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Food Security Issues in Japan
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Food Security Issues in Japan
Work with a partner to make a list of current issues connected to
food security in Japan.
Looking at the Data
Work with a partner of small group. What are your initial impressions? Are
the following statements true or false?
1. The number of young farmers in Japan has risen slightly over the past
10 years.
2. The largest group of farmers is between 60 and 70 years old.
3. The aging of Japan's farm population seems to be happening at a similar
rate to the aging of Japan's whole population.
4. Farmers in Japan tend to make less money than people who work in
other industries.
5. Compared to other OECD countries, Japan has high farm subsidies.
6. If a farmer wants to sell their land, it is more profitable to sell it to
another farmer than to a non-farm user.
7. Japanese consumers strongly prefer to buy domestic food.
8. In the frozen food market, sales of domestic products are rising faster
than sales of imports.
9. Japanese consumers tend to be worried about the safety of food imported
from other Asian countries.
10. Japanese consumers tend to trust the labels prepared by food
manufacturers.
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Check your answers using the data on the following pages. Then, prepare 3
more true false questions based on the data.
11.
12.
13.
1)
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2)
3)
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4)
Global Frozen Foods Almanac - October 2007 www.qffintl.com/pdf/oct_2007/almanac2.cfm
5) a) When buying foods from the following countries, do you feel worried about safety?
Not worried A little worried Rather worried Don’t know
Japan 53.6% 40.8% 3.0% 2.6%
European Union 26.0% 48.4% 10.5% 15.1%
China 0.4% 5.7% 90.3% 3.2%
Thailand, Vietnam 2.8% 35.1% 50.9% 11.2%
South Korea 4.9% 44.3% 43.3% 7.6%
USA 7.4% 58.7% 26.4% 7.5%
Australia, New Zealand 24.1% 53.2% 10.8% 11.9%
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b) Which of the following specific aspects of food safety do you feel uneasy about?
Whether the date of manufacture, use-by date, or best before date, etc is correct 69%
Whether there are additives 68%
Whether there are agri-chemical residues 67%
Whether the region of production or labeling is correct 61%
Other 4%
Gallup Poll http://www.nrc.co.jp/report/090105.html
6) Farm subsidies as a percentage of total value of agricultural production for selected
OECD countries.
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7) Ratio of farm household income to all household income in selected high-income
countries (1.0 = national average income)
OECD. (2003). Farm household incomes: issues and policy responses. Paris.
8)
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Japan's Aging Farmers
Pre-reading Vocabulary Check
Reading A - Japan’s Rice Farmers Fear Their Future Is Shrinking
fertile
malaise
abandon
deficit
prop up
vested interest
status quo
reform
cooperative
barriers
resuscitate
Reading B - Younger farmers blogging their way to success
gloomy
savvy
profitable
depict
fringe benefit
discretion
cooperative
distribution
discourage
scarce
Connections
Work with a partner. Choose 5 of the words from the lists above and discuss
how they might be related to the topic.
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Examples: Maybe the land is still fertile but no one wants to work on it.
Many young people have a gloomy image of farming.
Reading A:
Japan’s Rice Farmers Fear Their Future Is Shrinking
MARTIN FACKLER
SHONAI, Japan — This broad coastal plain near the Sea of Japan, blessed with
abundant water and rich soil and checkered with rice paddies hued golden yellow in the
early spring, is one of the country’s most fertile areas. But there is an unmistakable
malaise here.
The farmers who work the paddies are graying and dwindling in number.
Abandoned, overgrown plots are a common sight. Because of how small their farms are
and how far rice prices have fallen, many farmers find it impossible to make ends meet.
“Japanese agriculture has no money, no youth, no future,” said one farmer, Hitoshi
Suzuki, 57.
According to many farmers and agricultural experts, rural Japan is fast
approaching some sort of dead end, the result of an aging population, trade
liberalization and reduced government spending. They speak of the worst rural crisis
since World War II. In Shonai, farmland prices have dropped as much as 70 percent in
the past 15 years, and the number of farmers has shrunk by half since 1990. Across
Japan, production of rice, the traditional staple grain, has fallen 20 percent in a decade,
raising alarms in a nation that now imports 61 percent of its food, according to the
government’s Statistics Bureau.
