Last summer’s high temperatures and dry conditions led to lower rice yields in key growing regions and damaged ... emihokoro or ‘beaming smile.’ Japan sweltered in its warmest July on ...

Factors beyond Japan's borders have compounded the problem ... The plants have been spared any major natural disasters, and the rice is growing well. Aoki Takuya, a farmer in Niigata Prefecture ...

High tech and age-old agricultural traditions are being used to reverse the decline in one of Japan’s top rice-growing regions. More than four centuries of agricultural tradition are at risk of ...

The agriculture ministry said that heat-tolerant varieties accounted for 14.7 percent of all rice grown in Japan in 2023, while the figure for 2019 was only 9.9 percent. The ministry is also ...

Japan plans to release some of its rice stockpiles reserved for emergency use in response to record domestic prices for the ...

Japanese homemaker Kirina Mochizuki has always considered "okonomiyaki" savoury pancakes the ultimate comfort food: simple, ...

In mountainous areas, most farms cover less than two acres and are cultivated for personal use, while farms in the plains tend to grow rice for sale on slightly larger plots. “As a Japanese ...