【News】 MAFF to find out untapped farm product in every prefecture with Geographical Indication Protection Program by 2020 (April 10, 2016)

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) revealed the latest target of its Geographical Indication (GI) protection program protecting names of agricultural and food products as intellectual properties which have unique brand values of specific regions. It will be a new target of the GI Protection System for MAFF to persuade each of 47 prefectures in the country to register at least one product under the System over the next five years through 2020. The System aims to protect names of farm products as GI properties obtaining high quality and reputation as a result of traditional production methods and climate characteristics in specific agricultural areas. MAFF guarantees the quality of … Continue reading

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【News】 JAs’ offices and farmer’s markets increasingly installed with fast chargers for electric vehicles in rural villages (April 8, 2016)

Drivers of electric vehicles, running not on gasoline, but with an electric motor as a power source, have been steadily increasing in rural societies. Infrastructure for spreading electric automobiles has been consolidated in agricultural areas, enabling drivers to quickly charge their electric vehicles even at offices of an agricultural cooperative (JA) and farmer’s markets. Yoshinori Yokota, 51, producing blueberries at Shiranuka-cho in Hokkaido, sometimes drives as long as 150 kilometers per day to deliver his fresh blueberries and processed products. He has driven an electric automobile for four years and said “Although an electric car initially costed more than a gasoline-powered vehicle, it has resulted in a cost saving.” According … Continue reading

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【News】 Diet deliberation starts on TPP pact amid growing opposition to agreements on its trade liberalization (April 6, 2016)

Lawmakers of the Lower House began on April 5 debates on a draft approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade accord and related bills, including measures to support farmers, at its plenary session. “The TPP deal is the best possible result from the perspective of Japan’s national interests,” Prime Minster Shinzo Abe claimed. On the other hand, opposition parties such as the Democratic Party (DC) highly criticized Abe’s Administration by pointing out the Administration has agreed to unprecedentedly open the Japanese market of farm products, which “obviously violates the resolution of the Diet.” A TPP tug-of-war between the ruling block and opposition parties was played from the beginning of … Continue reading

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【News】 Abe’s Administration unveils “blacked-out” documents concerning TPP ministerial meetings between Japan and US (April 6, 2016)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Administration took a step of unveiling a part of documents concerning the ministerial meetings between Japan and the United States on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal to the opposition Democratic Party (DP) on April 5, which had demanded the Government to publicize the documents. All of the revealed documents, however, are blacked out only except headings and dates of each page. They are not copies of the meetings’ papers, but are partly redacted ones. The 45-page documents are briefing papers prepared for the Cabinet Office’s meetings, according to the Japanese Government’s TPP Headquarters at the Cabinet Secretariat Office. Most sentences of the documents have … Continue reading

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【News】 Citizens’ groups protest against heavily redacted TPP documents (Apr. 14, 2016)

As deliberations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement are expected to resume in the Diet, citizens’ groups gathered in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district on Wednesday, April 13, urging the government to disclose the details of the TPP negotiations. Citizens and farmers, angered by the government which presented heavily redacted documents concerning the negotiations, stood outside the Diet building, calling for thorough debate on the issue. As many as 200 people participated in the rally hastily planned by citizens’ groups including Stop TPP!!, although the notice was released as late as Tuesday evening. They put up copies of the redacted documents along with signs and banners criticizing the government for hiding information. … Continue reading

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