Aging is seen as the biggest problem in rural areas, where, according to the
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Agriculture Ministry, 70 percent of Japan’s three million farmers are 60 or older. But
the overall economic system is also problematic. Since 2000, soaring deficits have forced
Tokyo to halve spending on public works projects, which propped up rural economies,
and falling exports have now cut factory jobs on which many farming households
depended for extra income.
While the current global financial crisis has added to the grimness, the root
causes lie in Japan’s rural economic system of tiny, inefficient family farms. But while
many farmers and agriculture experts agree that this system is breaking down, change
has been blocked by an array of vested interests and a fear of disturbing the established
ways.
The question now is whether some sort of breaking point might soon be reached.
Many say they feel the government has not gone far enough in reforms, complaining
that local farmers are blocked from making big improvements that challenge the status
quo.
One of those innovators is Kazushi Saito, a rice and pig farmer who six years
ago took on one of rural Japan’s most powerful institutions, the national agricultural
cooperative J.A., by trying to establish his own, smaller, alternative co-op. He signed up
120 other farmers who were unhappy with the national cooperative, which they said
they felt only tried to sell them expensive machinery and fertilizer. But when he sought
to register his new co-op, the prefectural agricultural officials refused to do the
paperwork, effectively killing the plan, he said.
Mr. Saito and other farmers said the government also throws up barriers
against the most obvious remedy to agriculture’s problems, the creation of larger, more
efficient farms. The average Japanese commercial farm is now just 4.6 acres, compared
with about 440 acres for the average American farm. Mr. Saito and others say their
efforts to accumulate land are blocked by government price supports on farmland,
which were intended to protect the value of small farmers’ assets but which make the
property too expensive to buy.
“Agriculture could resuscitate local economies, if it were made healthy again,”
said Masayoshi Honma, a professor of agriculture at the University of Tokyo. “But
Without reform, it will just decline to death.”
Adapted from the New York Times March 28, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/world/asia/29japan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
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Reading B:
Younger farmers blogging their way to success
Internet seen as tool to make agriculture attractive, profitable
NATSUKO FUKUE
Hard work, low pay and a gloomy future. That's the image many young people have had
about farming. But a growing number of young, savvy farmers are trying to make the
industry more attractive and profitable through the Internet.
Shinichi Soga of Niigata Prefecture is selling tomatoes almost faster than he
can grow them thanks partly to his popular blog, which he started in 2006. Soga, 31,
initially began blogging as a way to connect with customers and other farmers. The blog,
titled Furyo Nomin (the Delinquent Farmer), depicts his life in rural Niigata and is
viewed more than 10,000 times a month.
"I started blogging because I also felt lonely, surrounded by much older
farmers," said Soga. In a recent entry, he used photos to explain that after harvesting
asparagus, some of the stalks need to be left in the ground to grow like bushes so their
roots will accumulate nutrition for the next year.
He also uses the blog to reveal his thoughts on working with nature, one of the
fringe benefits of the job. "There's one thing I felt was pretty as I lay on the ground,"
Soga wrote. "The light coming through the asparagus bush looks like the Milky Way.
It's very beautiful."
Soga is also challenging some of the traditions of Japanese agriculture by
selling his harvest only at his shop or at a nearby farmers' market, where he can price
his produce at his own discretion instead of being controlled by the powerful Japan
Agricultural Cooperative.
Most farmers traditionally rely on J.A. to sell and distribute their products.
This is usually a boon to small farmers operating in the mass market because it
reduces their workload and ensures they get a stable price. But farmers dealing in
premium-quality crops stand to lose money because J.A. mixes the good with the bad for
mass distribution. Critics say this discourages farmers from being creative and
producing more value-added products.
Although Soga admits his profit remains modest, the brisk tomato sales
prompted him to accept email orders as well. Farm products are one of the most popular
items sold online. According to Rakuten Inc., which runs the nation's biggest online
shopping site, sales of farm products rose 20.9 percent compared with last year, and
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organic foods are particularly popular.
Former pastry chef and Tokyo businessman Tomoharu Ishii, 25, is also
attempting Internet sales for his family's Koshihikari, the nation's most well-known
rice brand. Ishii, who just returned to his home in Niigata six months ago, said he would
not be able to survive by copying his father's generation of farmers, who simply
concentrated on production. He said today's farmers must approach the market in a
new way.
