トップページへ戻る
background自己紹介講演リスト紹介記事産学連携領域融合
プロジェクト社会活動ストップ・ガン・キャラバン隊ストップ・ガン活動産学官連携事業推進協会（サンガク）お問い合わせ

紹介記事トップ >> JETRO LA Newsletter - September 2004


■JETRO LA Newsletter - September 2004（※ニュースレターより転載）■

JETRO LA Newsletter
Read it online:  www.jetrolosangeles.org/newsletter.asp 
September 2004 

News from JETRO:

Other News:

Japan-related Articles:

JETRO LA Newsletter
September 2004 

4th Tuesday Tech Exchange: A World Without Routers
Presented by Graham Campbell Ph.D.
(September 28)

A discussion of DQSA (Distributed Queue Switch Architecture), an access technology developed at the Illinois Institute of Technology that eliminates the need for routers in the existing synchronous communications infrastructure.

There is an irreversible trend in communications towards the transporting of all information in the form of packets. The world is served by thousands of interconnected synchronous networks, ranging from old-fashioned telephone networks to switched fiber-optic systems, but these networks are not amenable to the transport of packets. This packet traffic is supported by tens of thousands of asynchronous router (packet switching) networks that overlay and in turn utilize the resources of the synchronous networks. The routers are treated as the solution to the problem of transporting packets; they actually represent a major impediment to the realization of the full potential of the Internet.

DQSA eliminates the need for these routers by moving the decision-making to the edge of the net. Topics that will be discussed:

  • A description of the fundamental problem facing communications.
  • The origin and basics of DQSA.
  • How DQSA can be applied to virtually all areas of communications. Specific applications will be described. These include, but are not limited to, cluster computing, wireless, RFID, local, metro, storage and wide area networks, and satellite networks.
  • The probable scenario of how DQSA would be universally implemented.

Sponsor: JETRO Los Angeles
Date/Time: September 28, 5:45pm
Location: JETRO LA Office
Details and registration: http://www.jetrolosangeles.org/EventDisplay.asp?iEventID=119

Japanese Market Seminar:
How to Penetrate the Franchise Retail Market in Japan
Presented by Ichiro Fujita, President/CEO, Idea Link Japan
(September 29)

Ichiro Fujita of Idea Link Japan will speak about franchising in Japan at the JETRO LA office on September 29, 2004. Those interested in penetrating the Japanese market are encouraged to attend.

As the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Idea Link Japan, the consulting division of I. Fujita International Inc., Mr. Fujita boasts over 20 years of experience as an international business consultant. Considered as a premier consultant on U.S.-Japan business relations, Mr. Fujita has assisted over a hundred companies in expanding businesses to the Japanese markets, focusing on franchises, licensing, and IT education and new products.

Mr. Fujita started I. Fujita International, Inc.(IFI), a trading company in 1981. In 1985, he established Idea Link Japan as the consulting division of IFI. ILJ was among the first consulting divisions in the country to specialize in consulting U.S. businesses and helped them successfully make the transition into the Japanese market.

Mr. Fujita has been regularly selected as a key-note speaker at Franchise shows, including the U.S. Franchise Expo, Japanese Franchise Association, and Filipino Franchise Association.

Mr. Fujita was given the "Excellent Entrepreneur Award" by the U.S. Entrepreneur magazine in 1986 for his entrepreneurial spirit in creating new business opportunities.

In addition to his role as President/CEO of I. Fujita International, Inc., he assumes posts as a senior advisor and board at a multitude of companies.

About Idea Link Japan:
Idea Link Japan was established in California in 1986 as an affiliate of Idea Bank K.K., a consulting firm founded in Japan, to launch and develop U.S. based new businesses, including franchising.

ILJ was started exclusively to focus on new business developments, specifically to introduce U.S. businesses to Japan. In its 17 years, ILJ has worked with a variety of clients and helped them expand their businesses to Japan. The success of those newly developed operations is a testament to ILJ's expertise in the field, and competitive advantage over other consulting groups that do not have the established network and experience that ILJ has.

