Some of vegetable and fruit dealers as well as food shops are serving unseasonal “shaved ices” in winter and spring seasons. The menu of shaved ices plays an important role in winning more customers for main businesses of those shops. “Hanayaka Market”, a vegetable and fruit shop located in Kuki-shi, Saitama prefecture, serves its guests with shaved ices throughout the year. Various fruits, being sold at the Market, are squeezed into topping juices for the shaves ices. Those juices are mixed when needed, while whip cream or cheese cream is added to the topping to make the ice more delicious. An ingredient suitable to fruits is selected from a professional … Continue reading →

A new opposition party named “Minshinto (The Democratic Party),” created through the merger between Minshuto (The Democratic Party of Japan) and Ishin no To (The Japan Innovation Party), held a party convention in Tokyo on March 27. Katsuya Okada, elected as the first head of the Democratic Party (DP), declared his determination to get power by saying “Our new party will be the last chance to realize a change of administration in Japan.” DP’s leader Katsuya Okada also said his party will be most tough for Diet debates with Abe’s administration on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) regional free trade deal. The TPP is expected to be a predominant focus of … Continue reading →

Goods for a limited time are appearing in the market one after another towards an “Easter” holiday on March 27. In recent years egg marketing firms have carried on sales promotion campaigns coinciding the Easter holiday. This year non-egg-marketing corporations such as convenience store chains and dairy manufacturers are conspicuous by their participation in the nation-wide sales campaign. According to a private research company, almost 90 percent of the Japanese people recognize the date of Easter. A number of companies are paying attention to a new date of holiday retail sales promotion, which has been added to a calendar for marketing business in Japan. One of the largest convenience store … Continue reading →

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) announced on March 21 an agenda of the Group of Seven (G7) Agricultural Ministers’ Meeting to be held at Niigata-shi, Niigata prefecture on April 23-24. The agenda of the G7 Agricultural Minsters’ Meeting covers key subjects such as technical development for raising agricultural productivity to achieve global food security, promotion of active participation of young males and females, and acquirement of human resources in rural communities. The Ministers plan to adopt a “Niigata Declaration” as fruitful results of their talks. The G7 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting will be held to coincide with the Ise-Shima Summit. This is the second time in … Continue reading →

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) and the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China (MOA) held a vice-ministerial meeting at Beijing, China, on March 21 for the first time in six years. MAFF’s Vice Minister Kazuyoshi Honkawa and MOA’s Vice Minister Qu Dongyu exchanged views on a wide range of subjects, including bilateral measures to control transboundary animal diseases and China’s removals of import restrictions on agricultural, forestry and fishery products. And they came to an agreement that MAFF and MOA will further promote exchanges of persons and information as well as cooperation in various fields of agriculture between the two countries. Regarding … Continue reading →