"Young farmers have to find a way to reach customers," Ishii said. Like Soga,
he maintains a blog to share his daily farming experiences and explain how he grows
his crops. "Sales would increase if we actively share information and connect with
consumers," he said, adding the Internet can be a tool to do just that.
Although blogs may have become an everyday tool or hobby for many people,
they are still scarce among the older generation of farmers. According to Ishii, only four
farmers, including him, are in their 20s in a village of 8,500 people mostly engaged in
agriculture. He hopes more young people will enter the agriculture industry but admits
it will be difficult unless they can be shown that farmers can make a comfortable living.
"That's why, within a few years, I hope to show young people that we can."
Adapted from The Japan Times May 21, 2009
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090521f2.html
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Reading Summary
Reading: A /B Title:
One sentence summary:
Important Points: Key Words:
Extension Points:
(connections to other topics, discussion points, personal connections etc.)
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Farm Land Policies
One of the main issues in Japanese food security is the
inefficiency caused by small farm size. MAFF has an official goal
to promote larger, more efficient farms. They say that 15 hectares
is the optimal size for a farm in Japan. This is the size which is
thought to be the most efficient, environmentally sustainable and
economically profitable. However, the average farm size in Japan
is only 1/10th that size. In fact, 75% of farms in Japan are less
than 2 hectares and many are as small as 0.5 hectares. And these
numbers have not changes significantly in decades.
So why isn’t the average farm size growing in Japan. There
is a clear economic pressure pushing towards larger farms but the
average farm size is not growing. What forces are holding back
farm growth?
Physical Constraints
Cultural Factors
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Political Structures
Economic Concerns
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Understanding the TPP
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in
Japan these days. But what is the TPP? It started as an agreement in 2005 between
4 countries. Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore negotiated reductions in
tariffs and other import restrictions between themselves. They also agreed to strict
protections for intellectual property. Currently 6 additional countries (Australia,
Malaysia, Peru, Japan, United States, and Vietnam) are negotiating to join the group.
In Japan, joining the TPP is a controversy because of fears of the impact it will have on
the agriculture industry and Japan’s food security.
For next class, research one of these questions and be prepared to discuss the results
with your classmates.
1. Why is the current government in favor of joining the TPP?
2. How is the TPP expected to influence Japan’s economy as a whole?
3. How is the TPP expected to influence agriculture and food security in Japan?
4. How is the TPP expected to influence farmers in Japan?
Notes: Be sure to make a note of your sources.
Take care - question 3 and 4 may seem similar but they are very different
questions.
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Food Labeling Scandals
Pre-reading Vocabulary Check
Reading A - A year of food safety scandals upsets Japan’s applecart
fake
reputation
concerned
spokesman
avoid
struggle
convince
differentiate
unscrupulous
Reading B - Wait, don't eat that: candy scandal stuns Japan
celebrate
be exposed
tamper
poultry
disclosure
confectioner
be associated with
whistle blower
falsify
transgression
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Reading A
A year of food safety scandals upsets Japan’s applecart
By Andrew Sharp
TOKYO — Each December, the chief priest of Kyoto’s historic Kiyomizu temple unveils
the single Chinese character voted by the public as best representing the past year.
While the temple’s name means “clear water,” the character selected for 2007 was far
from pure: “nise,” meaning fake, was chosen after a series of food-mislabeling scandals
damaged the reputations of some of the country’s best-known food companies. No
deaths have yet been reported in Japan, but the public is increasingly concerned about
what they eat — especially food imported from China.
“I’m worried about the food I buy these days, especially food that comes from
China,” says Hiroko Saijo, a 45-year-old part-time worker from Yokohama. “I check
carefully to see where everything comes from and avoid foods that I’m not sure about.”
Saijo is not alone. A government survey in September found that 89% of Japanese
consumers would pick domestically produced products over imported foods. The Yomiuri
Shimbun reported in February that since the Chinese gyoza scandal broke the previous
month, increasing numbers of people stopped buying frozen dumplings and began
making their own with fresh domestic ingredients. According to the agriculture ministry,
imports of vegetables from China dropped nearly 40% in the first three weeks of
February. And that was a full six months before the industrial chemical melamine killed
or sickened thousands of Chinese children.
