Tag - food

 
 

FOOD

Bontan Ame candies are promoted at a convenience store in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward in August, with advertising slogans recommending concert and moviegoers to take the sweet with them.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Oct 27, 2025
Bontan Ame gains popularity for rumored powers to suppress the urge to pee
Articles compiling the locations in Japan where people can get Bontan Ame can be found on South Korean websites.
Large self-deprecating advertisements for Fuji Baking’s Snack Sand products at JR Sendai Station
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Oct 27, 2025
After 50 years, Snack Sand sandwiches embrace their roots
The idea for crustless, sealed sandwiches came to the creator after his brother returned from the U.S. and mentioned the hot sandwiches he had seen there.
Palestinians seek aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip in August. U.N. and aid groups have questioned the neutrality of the foundation.
WORLD
Oct 24, 2025
U.S. mulls Gaza aid plan that would replace controversial GHF aid operation
Washington is seeking to facilitate having more deliveries of assistance in the Palestinian enclave under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Japan reported its first bird flu outbreak of the season on Wednesday, raising concerns that egg prices could rise further.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 23, 2025
Bird flu outbreak in Hokkaido raises concerns over rising egg prices
About 459,000 laying hens at poultry farm in Hokkaido will be culled to prevent further infections.
In early October, 100 grams of autumn salmon roe in central Sapporo was priced at just below ¥2,000.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Oct 20, 2025
Prices for Hokkaido’s autumn salmon roe jump as catch numbers fall
As of early October, 100 grams of autumn salmon roe in central Sapporo was selling for just under ¥2,000.
The average price of rice was down for the fourth straight week, but it remained above ¥4,000 for the sixth week in a row.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2025
Average price of rice in Japan falls for fourth straight week
The price dropped ¥63 from the previous week to ¥4,142 per 5 kilograms, but remained above the ¥4,000 mark for the sixth week in a row.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi (front, second from left) inspects the growth of rice crops, on Aug. 28 in the city of Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2025
Race to secure 2025 rice crop heats up, lifting prices
Competition to secure new-crop rice is intensifying, pushing up the provisional payments that agricultural cooperatives advance to growers.
A participant samples tuna exported to Brazil by a company from Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, at a Japan External Trade Organization event in Sao Paulo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 14, 2025
Firms show off Japanese food at event in Brazil
Tradbras Importacao E Exportacao, a Brazilian unit of Japanese food manufacturer Kikkoman, showed off rice made in Niigata Prefecture.
Recent research shows obesity may be driven by ultraprocessed and hyperpalatable foods that disrupt fullness signals and lead to overeating.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2025
What if everything we think about obesity is wrong?
New research offers novel insight into the causes of overeating but it’s being lost to political posturing.
Farmers spray herbicide at a rice farm in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2025
Japan's 2025 rice harvest seen rising to 7.48 million tons
The harvest amount is expected to exceed 7 million tons for the first time since 2022, the agriculture ministry added.
The average price of rice decreased for the third consecutive week, but remained above ¥4,000 for the fifth week in a row.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025
Average price of rice down in Japan for third straight week
The average price decreased for the third consecutive week, but remained above ¥4,000 for the fifth week in a row.
In the reporting year that ended in March, per-capita consumption of rice — which is 99% self-sufficient — and domestic production of sugar beets and sugarcane grew from the previous year.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025
Japan's food self-sufficiency rate remains at 38%
The calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate stood at 38% for fiscal 2024, unchanged for the fourth year in a row, the agriculture ministry said Friday.
A worker feeds shrimp in Pandeglang, Banten province, Indonesia, on July 29.
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 9, 2025
Indonesia says no to scrap metal after shrimp radiation scare
Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said the pause aims to ensure that the local steel-recycling industry meets radiation safety standards.
Students suffering from food poisoning after eating a meal from the government's free meal program receive treatment at the Kadungora Public Health Center in Garut, West Java on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 3, 2025
Indonesia free meals program under fire after thousands sickened
More than 1,300 children were rushed to health clinics last week after suffering from breathing difficulties, nausea and diarrhea.
A woman collects flour from the ground as Palestinians receive aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip in August.
WORLD
Oct 3, 2025
Aid after Gaza: What is the future of the humanitarian system?
"What's happening in Gaza sets an incredibly dangerous precedent for humanitarian crises globally," said Save the Children's global policy lead.
A 38-year-old man in Aichi Prefecture has been arrested for allegedly fraudulently receiving refunds from a food delivery service by falsely claiming his orders never arrived.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 2, 2025
Nagoya man suspected of placing 1,095 fraudulent food delivery orders
The 38-year-old is alleged to have signed up and then canceled membership for the Demae-can service repeatedly, making false claims to avoid payments totaling about ¥3.7 million.
"My children cried all night from hunger. I boiled grass and gave it to them just to keep them quiet," said Ajib Bahar, 38, from a refugee camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 2, 2025
Myanmar's war-torn Rakhine state grappling with hunger crisis, aid groups say
More than 100,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition, with less than 2% able to access treatment, according to data provided by aid workers.
Atsuko Mori, founder and director of Kyoto-based tea salon Camellia Tea Ceremony, prepares matcha during a tea ceremony in Kyoto.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 2, 2025
Tea ceremony experts see matcha boom as a big opportunity
Matcha’s sudden spike in popularity overseas has prompted debate in Japan about whether the global craze risks diluting tea’s cultural meaning.
A wide range of products will see higher prices due to rising material and labor costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 30, 2025
Prices to rise for 3,024 food products in Japan in October
The figure is up 3.4% from a year earlier, marking the 10th consecutive month of increase.
Concern about prices in Japan is at or near record highs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 26, 2025
Inflation and ‘food situation’ concerns top key Japan survey
Rising prices have not been this much of a worry since just after the 1973 oil shock.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell