OSAKA, Sept. 11 ­­— A tasting event to enjoy animal-free ramen was held at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. The ramen dish uses noodles made from soybeans developed by Toyota Motor Corp., which is working on expanding consumption of domestically-grown soybeans, coupled with plant-based dashi soup created by Fuji Oil Co. The firms hope to contribute to boosting exports of Japanese food and consumption of domestic farm produce through providing products that meet the needs of people with diverse dietary habits such as vegetarians. Only 20 percent of the total amount of soybeans consumed by the people in Japan are produced domestically. Toyota has been cooperating with food manufacturers, … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sep. 9 – The Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) has launched a campaign to promote domestic consumption of domestic produce, featuring Hello Kitty, a popular fictional character owned by Sanrio. The JA Zenchu has created promotional materials starring Kitty and Emi-chan, a character designed exclusively for JA Group’s  Minna-no-Yoi-Shoku Project (meaning everyone’s good food project in Japanese). They aim to communicate the importance of eating domestic produce to consumers in various generations, including children who have less first-hand experience in agriculture. In fiscal 2025, the JA Zenchu plans to focus on communication to young people and those raising children as part of the JA Group’s unified campaign to … Continue reading →

TOCHIGI, Sept. 9 ­— Usuba Yokeijo, a poultry farm in the town of Mashiko in Tochigi Prefecture that sells eggs on direct-from-farm websites, improved its egg packaging to reduce breakage during transport, leading to an increase in repeat customers. Working together with a materials maker, the farm developed a cardboard box with partitions that can carry and protect multiple 10-egg cartons. After adopting the box, the egg breakage rate dropped from 5 percent to less than 1 percent, contributing to increased sales. The farm started marketing on direct farm sales websites in April 2019 and currently registers on three sites. At first, it received only a few orders a day … Continue reading →

On August 31, a giant snake made of straw and bamboo paraded in Sekikawa Village, Niigata Prefecture, as a star of a village festival, the 35th Taishita Mon Ja Matsuri, which literally means the festival of a massive snake in Japanese. The giant figure was rebuilt this spring, marking the year 2025, which is the year of the snake in Japan.The annual event began to commemorate the Uetsu Flood that struck the area in 1967. The length of the snake, 82.8 meters, corresponds to the date of the disaster, August 28. The gala motif is a local legend about a giant snake. In 2001, the figure was registered by Guinness … Continue reading →

GUNMA, Aug. 30 — A nursing and rehabilitation facility operator in Gunma Prefecture has developed a wheelchair cushion using konnayku, a high-fiber, jelly-like food valued for its health benefits. The prefecture is known as Japan’s top producer of konjac plants, whose corms are used to make konnyaku. HAPPINESS KEY, a firm in Ota, Gunma Prefecture, adopted konnyaku as a material to create a cushion used on wheelchairs at its nursing and rehabilitation facility Asu Purasu Kea. The firm is applying for a patent for the product and plans to start marketing the cushion in autumn together with a user-friendly wheelchair that allows users to maintain a good posture. Keisuke Sekiguchi, … Continue reading →