Sponsor: JETRO Los Angeles
Date/Time: September 29, 5:45pm
Location: JETRO LA Office
Details and registration: http://www.jetrolosangeles.org/EventDisplay.asp?iEventID=120

JAPAN'S BACK!
Gateway to the Growing Asian Market
(October 14)

Business opportunities with Japan for Southern California Companies

Think there's an attractive market for your company in Japan? Interested in talking to Japanese companies operating in Southern California? Interested in hearing how local companies have succeeded in Japan? If you've answered yes to any of these questions, you cannot afford to miss JETRO's Japan's Back! Symposium.

During this conference, Taizo Nishimuro, Chairman of Toshiba Corporation and JETRO Chairman Osamu Watanabe, will give speeches highlighting the changes, challenges and new opportunities which exist in the increasingly intertwined and interdependent economies of Asia and Japan. Case studies and panelists from successful U.S. companies will also be present to comment on their global strategies.

For more information, please contact Susan Stringer at susan_stringer@jetro.go.jp or (213) 624-8855 ext. 116.

Sponsor: JETRO Los Angeles
Date/Time: October 14, 1:30pm - 5:30pm
Location: Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles
Online details and RSVP: http://www.jetrolosangeles.org/japansback.htm

JETRO Business Japanese Test - Deadline September 29!
(November 28)

The JETRO Business Japanese Test is the first international examination certifying Japanese language skills in listening and reading comprehension, as well as in spoken Japanese used for business. Students learning Japanese as a foreign language and who plan to use their new language skills for business in the future, as well as those currently engaged in business, are encouraged to take the JETRO test.

The next JETRO Test is scheduled for November 28, 2004. The application period is from August 11 through September 29, 2004. The test is administered in 34 cities in 14 countries worldwide. To find your closest test center, please click here. This year, the JETRO Test will be administered in Los Angeles by the Japan America Society of Southern California.

Date/Time: November 28
Location: Downtown Los Angeles
JETRO Test Website: http://www.jetro.go.jp/it/e/bj/index.html
For details and application contact: April Fields at Japan America Society of Southern California at (213) 627-6217, ext. 203

Survey of Japanese Companies in Southern California 2004 Released

The Survey of Japanese Companies in Southern California 2004 was conducted jointly by the JBA(Japan Business Association of Southern California) and JETRO Los Angeles. They sent out a questionnaire to a sample of 1,079 companies in spring 2004. In May 2004, 404 responses were received and tabulated from the sample companies in Southern California.

Japanese companies in Southern California have made such significant contributions to the local economy that not only three out of four Japanese companies are headquarters or play other key function in the United States, but also these Japanese companies employ a little over 110,000 staff locally and pay over $6.1 billion in total salaries and wages according to a trial calculation based on questionnaire results. Amidst the ongoing expansion of the local economy, many of these Japanese companies continue to find Southern California attractive in terms of the market scale, the presence of logistical bases such as seaports and airports, and the size of Japanese community.

On the other hand, among the areas in the United States seen by the Japanese companies as attractive sources of new investment and business opportunities, only Southern California dropped its score compared with the last survey (conducted in 2002). One reason behind this rise in negative sentiment is the deteriorating business environment in the state of California, such as rising direct costs to the employee arising from the Minimum Wage Law, and the proposed medical insurance law. Other problems specific to Southern California include increased housing allowances due to escalating land price, low quality of labor force for the wages/salaries paid, and excessive social security costs to businesses resulting from labor-friendly claims under the worker's compensation insurance. These growing cost burdens are hurting Japanese companies in non-manufacturing sectors—which are more susceptible to labor cost increases—especially ! those in transportation and other service industries that are reliant on the Japanese community in Southern California. In addition, growing exports of competing Chinese products into the U.S. are another factor that is creating anxiety among the Japanese manufacturers in Southern California, which is a gateway to the U.S. for Asian importers.

Click for survey summary (PDF)

Click for full survey (PDF)

Other News:

Chanoma Film Festival 2004
(September - December 2004)

The 2nd Annual Chanoma Film Festival will be held this year at Laemmle's Fairfax Cinema in West Hollywood, Laemmle's One Colorado Cinema in Pasadena, and Laguna Hills Mall Cinemas in Orange County from September through December. The movies presented in "Chanoma Film Festival 2004" are collected based on the theme of "Chanoma", a family gathering place in the living room. These films were depicted from a family's point of view and asks the viewer to re-think the meaning of "family".

The lineup of programs begins with classic movies such as Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces, "Ikiru" and "Red Beard". Junichi Suzuki's "Go Rascals!", a film recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science, will be also shown in addition to his other movies, "Remembering the Cosmos Flower", "Sukiyaki", and "Sand Castle: Model Home Family" which were highly popular at last year's "Chanoma Film Festival". Animation features include "Junkers Come Here", "The Day the Earth Moved", and "Catnapped!"

The Chanoma Film Festival provides special discounts for senior citizens, students, and group discounts for field trip curriculums. A portion of the profits will be donated to Japanese American community activities. The organizers of the Chanoma Film Festival 2004 strongly look forward to achieving significant cultural awareness and quality entertainment through the screening of these films.

For more information about the Chanoma Film Festival, please visit: http://www.chanoma.org

From Techie to Tycoon
Presented by Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum
(October 16)

You don't need an MBA to develop leading edge technology for the marketplace

The 2004-2005 year of the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum will kick off on October 16, 2004 with a program specifically directed to the needs of the person who has developed expertise and a vision for leading edge technology and wants to become an entrepreneur: How to assess the prospects? How to define a business before the product has an objectively identifiable demand? What kinds of financing are available? What opportunities for revenue in the short term? When are additional team members needed? How should they be recruited? What are the most important elements right now?

Panelists Include:

Jeff Lawrence, Founder and Former CEO, Trillium Digital Systems
Benjamin Chow, Ph.D., Rustic Canyon Partners
DuWayne Peterson, Chairman, Pasadena Angels
Tom Taulli, Author and Manager, Oceanus Value Fund
Daniel Marcu, Chief Operating Officer, Language Weaver, Inc.

For more information, please visit: http://www.entforum.caltech.edu/

Project T2
(November 11)

Project T2, now in its second year, is the nation's leading showcase of new university technologies. Project T2 brings together the corporate and academic worlds to facilitate the transition of cutting-edge research into revolutionary technologies. Learn about the latest in university research and technology transfer. Access groundbreaking university spinouts before they hit the market. Network with university representatives, corporate leaders and investors, to stay abreast with the latest trends in technology transfer. Create partnerships, access technologies, and find investment opportunities in the vast and untapped university innovation pipeline.

Project T2 is managed by Larta Institute. Since 1993, Larta has been the official technology commercialization agent of the State of California. Today, Larta manages the nationwide commercialization assistance program of the National Institutes of Health.

For more information about Project T2, please visit:
www.ProjectT2.org

Japan-related Articles:

Mobile Trend Watch:
The Battle of the Search Engine Business Goes Mobile

In the mid 1990s, many Internet search engines started to appear amongst the exploding number of websites. Now in the mobile world, just as in the regular Internet world, mobile site search engines, search services and portal sites have started to increase as mobile Internet sites multiply.

The following is a listing of major mobile site search services in the market today:

Yahoo! Mobile
http://mobile.yahoo.co.jp (Japanese site)
Operated by Yahoo Japan. Keyword search and category search are available. Simulation is available through computer.

Biglobe
http://keitai.biglobe.ne.jp (Japanese site)
Operated by Biglobe / NEC. Keyword search is available. You can search from PC as well.

Excite Mobile
http://k.excite.co.jp (Japanese site)
Operated by Excite. Keyword search and category search are available. You can search from PC as well.

i-seek
http://k-tai.www.infoseek.co.jp (Japanese site)
Operated by Infoseek. Keyword search is available.

Goo Mobile
http://mobile.goo.ne.jp/ (Japanese site)
Operated by Goo. Keyword search is available. You can also search ring tones and wallpaper.

MSN Mobile
http://mobile.msn.co.jp/home.armx (Japanese site)
Operated by Microsoft. Keyword search and category search are available. You can search from PC as well.

As for mobile search services, communication cost was the biggest barrier until recently. As we look at the results of a usage survey of mobile search engines conducted by internet.com and Info Plant Co. Ltd. in April 2003, only 18% of mobile users answered "uses frequently". Some 61% answered "used several times" and "never used" was 21%. However, since DoCoMo introduced a packet fixed rate in May 2004, the situation has drastically changed. Since then, Web Do Japan Co., Ltd. launched a robot type search engine service called "CROOZ" on August 1 (please see the article). This search engine specializes in mobile sites and is considered to be the one of the largest in the market, with approximately 400,000 registered sites. You can search not only sites but also over 2.5 million different wallpapers and 200,000 ring tones. On August 10, Microsoft and Cybird started "MSN Mobile Search" (please see the article). This search engine can sea! rch mobile sites from both personal computers and mobile phones. Also, it has a feature that allows favorite sites to be managed by the server and shared between personal computers and mobile phones.

