Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
National Aug 5, 2013
Roots breakthrough: drought-resistant rice
Japanese biotechnologists have developed a rice plant with deeper roots that can sustain high yields in droughts that wipe out conventional rice crops. It is the third breakthrough in new cereal strains in less than two years, boosting the quest to feed the world’s ...
Economy Jul 16, 2013
California rice farmers see golden opportunity in TPP
by Jody Godoy
California rice farmer Charley Matthews Jr. remembers the excitement when Japan first started buying rice from the United States in 1993. “It really helped rice prices here,” Matthews, chairman of the California Rice Commission, said. It was also the beginning of a learning experience ...
Corporate Jul 5, 2013
Kubota to export rice to Singapore
Kubota Corp. said Friday it will start exporting rice to Singapore to follow up on the start of rice exports to Hong Kong last year. The Osaka-based agricultural machinery maker will establish a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore in August to kick off the ...
Business Jun 29, 2013
Japan plans battle to save five farm tariffs in TPP talks
The government plans to try to protect rice, wheat, beef, sugar and dairy products from total tariff elimination after joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks.
Language | BILINGUAL Jun 17, 2013
Thoughts of rice and Japanese men
by Kaori Shoji
If you’re like me or the men in my life, you probably broke down and wept for joy on June 4, when Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda scored the goal that bagged Japan’s slot in the FIFA World Cup next year. At such sports events, ...
National May 20, 2013
Rice planted in former no-go zone
Farmers in the city of Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, have begun planting rice in a district once designated a no-go zone because of radioactive fallout ejected by the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Business Mar 6, 2013
As Abe leans toward TPP, car, insurance sacrifices possible
by Hiroko Nakata
With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe determined to join negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact, the focus has now shifted to how much deregulation Tokyo would have to sacrifice to Washington in the automobile and insurance sectors in exchange for the protection of Japan’s ...
Science & Health Feb 16, 2013
Will new 'golden rice' revolutionize the world?
by Robin Mckie
Scientists say they have seen the future of genetically modified foods and have concluded that it is orange or, more precisely, golden.