Strawberry shaped handmade dolls welcome visitors at Tochigi

MOOKA, March 3 ― Mooka, north of Tokyo, is Japan’s largest producer of strawberries. Now, the growers welcome visitors with strawberry-shaped handmade dolls hanging from ceiling. The timing coincides March 3, a Japanese traditional holiday, also known as Girls’ Day or Hina Matsuri, which wishes for the good health for young females in a family. It is customary to display beautiful dolls in the house. The strawberry growers started hanging the handmade dolls from ceiling since last year, as a way to promote the National Strawberry Summit, which will be taken place in March 2020 in Mooka, Tochigi prefecture.

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Japanese rice and rice product exports hit records in 2018

TOKYO, March. 6 ― Japan’s rice and rice product exports rose for the seventh consecutive year of growth, breaking the 30 billion yen barrier for the first time in its history, thanks to largely to appetite for Japanese products in neighboring Asian countries, data has showed. Total shipments of Japanese rice and rice products rose 17% to 30.4 billion yen in 2018 from a year earlier, marking the highest level since they have been recorded in 2004, the agriculture ministry said. Yet, that is far short of the government’s target of 60 billion yen of rice and rice product exports in 2019. Among those products, rice rose 17% to 3.7 … Continue reading

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Japan’s Fundodai Goyo unveils new soy sauce with no color

KUMAMOTO, March 6 ― Fundodai Goyo Inc., a Kumatmoto-based maker of soy sauce and miso, has unveiled its new product: soy sauce with no color. To celebrate its 150th anniversary this year, Fundodai Goyo developed the new shoyu, which flavors and seasons like regular soy sauce, color but without reddish-brown color. With no color, the new product doesn’t darken the color of foods. One bottle, or 100 ml, costs 500 yen (about 4.45 dollars).

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Ruling party urges government to avoid further market liberalization for farm products in trade talks with the United States

TOKYO, April 13 – As Japan and the United States are set to launch talks on a trade pact in Washington on April 15, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party held a meeting on trade negotiations on April 12 and adopted a resolution calling on the government to avoid reaching an agreement that is beneficial only to the U.S. The party asked Toshimitsu Motegi, minister in charge of the trade talks, the same day not to agree on reducing tariffs on agricultural products beyond levels agreed under the initial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade talks before the U.S.’ withdrawal. The LDP’s resolution was aimed at urging the government not to make … Continue reading

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Japan offers local rice for school meals 3.5 days a week in 2018

TOKYO, March 6 ― Japan offered locally-grown rice for school meals at elementary and junior high schools across the country on average 3.5 days per week in 2018, a government survey has showed. The school meals in serving Japanese rice has been increasing over the years, according to the education ministry. Rice were served at school lunch on average 2.9 days per week in 2006. The trend reflects as the government eyes new ways of spreading Washoku traditional Japanese cuisine at home and abroad, since Washoku has been added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, experts say.

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