After the number of search engines for computers increased rapidly, a severe survival battle emerged on the Internet. The same competition will emerge amongst the mobile search engines sooner or later.

Click here to read more from Goin' Mobile Japan!

Changing Business Environment:
Japan's Soft Power Moves into the Limelight

Soft power as opposed to hard power has recently been attracting attention. Hard power consists primarily of the military and economic capabilities that a country possesses, while soft power arises from a country's culture and values and may include, for instance, democracy, human rights and individual liberties.

The Harvard professor of international politics, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., coined the term soft power in the second half on the 1980s. Soft power is, he says, "The ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments--When you can get others--to want what you want, you do not have to spend as much on sticks and carrots to move them in your direction." In his 2004 book Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, he argues that hard power and soft power together are responsible for the rise and decline of states. In the case of the United States, he observes, powerful military might and economic strength can be used as coercive forces against other countries, but the people of the world are also influenced by the attractive power of America's culture and values, including Hollywood movies, American music and social values built on freedom and democracy. In Nye's view, the United States and the rest of the wo! rld need to gain a better understanding of soft power and place more emphasis on it as they seek to resolve the difficult problems in international politics now confronting us.

Click to read more

Changing Business Environment:
Japan's Regional Clusters - Hamamatsu's Photon Valley

The city of Hamamatsu, Japan is creating an internationally competitive optical-industry cluster by integrating new optical technology in the automotive and machinery industries.

Optical industry underpins regional cluster
Hamamatsu is an industrial area in Shizuoka Prefecture, which is about 250 kilometers southwest of Tokyo and has with a long history of silk weaving and lumbering. Loom production once led to the birth of machinery industries here, but today the area is the well-established home of many automotive and machinery companies.

Musical instruments, a traditional industry that sprung up in the latter half of the 19th century, eventually gave rise to the development of an electronics industry. Research in the television field from the 1930s was the precursor of the optical industry. Collaboration between business, academia and research institutes continues to spur innovation in the field today. Moreover, synergy between the optical industry and the automotive and machinery industries has produced a multilayered regional cluster generating all-new industries.

In the 1990s, however, firms began transferring production bases overseas, which led to a gradual hollowing-out of the region's industrial base. As technological advantages diminished in the face of intensifying cost competition, the region began to seek measures for industrial revitalization. This is when it was decided to attract a regional cluster that could effectively utilize the area's industrial, academic and public resources to nurture the local manufacturing base.

A project was created to form a regional cluster and encourage the development of optical technology and "optronic" (optical-electronic) products. Three reasons factors supported the planfs success. One, Shizuoka Prefecture began promoting Hamamatsu as "Photon Valley" in 1999, setting the stage for the formation of an optronic industry. Two, Hamamatsu Photonics gained global recognition as a highly profitable and competitive company, symbolizing the region's new-found prominence. And three, optical technology had possible applications in a diverse range of fields and the optical industry had tremendous potential for global growth.

Although still in its infancy, the optical industry has quickly found a niche by providing added value to the region's automotive, machinery and electricity industries. Optical technology is being used to shorten production time and provide greater precision in production processes. It also adds value through the miniaturization and modularization of products.

Click to read more

Successful Foreign Firms: Telekurs (Japan) Ltd.

Telekurs (Japan) Rapidly Expands Financial Data Services

Telekurs (Japan) Ltd. is the Japanese affiliate of Telekurs Financial, a Swiss company specializing in financial information. Telekurs (Japan) Ltd. in 2004 has experienced a remarkable growth rate of 30% in market revenue and it is set for a higher market share in the years to come. Our JETRO journalist took the chance to talk to the CEO Alain Delfosse, Telekurs (Japan) Ltd., who has started his new assignment in 2003 about the background of this success story on the Japanese market.

In the Japanese financial information market there are about five big players who contribute data on foreign markets to Japanese banks and financial institutions. Reuters, Bloomberg, Thomson, FT/IDC and Telerate are known names in the industry. Compared to these, Telekurs Financial is small in size of global market revenue but highly potent player with one of the largest financial database and best data quality. Telekurs Financial is especially strong in Continental Europe with a continuously rising market share. In Japan the market share is still quite low.

