through its latest investigation regarding shady transactions of the imported rice. At the investigation, MAFF received concrete information about selling prices of the imported rice under the SBS system from all the wholesalers that admitted their involvements in the rice transactions with kickbacks called “adjustment money.” When a report on the … Continue reading

Posted in Trade Talks | Comments Off on 【News】 SBS rice wholesaler doubts why MAFF excludes his testimony on actual selling price from its investigation report (Nov. 2, 2016)