TOKYO, Sep. 21 – A powerful aid for Japan’s domestically-made milk consumption appeared on September 20, 2023. Morinaga Milk Industry Co. unveiled “AI Hirano Remiroid,” an AI-based android  made after Remi Hirano, a Japanese culinary personality famous for her charming machine-gun talks. It’s the first TV personality robot equipped with Chat GPT, an interactive artificial intelligence (AI), in Japan. Remiroid advertises domestic dairy products and introduces unique recipes with the famous cheerful voice of Hirano. “Remiroid is my subordinate. I want it to try various things,” Hirano said merrily at the press conference on September 20. According to Morinaga Milk, the appointment of Remiroid is expected “to lead the growth … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sep. 17 – A dried sweet potato specialty store called “Hoshiimono Hyakka” has opened in the Kitasenju Marui Department Store in Adachi Ward, Tokyo. It’s a rare establishment that sells only dried sweet potato products in Tokyo, and the store name means “everything you want” in Japanese. With the current popularity of sweet potatoes, dried sweet potato snacks, or hoshi-imo in Japanese, are also becoming more popular. The shop sells various hoshi-imo products, not only hoshi-imo made of different sorts of sweet potatoes but also hoshi-imo ice cream and puddings, which are already popular among female customers with a sweet tooth. Approximately 90% of hoshi-imo in Japan are produced … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sept. 16 — The prices of Shine Muscat grapes this year have been below the average year, as the markets are seeing a lull in high prices amid abundant supply and dark clouds are looming over strong exports. Meanwhile, the scope of products using the variety is expanding, including processed items containing Shine Muscat grape juice. The Shine Muscat variety became widely popular due to its good taste, as well as its seedless feature and edible skin which makes it easy to eat. Overseas demand for the variety also increased, with shipments showing a growing trend both in terms of value and volume. More growers shifted production from black … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sept. 6 — The Tottori Prefectural Government in western Japan on Sept. 5 set up a crane game offering pears as a prize at its local specialty shop in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. The prefecture hopes to promote Tottori-grown pears by letting many people play the game and grab Nijisseiki pears, the variety which survived a typhoon in August. Tottori is the country’s top producer of Nijisseiki pears in terms of crop acreage and the amount of shipment. The area was hit by Typhoon Lan in August, but few fruits fell thanks to preventive measures taken by growers and the pears came to season in good condition. The game costs … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sep. 5 – Zen-noh Business Support Co., Ltd., one of the subsidiaries of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH), has released “Ouch Kikurage” boxed mushroom bed for growing kikurage wood ear mushrooms at home. It aims to make consumers feel more familiar with domestically-grown kikurage mushrooms through the experience of watching them grow at home. The kit contains a mushroom bed prepared in Akita Prefecture. It’s the company’s second mushroom growing kit, which comes after the first kit released in April 2022, “Ouchi Shiitake,” for growing shiitake mushrooms. Most of the kikurage mushrooms sold in Japan are dried products imported from China. The company hopes the kit … Continue reading →