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November 21, 2024
 

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AGRICULTURE

Ukraine’s government has turbocharged its pitch for international help in land-mine clearance, attracting a rush of special machinery from Japan and funds from philanthropist Howard Buffett with astonishing results.
WORLD
Nov 17, 2024
Ukraine supercharges mine-clearing push to revive war-torn farms
Safe access to farmland is essential for a country known as Europe’s breadbasket and demining Ukraine could take decades.
This September, six years after planting, researchers successfully cultivated 12 black truffles totaling 200 grams.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 14, 2024
Japan researchers achieve second success in artificial black truffle cultivation
While black truffles do grow naturally in Japan, cultivation methods are still underdeveloped, prompting ongoing research.
Groove Armada’s Andy Cato at his farm in Oxfordshire, U.K.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 28, 2024
How a DJ became an unlikely champion for green farming
Over the past six years, Andy Cato has built a network of more than 100 farmers in the U.K. and France to grow wheat using regenerative farming methods.
Flooding in Feni, Bangladesh, on Aug. 25. Bangladesh's agriculture ministry said such flooding this year has resulted in a substantial loss of rice production.
WORLD
Oct 20, 2024
Floods destroy 1.1 million tons of rice in Bangladesh
Floods in Bangladesh have destroyed about 1.1 million metric tons of rice, leading to increased imports amid rising food prices.
Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki speaks about measures against the spread of bird flu on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 17, 2024
Hokkaido reports Japan's first bird flu case of the season
The report is the country's earliest confirmed bird flu case at a domestic poultry farm in over two decades. 
Starbucks has 10 support centers around the world where agronomists work with farmers on research and best practices.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2024
Starbucks buys research farms as climate change threatens coffee supply
Bolstering the coffee industry’s climate resilience has taken on fresh urgency this year.
Cracked ground at a farm in Lincoln, U.K. Extreme weather worldwide is pushing up prices for food staples in ways that could eventually flow through to higher grocery bills.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 1, 2024
Rising food costs due to extreme weather likely to drive up grocery bills
One index of nine major food products has recorded a monthly gain of more than 7% — the most since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent markets soaring in early 2022.
Tetsuya Ike, a farmer in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, examines a site where his greenhouse farm used to be before it was washed away by last week's torrential rain.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2024
Farmers struggle to rebuild after devastating rains in Wajima
Fields that had recently begun to recover from the damage caused by the Jan. 1 quake have been submerged by torrential downpours.
The rice harvest ramped up this month and will ease a supply squeeze, but farmers and Japan’s main grain distributor have agreed to higher contract prices.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2024
Rice inflation to persist despite harvest, as prices rise over 20% on year
Tokyo shoppers were paying 23% more than a year ago for 5 kilogram bags of rice last month, while wholesale prices have risen 28% — the biggest hike since 1975.
Kirin Holdings and others have established the technology to grow hops indoors.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 22, 2024
Brewers developing climate change-resistant beer ingredients
Reduced barley yields stemming from droughts and extreme temperature could see beer prices rise in Japan, some experts have said.
Through trial and error, Tashi Gyamtso and his team meticulously selected a variety of herbs and vegetables best suited to Yufuin’s unique altitude, climate and soil conditions — and which now form the backbone of Jimgu's menu.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Sep 22, 2024
Jimgu: A farm-driven restaurant of outstanding local variety
Three years before chef Tashi Gyamtso served his first meal at Jimgu, he arrived in Oita Prefecture to build the farm that stocks his kitchen today.
DJI has said that it has no ties to the Chinese military, saying "the unfounded accusations against our agricultural drone technology are putting U.S. farmers at risk by potentially depriving them of the tremendous benefits that DJI spray drones offer."
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2024
Lawmakers want U.S. to address risks posed by Chinese agriculture drones
The lawmakers asked for a briefing by Sept. 30, citing the large number of drones produced by Chinese drone manufacturer DJI as a security concern.
Shuzo Fukushi, who heads Rice Meister Kojimachi in Tokyo, shows a bag of Calrose mixed with domestic rice at his store on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 6, 2024
Demand for Calrose rice rises amid Japanese rice shortage
The California rice is a medium-grain variety cheaper than the Japanese short-grain cultivar, but with a similar taste.
A sheep suffering from Bluetongue virus is injected with an anti-inflammatory medicine on a farm in Saint-Felix-de-Rieutord, south of Toulouse, France.
WORLD
Sep 6, 2024
European farmers grapple with bluetongue virus surge
Explosion of cases of the insect-borne viral disease that affects sheep and cows impacts thousands of farms in Europe.
Empty shelves of rice are pictured in a supermarket in Tokyo on Aug. 27 with a notice asking customers to buy one brand a day for a family.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024
Agricultural Ministry holds meeting on rice shortage in stores
As of the end of June, private-sector rice inventories in the country stood at 1.56 million metric tons, the lowest since comparable data became available in 1999.
Lee Ha-yeon, a recognized kimchi grand master and her apprentices prepare kimchi at the Kimchi Culture Institute in Namyangju, South Korea, on Aug 21.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 4, 2024
Kimchi no more? Climate change puts South Korea's beloved cabbage dish at risk
Data from the government statistics agency shows the area of highland cabbage farmed last year was less than half of what it was 20 years ago.
Jonah Ndeuludila (right) is studying at Tochigi Prefecture's Asian Rural Institute in order to bring skills back to his job at Namibia's Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 2, 2024
Over half a century, seeds of change grow at a Tochigi farm
Founded by Toshihiro Takami in 1973, ARI promotes organic, subsistence farming methods and the practice of servant leadership.
Yasuyuki Kurosawa at his paddy fields in Meiwa, Gunma Prefecture. Tending the crops "is something that we cannot avoid, so we must do what we must do even if it's hot," the 77-year-old farmer said.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2024
Heatstroke risk won't stop Japan's aging farmers as temperatures soar
Agriculture accounts for about 1% of Japan's economy and almost 70% of its 1.4 million farmers are age 65 and above.
Naoto Ooka inspects a new heat-resistant rice breed called Emihokoro that has been planted at the government-run Saitama Agricultural Technology Center in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on Aug. 7.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2024
As sweltering summers ravage crops, Japan bets on heat-resistant rice
Supermarkets have struggled to keep rice shelves stocked in recent months.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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