More than 100 farms in this part of the country welcome tourists who can stay overnight and experience farm work
TONO, Japan — Kotoro Kikuchi, a second-year student at Tono Ryokuho High School, came to stay at a farm Sept. 26-27 with three other boys from his school. “Today, we harvested chestnuts,” Kikuchi said. Kikuchi, 17, said he came here to experience agriculture, but he wants to be a fisherman after graduating from high school. […] Read moreAuthor Archives

Beef elbowing onto Japanese barbecue grill
Most people in Japan barbecue thinly sliced meat, seafood, vegetables and noodles, but beef consumption is growing
TOKYO — Japan is going through the height of its barbecue season right now, but one can practically never smell the aroma of sizzling Canadian beef. Whereas barbecue aficionados in Canada and the United States are used to suburban backyard gatherings, most people in the Tokyo vicinity or other Japanese big-city areas have little in […] Read more
Ontario corn-fed beef takes spotlight in Japan
Japanese frozen beef imports continue to soar
Japan keeps increasing the amount of foreign beef it buys, despite a tariff increase to 50 percent from 38.5
TOKYO — Japan’s frozen beef imports have continued rising year on- year, despite the Aug. 1 tariff hike to 50 percent from 38.5. Japan Ministry of Finance figures, currently available through November 2017, show a 16.72 percent year-on-year rise for total imports of frozen beef in the August-November period, from 637,303.15 tonnes in 2016 to […] Read more
Canadian pork satisfies Japanese appetites

Nuclear accident still affecting Japanese agriculture
Strict protocols are in place to routinely test and monitor all agricultural products to ensure food safety
FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, Japan — Yoshiyuki Shigihara, manager of one of the Seven and I convenience store chain’s outlets in his native city of Iitate, dreamed of starting a greenhouse asparagus farm. Iitake has a similar environment as Kitakata, another city in Fukushima Prefecture famous for its asparagus. Asparagus sold in Japan in the winter comes […] Read more
Chinese willing to pay more for imported pork
