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November 22, 2024
 

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AGRICULTURE

Trucks at a logistics center in the city of Fukuoka in December. Nomura Research Institute estimates that a shortage of truck drivers will lead to 35% of goods not being transported around the country in 2030, with the ratio seen to be higher in more remote regions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2024
'2024 problem' seen hitting regional logistics sectors hard
Overtime caps for truck drivers coupled with soaring fuel prices could put transport companies out of business, unless consignors agree to higher fees.
A farmers open cocoa pods in Cote d’Ivoire in October 2018. Many West African farmers make just enough to subsist, with most lacking the means to re-invest in their small plots.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2024
The meltdown in chocolate is coming as prices signal supply shortages
It’s worth remembering that cocoa beans traded a year ago for $2,500 and that in 2000 they changed hands at just $650.
Unpicked grapes wither on the vine near the town of Griffith in southeast Australia in February.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2024
Australian farmers rip out millions of vines amid wine glut
Falling consumption of wine worldwide has hit Australia particularly hard as demand shrinks fastest for the cheaper reds that are its biggest product.
Agriculture minister Tetsushi Sakamoto shows a mock-up of a label for vegetables grown in a sustainable way at his ministry on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 1, 2024
Japan's farm ministry launches eco-labeling initiative for sustainable farming
The labels will serve as a visual cue for environmental efforts and are aimed at enhancing consumer awareness toward fostering a sustainable food system.
Farmers shout slogans as they burn an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers during a march toward New Delhi to push for better crop prices, at Shambhu Barrier, the border between Punjab and Haryana states, on Feb. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 29, 2024
India's farmer protest fuels opposition hopes of denting Modi's appeal
India's beleaguered opposition parties have been searching for a narrative to counter the popular leader.
Farmers in India take part in a recent march on New Delhi to demand that minimum crop prices be written into law in scenes reminiscent of protests in 2021. 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2024
India’s farmers are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore
Farmers in India are marching to demand that guaranteed crop prices promised in 2021 be written into law. Will Modi acquiesce like he did three years ago?
Indian farmer groups have taken to the streets this month to press their demands for debt relief and crop price guarantees.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 21, 2024
With cranes and excavators, Indian farmers march on New Delhi
Similar protests two years ago forced Narendra Modi's government to repeal a set of farm laws.
A delegation of Ukrainian officials look at machinery used for debris processing in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2024
Japanese technology to contribute to Ukraine reconstruction, government hopes
Japanese officials will meet with Ukrainian counterparts in Tokyo on Monday to discuss measures to support the reconstruction of their country.
Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming, and as traditional industries face fierce green tech competition from China.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024
EU recommends ambitious 2040 climate target but goes light on farming
Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming.
Police in riot gear stand guard next to a barricade near a fire outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Feb. 1 during a protest by farmers from Belgium and other EU countries over price pressures, taxes and green regulation.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024
Green backlash looms over EU elections
Polls show that while a large majority of Europeans support action to fight climate change, a many are also worried about the cost of doing this.
Masanao Saito harvests his mikan tangerines with his grandson, Akihito Oyama, at his farm in Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture, on Dec. 8. Behind them are apple trees full of fruit.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Feb 5, 2024
How fruit farmers in Tohoku are coping with climate change
Last year, extreme heat dubbed the "boiling Earth" phenomenon hit the region’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries hard.
Tractors block the A6 highway during a protest by French farmers in the Chilly-Mazarin district of Paris on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2024
Farmers angry with green policy rebel against EU ahead of vote
Blockades and pickets by farmers are exposing a clash between the EU's drive to cut carbon dioxide emissions and its aim of becoming more self-sufficient.
Environmental costs are estimated at $3 trillion from current agricultural land use and food production methods, which scientists say account for a third of planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 30, 2024
Fixing food could produce trillions in annual benefits
On the current trajectory, food systems alone will push global warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius, potentially soaring to 2.7 degrees by 2100.
Farmers dry coffee beans at the Thiririka farming cooperative in Kiambu County, Kenya, in November 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2024
Is it time for a coffee cartel?
If farmers in the developing world are prevented from getting their fair share from coffee production they should take matters into their own hands.
A hamburger using boar meat
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2024
Japanese ministry promotes game meat consumption
The amount of game meat used at restaurants in Japan rose by 1.6-fold to 2,085 tons in fiscal 2022 from six years earlier.
Harvesting wheat in Punjab, Pakistan
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 7, 2024
Military men want to kickstart Pakistan’s green revolution
Islamabad argues that corporate farming is essential to ensuring food security for its 240 million people.
Shiv Kumar (left) and Nirmal Singh say they are learning a lot about living and thriving in Japan while taking part in the Technical Intern Trainee Program. Their case, however, seems to be an exception to the norm.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 18, 2023
Beating the odds on Japan's controversial foreign trainee program
Nirmal Singh and Shiv Kumar beat the odds on the Technical Intern Training Program, but luck shouldn't play such a key role in a government initiative.
A wheat farm outside Scott City, Kansas
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2023
U.S. raises wheat-export forecast with China buying most in decade
American shipments of the soft red winter wheat variety will rise to the biggest in a decade, reflecting "several large recent export sales” to China.
Rural China is now one place that is providing respite for young people. Zhang Boai, 20, joined a program that positions rural jobs not as stop-gaps but as lucrative commercial opportunities in their own right.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 4, 2023
China's graduates swap city dreams for farm life amid jobs crisis
As the world’s second-largest economy slows, young people are bearing the brunt of an unemployment crisis that’s leaving one of five of them jobless.
The best season for Australian mangoes is from November to February, different from that of rival producers in the opposite hemisphere.
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2023
Australia keen to boost mango exports to Japan after curbs eased
The Australian mango season is different to that of rival producers in the opposite hemisphere.
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.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
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

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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