Telekurs pioneered the field when it began offering data about stock and bond prices almost 75 years ago. "After the 1929 financial crisis Swiss banks took a pioneer role and outsourced specialized banking services to newly found companies. Ticker AG for financial information was one of them," Delfosse explains the background of the company foundation. But how does a financial information provider do its business today?

Click to read more

Successful Foreign Firms: Chocolates El Rey Japan Co., Ltd.

El Rey Satisfies Japan's Hunger for High-Quality Chocolate

Chocolates El Rey Japan Co., Ltd. is bringing smiles to Japanese sweet lovers with its high-quality chocolates from Venezuela, although the company has had to grit its teeth in a painstaking effort to educate customers on why its products are superior.

The subsidiary's Caracas-based parent, El Rey, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in Venezuela, which is one of the world's leading countries in the production of high-grade cacao beans. With climatic and soil conditions that are ideally suited to growing high-quality cacao beans, Venezuela has been one of the biggest exporters of cacao beans to European countries since the 17th century and the Venezuelan Criollo cacao bean is highly valued by chefs all over the world.

El Rey chocolates are made from only the highest-grade cacao beans and manufactured with the latest technology. The company uses high-grade beans to develop unblended chocolate products, something once thought to have been impossible.

El Rey Japan was set up with capital of 33 million yen (about US$300,000) in 1998. The establishment occurred after three years of careful preparation, but its connection with Director Takeuchi goes back many more years. When Takeuchi was working for his former company, he was looking for chocolate suppliers and discovered El Rey, which he believed could be a good company to deal with. But out of respect for his company's established relationships with other suppliers, he elected not to do business with El Rey. Several years later, however, Takeuchi was reintroduced to El Rey through the Venezuelan office of a Japanese metal company. Figuring that he must have been linked with El Rey by fate, and now in a position to develop new products for his company, Takeuchi began working with the Venezuelan confectioner. Gradually he became interested in helping the firm establish a branch office in Japan, an idea that also intrigued El Rey becau! se of the Japanese market's appreciation of high-quality chocolate. El Rey prides itself as being one of the best chocolate brands in the world, so having a presence in the world's second largest economy made good sense. Guided by Takeuchi's initiative, El Rey set up an office in Japan to focus on marketing to confectioners.

Click to read more

Smaller Japanese Firms: One by One Co., Ltd.

Merchandising Systems Maker Showcases Global Aims

One By One, though still a small company, is attracting the spotlight with its lineup of unique, high-quality equipment for displaying and merchandising products. Located in east Osaka, an area known for its many smaller, aggressive firms boasting competitive technologies, the company is now setting its sights on expanding into the global market.

Besides merchandising-system equipment, the company also produces and sells aluminum materials and furniture, residential fittings and LED devices. Its display systems feature tastefully simple designs made of precision-cut aluminum and stainless steel. Sliding doors and related products combine glass and aluminum frames in attractively integrated units. Tables are made of strong but lightweight honeycomb aluminum. All products have a sophisticated, luxurious touch due to the high quality of their materials.

Quality Makes the Difference
One By One's display systems incorporate proprietary know-how that the company has secured under patent. The company's merchandising systems are found in numerous boutiques and other retail outlets in Japan, including such famous names as Max Mara, Georgio Armani, Issey Miyake, Courrèges, Burberry and Lanvin. The debut of its sensor-signal and sliding systems in the fitting rooms of several famous department stores was met with a very positive reception in the retail merchandising trade.

But the company's market extends beyond the merchandising industry. Orders from individuals and offices are also increasing. Mori Building's glamorous Roppongi Hills Residences, for example, ordered 434 of One By One's proprietary sliding systems. Its products have also been chosen for use in a major IT firm's Tokyo headquarters and in a luxurious condominium project scheduled for completion in Tokyo in 2008.

One By One aluminum and glass doors, although unusually high and wide, are still lightweight. Easy to control and both maintenance- and barrier-free, the doors move smoothly via an inconspicuous linear motion system supported by 50 mm ceiling rails. The result is an aluminum and glass door unlike anything on the market, says company Representative Director Kuniharu Koushima: "Having decided on specs that no other company can match, and having spent extensively on materials and finishing, we have developed truly unprecedented products."

