Join ZEN-NOH’s general election and vote for your favorite gummy candy from 47 prefectures of Japan.

TOKYO, Feb. 19 – Vote to choose your favorite gummy! On February 19, the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) kicked off a nationwide competition among Nippon Yell Brand gummy candies made with fruits unique to each of the 47 prefectures of Japan. It will be a poll to choose the best gummy candy from 47 kinds representing 47 prefectures. The federation has set up a unique website for the vote, which is open to the public. The poll will be closed on March 10, and the top 10 winners will be announced on March 29. In November last year, ZEN-NOH completed the Nippon Yell Gummy Candies lineup from … Continue reading

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Rape blossoms in full bloom in central Japan

SHIZUOKA, Feb. 20 — Yellow rape blossoms are in full bloom on a field in the town of Minamiizu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Due to a warm winter this year, the blooming started in early December, about a month earlier than usual. Members of the town’s agriculture promotion association first planted rapeseeds on a 3.2-hectare field about 20 years ago and the place has since then become known as a sightseeing spot during spring. Boardwalks are created so that visitors can walk on the field and watch the blossoms closely. Shizuo Ishii, 69, a member of the association’s agriculture support center who manages the field, said, “The plants weren’t affected by typhoons … Continue reading

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Outlandish okayu rice porridge selling increasingly well to health-conscious consumers, new specialty shops opening

TOKYO, Feb. 6 – The consumption of new types of okayu Japanese rice porridge is likely to grow for its outlandishness. As the number of people wanting better-for-you foods increases, okayu specialty restaurants have gained even a male following. Porridge made by cooking raw rice in Chinese-style soup, for example, has gained repeat customers as a filling choice. Western-style porridge that uses bacon and cheese and gorgeously arranged bowls of okayu have also become popular, especially on social networking sites (SNSs).Green House Foods (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo) currently runs seven congee specialty restaurants, Kayu-san-chin nationwide, whose sales grow at a record-setting pace. Kayu-san-chin offers Chinese congee at about 800 to 1,000 … Continue reading

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Non-standard strawberries used in skincare facial masks in central Japan

FUKUI, Feb. 9 — ICHIGOOJI, a strawberry farm in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture, put on sale 3D facial masks containing strawberry extract as skincare ingredient. The farm came up with its own compound of ingredients for the masks to increase their skin-conditioning effects, making use of extract from non-standard strawberries. It set up a skincare brand Dr. BERRY with an aim to boost its revenues. The ingredients include strawberry fruit and seed extracts that help improve skin condition and white strawberry juice with skin moisturizing properties, as well as human adipose-derived stem cell-conditioned media extract that activate cells. The farm cultivates three strawberry varieties — Akihime, Benihoppe and a white strawberry … Continue reading

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Production of olive-kneaded somen noodles at its peak in southwest Japan

KAGAWA, Feb. 4 — In the town of Shodoshima in Kagawa Prefecture, production of olive somen noodles made by combining local specialties of Shodoshima Island is at its peak. More than 70 noodle producers on the island produce somen, thin and silky wheat noodles, and many of them make somen containing olives, a local specialty. At Nakabu Shoten, a company that produces noodles and also cultivates olives, workers are busy sorting pale green noodles with chopsticks. The firm grows olives at its own farm to be used as an ingredient. To make olive noodles rich in flavor, olive juice is kneaded into dough and extra virgin olive oil, instead of … Continue reading

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