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October 09, 2025
 

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FRUIT

Ume plums with scratches caused by a hailstorm
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2025
New products created to save Wakayama ume from hail damage
Amid a poor crop, some companies have adopted a marketing tactic of highlighting hail-damaged ume>.
Amaou strawberries grown in a greenhouse
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2025
Fukuoka steps up protection for Amaou strawberry brand
Renowned for its striking appearance and rich sweetness, Amaou has enjoyed strong popularity since its debut and is often hailed as the top tier of sweet strawberries.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi said his ministry did not intend to grant a cultivation license for a prized grape variety without consulting producers.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2025
LDP leadership contender Koizumi seeks to quash criticism over prized grapes
Koizumi said his farm ministry did not intend to grant an overseas cultivation license for Shine Muscat grapes without consulting producers.
Otherwise common sights in Japan's supermarkets, the country's fruit and veggie boxes can hide surprising symbols of local pride.
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 19, 2025
Behold the glory of Japan’s fruit boxes
Watermelon mountains and onion parades: The everyday cardboard containers for fruits and veggies are a designer’s delight.
Simple, affordable and versatile, the humble potato is now one of the world's most important crops. But its origins have long puzzled scientists.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 1, 2025
Study reveals potato's secret tomato heritage
Natural interbreeding between wild tomatoes and potato-like plants in South America gave rise to the modern-day spud around 9 million years ago.
Grown in the town of Moroyama in Saitama Prefecture, Katsuragi yuzu is believed to be Japan's oldest cultivated yuzu variety.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 22, 2025
The juicy tale of Saitama's prized yuzu
Locals are supporting the country’s oldest cultivation of the Japanese citrus via creative ways like ownership schemes and turning the fruit into various sips and savories.
Researchers have come up with a way to measure the sugar content of white strawberries using near-infrared light without having to damage the fruit.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2025
New method reveals white strawberry sweetness without damage
Before such technology, the most common way to determine the sweetness of a strawberry was to crush it up and analyze the juice created.
Customers try peaches from Fukushima Prefecture at Harrods in London on Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2024
Harrods starts selling Fukushima peaches
The sale is part of a campaign by Tokyo Electric Power Company to promote food from Fukushima, an effort to help the prefecture recover from the March 2011 earthquake.
Australian grape exports to Japan are expected to rise as Tokyo has fully opened the market for the fruit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 23, 2024
Japan opens up its market for Australian grapes
The Australian government aims to increase the country's annual grape exports to Japan to about AU$50 million, or 2.5 times the current figure, within several years.
Several examples of rare and expensive fruits at Melissa’s Produce in Los Angeles on May 22.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2024
The world of luxury fruit: Does a $156 melon taste sweeter?
The United States is developing an appetite for luxury fruits long known in countries like Japan and South Korea.
Durians at a roadside stand in Chantaburi, Thailand, which is by far the fruit’s biggest exporting country, on April 24. China’s demand for the large and spiky fruit is creating fortunes and reshaping parts of Southeast Asia.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 17, 2024
China’s lust for durian is creating fortunes in Southeast Asia
Last year, the value of durian exports from Southeast Asia to China was $6.7 billion, a twelvefold increase from $550 million in 2017.
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.
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.
Feel free to add more than two dried persimmons for an even jammier finish to this filling dish.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Oct 29, 2023
Recipe: Pork and dried persimmon stew
The orange hue of carrots and persimmons are perfectly autumnal, and the dried and fresh persimmons add a light sweetness.
Blackberries from Pairwise, a company that uses gene-editing technology to create new breeds of plants, in Durham, North Carolina, on Sept. 13. Pairwise hopes to create a seedless blackberry that grows on compact, thorn-free bushes.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 26, 2023
Meet the climate-defying fruits and vegetables in your future
Breeding new crops that can thrive under these assaults is a long game.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2023
The secret behind Japan’s wintry strawberries
Strawberries are a major Christmas and winter staple in Japan, but their growth comes with an environmental toll.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE RECIPE BOX
Feb 5, 2023
Recipe: Amazake oatmeal
You don't need to be a heavy drinker to enjoy this low alcohol-infused breakfast.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 14, 2021
Resurrecting the tachibana, Japan’s oldest native citrus
Once revered as “the fruit of immortality,” the tachibana has long fallen out of culinary favor. The Nara Tachibana Project hopes to save it from endangerment.
How China waged an infowar against U.S. interests in the Philippines
Association for Philippines-China Understanding (APCU) Chairman Raul Lambino shakes hands with guests during a ceremony for the Award for Promoting Philippines-China Understanding at The Manila Hotel in Manila in June.
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
Typhoon Halong to cause windstorms, heavy rain and high waves on the Izu islands
Typhoon Halong is moving north near the Izu Islands, with strong winds, high waves and heavy rain expected as it passes early on Thursday, prompting warnings from the weather agency.
Japan's Susumu Kitagawa among three chemistry Nobel winners
Susumu Kitagawa speaks to reporters at Kyoto University on Wednesday after receiving the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry the same day.
Takaichi's leadership lineup favors Aso and his allies while shutting out rivals
The LDP's newly-appointed election chief Keiji Furuya (far left), general affairs council chair Haruko Arimura (second from left), vice president Taro Aso (center left), president Sanae Takaichi (center right), secretary-general Shunichi Suzuki (second from right) and policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi in Tokyo on Tuesday.
With nuclear sub proposal, Japan faces array of political and tech challenges
The Jingei, the third of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Taigei-class submarines, was commissioned in March last year. It is equipped with lithium-ion batteries, enabling it to have a longer diving time and cruising distance than older models with lead-acid batteries.
OpenAI’s Sora 2 is drowning in Japanese 'AI slop'
OpenAI has rolled out a social app powered by Sora 2, its artificial intelligence video generator, which was quickly flooded with videos featuring iconic Japanese intellectual property.
Trump has his eyes on the prize — but a Nobel win looks unlikely
A protester holds a sign with an image depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and the words "Nobel" written on it, as supporters and family members of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, demonstrate to demand the immediate end of the war and the release of all hostages, outside the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv, on Sept. 2.
‘Takaichi trade’ stalls as political reality calls for wait-and-see approach
Tokyo stocks staged a powerful rally on Monday. On Tuesday, they rallied again, then retreated.
How a family-run landscaper turned the Osaka Expo green
The team at Ryokukou Garden consists primarily of a single family, including Toshiki Tanisaki (second from right), who led the company's efforts at the Osaka Expo, Chikako Tanisaki (fifth from right), who performs daily maintanence at the expo, and Takeshi Tanisaki (fourth from right), who added a nursery to the family farm more than 50 years ago.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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