【News】 Memorial service to mark 20th anniversary of 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake took place in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture (Jan. 18, 2015)

On January 17, 2015, tens of thousands of people in Hyogo Prefecture gathered at events to commemorate the victims of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The memorial service to mark the 20th anniversary of the earthquake was also given in Awaji-shi, the city on the Awaji Island known for stock farming and growing onions and loquats, attended by a great number of people including quake-hit farmers. At 5:46 in the morning, the exact time of the earthquake, they prayed for the victims, reaffirming the importance of handing down the lessons learnt from the disasters from generation to generation. The earthquake took the lives of 63 Awaji islanders including some who … Continue reading

Posted in Cooperatives, Food & Agriculture, Others | Tagged | Comments Off on 【News】 Memorial service to mark 20th anniversary of 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake took place in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture (Jan. 18, 2015)

【News】 Sushi rolls become edible artworks (Jan. 13, 2015)

Kotaro Yamada A face of sumo wrestlers appears on every cut of the makizushi (sushi rolls). For Takayo Kiyota, a makizushi artist, a sushi roll is an artistic medium to embed original patterns into the rice. She lays out rice, seaweed, and regular sushi roll ingredients such as gourd so that the cross section will show motifs when the roll is cut. She also uses sesame seeds, greens, and red perillas to add colors to rice for some of her artworks. It takes at least one hour to make a simple one, while she can spend a whole day to make a detailed piece. Kiyota started to work with the … Continue reading

Posted in Food & Agriculture, Photos | Tagged | Comments Off on 【News】 Sushi rolls become edible artworks (Jan. 13, 2015)

【News】 Big-Eyed Shinto Guardian to Protect Villagers (Jan. 11, 2015)

  Kotaro Yamada – Ashinoshiri Dosojin  (Nagano Prefecture)  – Ashinoshiri villagers in Ooka district of Nagano-shi, Nagano Prefecture, have a huge grim-looking guardian that sits at the border of the village. It’s an enormous mask of Dosojin, a Shinto guardian for the community made of bundles of straws and mounted on a stone marker. The face with big eyebrows and mustache is intimidating but somewhat charming and striking. Every year on January 7, local villagers replace it with a new one and hold Ashinoshiri Dosojin Festival to pray for good health and good harvest over the new year. “Why don’t we make the mouth a bit bigger?” “This is good. … Continue reading

Posted in Others, Photos | Tagged | Comments Off on 【News】 Big-Eyed Shinto Guardian to Protect Villagers (Jan. 11, 2015)

【News】 Agricultural co-ops’ auditing should be done by outside accountants: agriculture minister (Jan. 10, 2015)

  Agriculture minister Koya Nishikawa said on Friday, Jan. 9 that the obligation for primary JAs to have their accounts audited by the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu) should be abolished and a new system of auditing by outside accountants should be introduced. Nishikawa’s remarks are highly likely to face strong opposition from the JA group and ruling Liberal Democratic Party members close to the group, who believe abolishing the current system which includes both financial and business management auditing would mean increasing costs for primary JAs. Auditing of primary JAs is a major focus of discussions on agricultural co-operative reform, which will heat up later this month as … Continue reading

Posted in Cooperatives, Food & Agriculture | Tagged | Comments Off on 【News】 Agricultural co-ops’ auditing should be done by outside accountants: agriculture minister (Jan. 10, 2015)

【Interview】 Tackling soil degradation (Jan. 7, 2015)

  How should we prevent soil degradation, which threats stable food supply? Following are interviews on two experts from China and the United States who have been raising the alarm on conservation of soil in their countries and the world. Northeast Forestry University Professor Liu Shenkui The demand for food in China is growing even further along with the increasing population. As for grains, demand for feed as well as for industrial use such as ethanol fuel has risen conspicuously, more than that for staple food. As the economy expanded, demand for livestock increased, leading to a sharp rise in production of grains for feed. Production of grains for feed … Continue reading

Posted in Food & Agriculture, Others | Tagged | Comments Off on 【Interview】 Tackling soil degradation (Jan. 7, 2015)