Supermarkets have certainly noticed this shift in consumer behavior. “The
scandals have led to more people avoiding processed foods and buying proper
ingredients to cook at home,” says Kazuya Suzuki, a spokesman for the Peacock chain of
grocery stores. “Whenever a scandal hits, sales of similar products drop. Sales of frozen
foods fell by nearly half in some stores following the gyoza scandal.”
Restaurateurs are another group struggling to convince customers of food
safety. “Every time new customers come in, I tell them that we only use fresh
ingredients, nothing frozen,” says Etsuro Den, manager of Tom’s Seimen. “Once they
taste the food, they come back.” Den adds that Chinese food is always cooked through,
unlike Japanese dishes such as sashimi. And he notes that the scandals have played out
very differently in his homeland.
“I sometimes read the Chinese papers, and they take the opposite stance to the
Japanese media,” he says. For example, according to Chinese news reports, the gyoza at
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the center of the January scandal became tainted in transit or after they reached Japan.
the U.S.
The panic that these
incidents have touched off may
be due to the fact that Japanese
are more conscious of food
safety risks than people in other
countries. So says Luke Nottage,
an associate professor of law at
Sydney University and
contributor to the East Asia
Forum blog. It may also be due
to the media over-reacting to
the situation.
“When it comes to
Chinese food products, the
media make no attempt to
differentiate between specific
processors and importers and
instead focus on the country of
origin,” he says. “Even in the
domestic market, there are
many unscrupulous Japanese
importers motivated by short-term profit who pay no attention to processing standards
or agricultural chemical applications. The scandals are issues of criminal intent and are
not related to the nationality of responsible importers, retailers and processors.”
Adapted from Metropolis, December 11, 2008
http://metropolis.co.jp/features/feature/annus-scandalous/
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Reading B
Wait, don't eat that: candy scandal stuns Japan
Norimitsu Onishi
ISE, Japan — It was supposed to be a celebratory year for Akafuku, a confectioner that
had been selling bean-jam sweets here since 1707. On its 300th anniversary, instead of
celebrating, Akafuku has become the latest Japanese food company to be exposed for
lying about the contents of its products, tampering with expiration-date labels and
recycling ingredients.
At the same time, executives at a meatpacking company called Meat Hope were
arrested for labeling ground pork, chicken and even rabbit as 100 percent beef.
Separately, the 76-year-old president of Hinaidori, a poultry company, admitted to
mislabeling his chicken products after he disappeared for several days in the mountains
in a failed suicide attempt.
These and many other disclosures have shaken Japanese consumers, who have
long been willing to pay a premium for Japanese food products that were, or so many
believed, safer than imported goods, especially from China. But the scandals involving
the freshness of products by Akafuku, as well as two other nationally known
confectioners, Shiroi Koibito and Fujiya, have resonated beyond the marketplace in a
way that chicken or beef does not.
Akafuku and Shiroi Koibito
were two of the most popular sweets
in Japan's deeply-entrenched
gift-giving culture. As for Fujiya,
the company popularized Western
sweets in Japan. In the minds of
most Japanese, the products of
these companies were associated
with happy times, birthdays or days
when their fathers returned from a business trip bearing sweets, said Akira Shimizu,
an economics professor and expert on product brands at Meiji Gakuin University in
Tokyo. "In that sense, there is a strong feeling that these happy episodes are being
denied," Shimizu said of the scandals. "It's as if the sunny days were all rotten after all."
Whistle-blowers inside the companies appeared to have tipped off the
authorities. Fujiya, which opened its first shop in 1910 in Yokohama, was found to have
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used out-of-date milk to make cream puffs. Ishiya, the maker of Shiroi Koibito, the most
popular cookies from Hokkaido, admitted falsifying expiration dates. The two
companies have resumed operations and are struggling to win back credibility.
Staging a comeback may
be more difficult for Akafuku,
whose transgressions are far more
serious. The sweets had remained
largely unchanged over three
centuries, and the confectioner
always said it made its bean-jam
sweets the same day and disposed
of all unsold goods. But according
to a government investigation, for
at last three decades Akafuku had systematically reused up to 90 percent of its unsold
products. What is more, the company had falsified expiration date labels and had frozen
and thawed the sweets. As one former customer said "The purer something is," he said,
"the dirtier it will become."
Adapted from The New York Times Tuesday, October 30, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/world/asia/31iht-31japan.8123604.html