Japan News Update #17 (9-22 Nov, 2021)

Growing popularity of frozen food sold online and in vending machines

Frozen bread products made by bakeries in various parts of Japan are attracting online demand as people have been limiting travel to avoid contracting the coronavirus. A flat-rate monthly service to deliver frozen bread and online shopping malls focused on frozen bread have been hits in Japan.

Source:  Online sales of frozen bread rise in Japan

Vending machines are also expanding food producers' and restaurants' sales channels. New types of vending machine can dispense foods that were previously impractical to sell, including whole frozen meals. Tokyo-based Sanden Retail Systems Corp released its “Dohiemon” model this January, and orders poured in from all over the country.

Source:  Tasty innovations reignite Japan’s love affair with vending machines

Smart farming and related policy in Japan

The Kishida administration’s "Vitality Creation Headquarters of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Rural Regions" held its first meeting and presented the direction for promoting agriculture policy. The Headquarters will submit relevant bills to the next ordinary Diet session to achieve the "Digital Garden City" Initiative for implementing smart agriculture and the "Green Food System Strategy" to reduce the environmental impact.

Source: Kishida Administration Sets Direction for Promotion of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Policy, Japan Eyes Huge Grants for "Digital Garden City" Initiative

Kubota, Japan's largest agricultural machinery manufacturer, is focusing on smart agriculture. The KSAS (Kubota Smart Agriculture System), which enables data-driven agricultural management, is the farm version of what CASE is for cars: "Connected", "Autonomous/Automated", "Shared", and "Electric".

Source:  Smart Agriculture with Kubota

Smart farming is transforming agriculture into a data-driven industry to remedy Japan’s dire labour shortage situation. In 2019 the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) launched “WAGRI", an agricultural data collaboration platform that collects and organizes agriculture-related data. Moreover, Japan's first fully self-driving tractor became commercially available in 2018. This robot tractor can stop automatically when an obstacle is detected, allowing safe autonomous operation.

Source:  Frontlines of Smart Farming: Technological Advances Changing the Face of Agriculture

New packaging and food consumption for sustainability

Skin packaging is catching the attention in the retail industry as it helps reduce food loss. Skin-packed products can extend the expiration dates by about one week compared to regular plastic wraps, Starzen Co, a central meat processor, said. As a result, there was a more than fivefold increase in the number of companies handling skin-packed items compared to the summer of 2020. According to MAFF, the retail sector, such as supermarkets and convenience stores, discards 660,000 tons of meat per year, making up 11 per cent of the total food loss in Japan.

Source: Skin packaging spreading, gives meat longer life, reduces food loss

“Kanikama” imitation crab meat, known as “surimi” (fish paste), was introduced to the market in 1972, and next year will mark its 50th anniversary. Demand is rising worldwide, partly due to the growing popularity of Japanese cuisine. But manufacturers have been hit by a spike in prices for the minced meat of Alaskan pollock, the main ingredient, as the pandemic reduced fishing boat operations.

Source:  VOX POPULI: Imitation crab builds a global following despite its humble origin

New solutions for the labour shortage

Workers from companies and municipalities start farming as a sideline. The local community expects them to become leaders of a critical industry. The Osaka prefectural government has a system to match farmers with companies that participate in farming on the side or as volunteers. Since last year, Dydo Drinco, Inc. has taken advantage of this system and lifted a ban on its employees' side jobs.

Source:  farming as a sideline for companies and municipalities

YOLO JAPAN Inc., a media company that posts jobs for foreigners, has completed fundraising totalling approximately 330 million yen. The company operates one of the largest systems with 200,000 registered foreign residents from 226 countries to address the shortage of labour in Japanese companies.

Source:  Recruitment media for foreigners raises 330 million yen in funding

Environmental change impacts on food production

There are new incentives to cultivate sweet potatoes in the northernmost Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido due to rising temperatures in recent years. Kyushu and other top production areas in Japan have had their crops damaged by disease, leading the public and the private sector to look to Hokkaido to satisfy rising demand, thanks partly to expanding exports that have increased more than ten times over a decade, ¥2.06 billion in 2020.

Source:  Hokkaido eyed as potential cultivation area for sweet potatoes