Click to read more

Market Trends: International Focus on Japanese Films

Japanese films have been winning much favorable attention at international film festivals in recent years, including the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where 14-year-old Yuya Yagira became the youngest actor ever to win the Best Actor Award for his lead role in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Nobody Knows. The film is based on a true story of four siblings, each with a different father, who must fend for themselves in a city apartment. The work conveys the emotions of the children as they struggle to cope with their situation. Yagira gives a sensitive and convincing performance as the eldest of the four, who stops going to school and takes on the job of looking after the others.

Mamoru Oshii's animated film Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence was also nominated for an award at Cannes. The movie, a sequel to Oshii's 1995 Ghost in the Shell, which hit the top of the charts in U.S. video sales, was released to U.S. theaters nationwide by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG.

At last year's Academy Awards, Yoji Yamada's The Twilight Samurai, a joint production by companies including Shochiku, was nominated for an Oscar as the best foreign-language film. Set in 19th-century Japan in the waning days of the feudal era, the film depicts a low-ranking samurai whose wife has died, leaving him to care for his elderly mother and young daughters. Combining elements of a man's bittersweet romance and reluctant use of martial arts force, it defies the traditional boundaries of Japanese period films to offer a realistic, meticulously researched portrayal of life in pre-modern Japan.

Takeshi Kitano won the Silver Lion special director's award at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival for his film, Zatoichi. Kitano previously won the 1997 Golden Lion, the festival's top prize, for his film Hana-bi. Kitano's Zatoichi is a remake of a series of period films in which the late actor Shintaro Katsu played a blind masseur and swordsman. Kitano himself plays this part in his film, with his hair dyed a shocking blond and carrying a bright red dagger stick.

At the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, the animated film Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, won the Golden Bear, the festival's top award. The same film went on to win an Oscar as the best animated feature film at the 2003 Academy Awards. Spirited Away was instrumental in cementing the international reputation of Japanese anime. Another animated film, Howl's Moving Castle, won the Osella Award for technical achievement at the Venice Festival in September.

Click to read more

Market Trends: Regional Agricultural Producers Unite

Japanese food exports are on the rise. According to final 2003 trade statistics, annual growth of 7.5% in exports was centered on marine products, fruit and Japanese sake. By region, food exports to East Asia showed a marked increase.

Regional groups working to promote food exports have been popping up around Japan. In Kumamoto Prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu, approximately 30 local producers of vegetables, fruits and processed foods formed the Kumamoto Study Group to Promote Exports of Farm, Forest and Fishery Products this past May. The group's goal is a foothold in the agricultural products export market. It has organized seminars featuring experienced exporters while also exchanging information on export markets and methods, conducting surveys of overseas markets and participating in overseas expositions and trade fairs. The JETRO Kumamoto is supporting the study group by providing information on overseas exhibitions and other matters through its e-mail magazine.

Exports Polish Japanese Food's Reputation
Kumamoto, famous for its processed seafood and shochu (distilled spirits), also grows cantaloupe, watermelon, eggplant and strawberries. Yukito Yoshikawa, president of Yoshikawa Farm and head of the Kumamoto Study Group, explains why the group was formed, "The influx of cheap imported farm products over the past three to four years has had us very worried, so we went to South Korea and China to get an idea of the market for agricultural products there. What we discovered was that both countries represent a large, new market for Japan. We found that in China it is customary to have large meals that include dessert. In South Korea, too, mealtime is considered very important and we saw a strong demand for food products. In touring supermarkets, we noticed that fruits and vegetables were being sold for about the same price as in Japan. Without a major price gap, we felt that sweet! tasting Japanese fruits and vegetables, benefiting from seasonal temperature variations, could definitely compete."

Until three or four years ago, most producers in Kumamoto shipped their products to Tokyo or Osaka and interest in exporting was low. Now, the realization is finally spreading that Kyushu is close to mainland Asia and that exporting to this area and targeting the affluent is a promising venture.
The study group is also attempting to re-establish the reputation of agricultural products in the domestic market. Prices for agricultural products in Japan have remained stagnant for the past 10 to 20 years. As Japanese agricultural products prove themselves world-class, it is hoped that consumers back home will reassess domestically grown food products.

Click to read more

ホームページの文書・画像等のコンテンツに関する諸権利は砂田向壱に帰属します。

2004 Koichi Sunada, All rights reserved.