“Gohan Oishiku Itadaki-MAFF!!” Official MAFF videos featuring freshly cooked rice build buzz before the golden week holidays

TOKYO, May 3 – “Let’s cook and enjoy delicious rice!” As part of the efforts to increase domestic rice consumption, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) began posting its official videos to talk about the delight of rice and the joy of cooking rice. The ministry’s official YouTube channel Buzz Maff has joined the initiative launched by Japan’s agricultural cooperatives group (JA Group). Its first official video on rice garnered several tens of thousands of views by featuring the first close encounter between a popular Buzz Maff duo and Japan’s farm minister, Kotaro Nogami. The national campaign to boost rice consumption was launched by the National … Continue reading

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Wakayama farm coop worker wins contest for men promoting snacks

WAKAYAMA, May 1 – Aki Okazaki, 25, who works at an agricultural cooperative in Wakayama Prefecture, won an online contest participated by male employees from 30 confectionery makers nationwide promoting snacks of their companies. At the contest, Okazaki, a worker at JA Kinan, promoted dried Japanese plums, the farm coop’s new product. “I am honored,” Okazaki said. “I would like to make use of this achievement to promote sales of local specialties.” The contest, organized by confectionery firm Yamaboshiya Co., Ltd., solicited votes online between late March and mid-April and announced the results on April 23. It received 15,325 votes. “To be honest, I was quite surprised by the result … Continue reading

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JFOODO’s “Wagyu 100%. TV” hits 1.5 million views worldwide

TOKYO, Apr. 18 - “Wagyu 100%. TV,” a series of videos produced by the Japan Food Product Overseas Promotion Center (JFOODO) is becoming popular among its target viewers, that is, the consumers in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Through visits of a Japanese on-screen talent Shoei at several wagyu-producing prefectures, it unveils the secret to raising excellent wagyu cattle. Such videos, JFOODO believes, will help it communicate effectively, “Japanese wagyu is a genuine wagyu, and it is different from WAGYU-brand beef produced outside Japan.” A total of eight episodes have already been posted, with some on the visits at wagyu producers in Yamagata, Shiga, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima and others on how to … Continue reading

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Future ambitious 4th-generation dairy cattle farmer run for postponed Olympic torch relay in Fukushima

FUKUSHIMA, Apr. 5 – The boy began his run in the schoolyard in Abukuma Highlands in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Holding the torch aloft, he placed his feet firmly on the ground. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed for one year. The torch relay for the peaceful festivities, which is billed as the “Recovery Olympics” by Japan, set off on March 25 at the J-Village sports complex in the prefecture struck by the 2011 earthquakes and nuclear crisis. The 16-year-old boy, Ryoji Sakuma, was the third torchbearer in the seventh section on the first day in Katsurao Village. He ran a lap of … Continue reading

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A lawmaker questions whereabouts of American corn shipped to Japan under emergency import program

TOKYO, April 15 – An opposition party lawmaker posed a question at a Diet committee session on April 14 about whereabouts of American corn which then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told then-U.S. President Donald Trump in August 2019 that Japan would import as an emergency measure. “I have been wondering about what happened to corn that Japan imported as an emergency measure during the Trump administration,” asked Akiko Kamei, a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, asked at a session of the Lower House’s Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Committee. “Where did it go?” In response, Yasuhiro Hanashi, state minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, explained that a fall armyworm … Continue reading

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