With public trust in food, packaging and labeling crumbling across the nation, consumers are taking a healthy interest in vegetables and other locally made produce.
Some grocery stores are even raking in billions of yen in sales, giving their bigger supermarket rivals a run for their money.
In Kawasaki, where about 1 million people reside, a local farmers' cooperative opened its own store, Farmers' Market Ceres, in April last year to sell fresh food by direct sales.