Some of juice shops have begun to sell new types of bread and cake added with strained lees of fruit and vegetable juices. Doughs of the bread and cake are mixed with the squeezed lees fully appealing “natural flavors.” One obvious selling point of those foods is that they are rich in dietary fiber and they are receiving attention particularly from young females. “EJ JUICE & SOUP” put new goods on sale at its Kojimachi main shop in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo on March 1. They are five kinds of bread and green salad added with fruit juice lees strained at the shop. Most customers of these foods are female office workers … Continue reading →

Hokkaido Research Organization set up a task force named “Project Team for 100% Pure Made-in-Hokkaido,” in order to help local food manufacturers develop food products made exclusively with ingredients produced in Hokkaido. The first food product developed by the project team is “Dorayaki (a bean-jam pancake),” which is manufactured exclusively with ingredients produced in Hokkaido including main materials of wheat and adzuki beans, baking soda for making pancake dough rise, and agar used for sweet bean paste. The Research Organization continues to develop “100% Pure Made-in-Hokkaido” food products. It plans to provide local food companies with technical assistance to manufacture ingredients required for those special products. Qualities of new food … Continue reading →

A handball team of strawberry growers have a debut game on March 27 in Itoshima-shi, Fukuoka prefecture in Kyushu Island. All of ten members consisting of the team, “Fresa Fukuoka,” based at Itoshima, are also engaged in strawberry growing. They have moved to Itoshima from other cities mostly out of Fukuoka prefecture. The handball team, Fresa Fukuoka, seeks membership in the Japan Handball League, a top-level national handball league in the country, as early as possible. Players of Fresa Fukuoka have common dreams not only of joining the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020, but also of becoming independent farmers of producing strawberry and other crops in the near future. A tryout … Continue reading →

The Japanese Government decided the basic post-disaster reconstruction policy for next five years at the Cabinet meeting on the fifth anniversary day of the Great East Japan Earthquake, March 11. Regarding measures to be taken for revitalizing agricultural production in the disaster-hit areas, the Government plans to complete recovery works of farmlands by 2020 and further promote enlargements of farmland lots through exchanges of those lots among farmers concerned. In the areas stricken by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, where the reconstruction works have been delayed, the administration places major emphases on accelerating radiocesium decontamination from farmlands as well as on taking active measures to eliminate harmful rumors against farm … Continue reading →