Izakaya “Kome-no-Ie (House of Rice),” a casual place for after-work drinking at Meguro, Shinagawa-ku in Tokyo, is now gaining popularity by paying particular attention to rice-centered menu and high-quality rice wine as well as to decoration in the House. Rice has been regarded as a staple food in the Japanese society, which is only a “supporting player” in the menu of Izakaya pubs. Izakaya “Kome-no-Ie” decided to choose the rice for a leading role, aiming to enhance its ability to attract customers with an “unexpected” function played by the “leading actor” of rice. The Izakaya started its business this July after transforming itself from a casual gastropub with a main … Continue reading →

Food Expo 2016 organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), one of the biggest food trade fairs in Asia, kicked off its five-day run at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on August 11. More than 300 Japanese organizations and companies, including JAs’ (agricultural cooperatives’) group, respectively set up a booth at the trade fair held in Hong Kong, the largest overseas market of Japanese farm products, which is expected to be a base for export expansion into Asian and other regions. A number of booths opened by JA’s organizations and Japanese companies are strengthening publicity acitivities for stimulating new demands for Japanese products in the international … Continue reading →

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) made an announcement on August 10 that export values of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods for the first half of the year 2016 totaled 362.2 billion yen, 2.1 percent up over the same period of the previous year. The total export of these products consists of 224.0 billion yen of agricultural products and foods, 10.7 percent up over the period of January-June 2015, 12.9 billion yen of forest products, 2.8 percent up, and 125.4 billion yen of fishery products, 10.2 percent down. With regard to the commodity-wise export value, apples hit the biggest amount of 6.2 billion yen during the first … Continue reading →

Various topics related agriculture and cooking have been proposed to school kids for their “summer vacation study projects” by many kinds of companies aiming to boosting sales of their respective products. The topics include “finding difference in taste of vegetables” and “observing process of growing vegetables.” Oisix Inc., operating an online market of organic farm products at Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, is marketing two kinds of cooking ingredient packages named “cooking kit,” prepared specially for school children. One of these “cooking kits” contains ingredients for a gratin, including three varieties of fresh egg plants. A sheet of memorandum is also available in the package, guiding school pupils to make an observation record … Continue reading →