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July 02, 2026
 

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FRUIT

Japan bought about 1 million metric tons of bananas last year, making the fruit one of the country’s most important grocery staples.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 2, 2026
Japan faces banana shortage as impact from Middle East conflict spreads
The country ships in the tropical fruit while it’s still green, then ripens it in rooms filled with ethylene, but supplies of the naphtha-derived gas are running low.
A box of two Yubari melons sold for a record-high ¥5.8 million at the season’s first auction in Sapporo on Friday.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2026
Yubari melons fetch record ¥5.8 million at first auction of season
The melons will go on display at Keio Store’s Sakuragaoka supermarket in western Tokyo before tasting events begin next week.
Sweet adzuki bean paste gives a more solid base for you to build intricate lattice patterns into your pastry dough.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
May 8, 2026
No added sugar, no problem: A lattice tart held up by sweet beans
Smooth and sweet, “koshian” paste makes for a flexible alternative to traditional tart fillings.
The Shizuoka Crown Melon brand of melons that have been exported to Australia
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2026
Shizuoka’s premium melons hit Aussie market
The Shizuoka Crown Melon, grown chiefly in the cities of Fukuroi and Hamamatsu, boasts a high sugar content and rich aroma compared with other varieties
Former Government Pension Investment Fund President Masataka Miyazono joined Hulic last year as an adviser to focus on agricultural investments as the sector faces a rapidly aging and shrinking workforce.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2026
Former chief of $2 trillion pension fund joins developer growing tomatoes
Masataka Miyazono aims to help make Japan’s agricultural sector more productive in order to boost sustainability in the country.
A worker arranges baskets of acai fruit at the Ver-o-Peso wholesale market in Belem, Para state, Brazil, on Nov. 5. Brazil has declared the berry a national fruit, though experts say the law is largely symbolic.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2026
Brazil declares acai a national fruit to ward off ‘biopiracy’
Cases like a Japanese company trademarking the use of the name acai in 2003, which took Brazil four years to cancel, drove the law declaring acai a national fruit in Brazil.
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.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

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