TOKYO, Dec, 25 – Japan’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods in October were 79.8 billion yen, up 15% year-over-year, according to the data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. The exports in the ten months from January to October 2018 also increased by 15% compared to the same period last year. On both the monthly and the ten-month-total basis, the exports of beef, rice, and apples grew significantly. Although the growth rate is larger than the ratio required to meet the ministry’s 1-trillion-yen goal for Japan’s food exports in 2019, whether Japan can keep the ratio at this high level throughout … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Dec. 18 ― Japan’s acreage for pineapple plants expanded for the fifth consecutive year in 2018, with growing demand for agro-tourism businesses, government data has shown. The pineapple acreage in Okinawa prefecture, the only region that cultivates the tropical fruit in Japan, rose 4% to 565 hectares in 2018 from a year earlier, according to the agriculture ministry. That exceeded the 560 hectares in 2008. All that is playing into agro-tourism, in which tourists visit pineapple farms, harvest the fruit and taste fresh pineapples, an official from the agriculture ministry explained.

TOKYO, Dec. 22 ― Japan’s cabinet has approved a draft budget of record 101.5 billion yen, or about 900 billion dollars, for fiscal 2019, partly due to economic stimulus measures in response to a planned hike in the consumption tax in October 2019. The next fiscal year’s budget would mark the seventh consecutive year that the Japanese government spending sets a record high. The budget plan, approved at a Dec. 21 cabinet meeting, includes agriculture spending of 2.43 trillion yen, up 5.6% from fiscal 2018. This is an increase in the agriculture sector for the first time in three years. “The agriculture budget was important to implement key measures to … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Dec. 15 ― As more foreign visitors have appreciated Japanese food, the agriculture ministry will soon launch a project that provides them with information on a full range of food experiences in Japan. The idea is, by providing new experiences in rural areas and getting foreign tourists to share their images on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, to encourage repeat visits and generate new revenue in Japan. According to a survey conducted by the agriculture ministry, the top list to do for foreign visitors once they arrive in Japan was: eat Japanese food. In fact, while visiting Japan, foreign tourists spent a record 345.6 billion yen on … Continue reading →