【News】 Glowing silk yarns showcased at Hikari Exhibition (Feb. 7, 2015)

Kotaro Yamada Hundreds of radiant cocoons and shining silken stoles and lamp shades. You’ll see them all in Ueno, Tokyo, at the National Museum of Nature and Science, in the darkness at its special exhibition “Hikari–The Wonder of Light”. The shining products are presented by the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) based in Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture. The cocoons and silk yarns were produced by silkworms that NIAS genetically engineered. It successfully inserted a certain fluorescence protein gene extracted from a coral and a jelly fish in silkworms to give them the ability to spin silk yarns that can emit light. The glowing cocoons emit red, orange or green light … Continue reading

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【News】 Government’s guarantee to import U.S. rice: never make the same mistake again (Feb. 7, 2015)

  Senior Staff Writer, Masaru Yamada In the ongoing negotiations for liberalization of farm products under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, the United States is asking Japan to set an annual tax-free import quota for American-grown rice for consumption as staple food. Two decades ago, Japan secretly agreed to guarantee a certain share of U.S. rice in the Japanese market. The decision forced Japan to post substantial losses in the agriculture ministry’s special account, which continue to impose a burden on farmers and the Japanese people. The government should never repeat the same mistake of bowing to U.S. pressure and accepting more import quotas. In fiscal 1995, Japan started importing … Continue reading

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【News】 Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives asks ruling party to maintain its audit function (Feb. 7, 2015)

  In a last-minute effort to reflect agricultural co-operatives’ opinions in the government’s agricultural reform plan, Akira Banzai, head of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu) met ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers with close links to the farm sector on Friday, Feb. 6, to make a number of requests including keeping the union’s auditing system. Banzai asked LDP members to maintain JA-Zenchu’s audits and let primary JAs choose between the central union’s audits and those by certified public accountants. He also requested that JA-Zenchu and prefectural unions have the same kind of corporate capacity under the Agricultural Co-operative Society Law, and expressed opposition to restricting non-farmer members’ use of … Continue reading

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【Editorial】 Restricting non-farmer members’ use of agricultural co-ops means destroying infrastructure in rural regions (Feb. 4, 2015)

  Restriction of non-farmer members’ use of agricultural co-operatives’ services has become one of the main concerns for the ongoing discussions on agricultural co-ops reform. Such restriction would weaken the overall ability of the Japan agricultural co-op group and threaten the basis of livelihood which farmers and local residents depend on. The government must keep in mind that destroying infrastructure in rural regions supported by JAs goes against its goal of revitalizing local areas. The deregulation action plan approved by the Cabinet in June last year states that the government will consider creating a rule concerning non-farmer members’ use of JAs’ services in comparison with farmer-members. JAs offer comprehensive package … Continue reading

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【News】 Government’s guarantee to import U.S. rice: never make the same mistake again (Feb. 4, 2015)

  Senior Staff Writer, Masaru Yamada In the ongoing negotiations for liberalization of farm products under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, the United States is asking Japan to set an annual tax-free import quota for American-grown rice for consumption as staple food. Two decades ago, Japan secretly agreed to guarantee a certain share of U.S. rice in the Japanese market. The decision forced Japan to post substantial losses in the agriculture ministry’s special account, which continue to impose a burden on farmers and the Japanese people. The government should never repeat the same mistake of bowing to U.S. pressure and accepting more import quotas. In fiscal 1995, Japan started importing … Continue reading

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