A quantitative analysis based on the Food Demand-Supply Table, the Guideline of Nutritional Requirement for the Japanese people, and the Local Production-Local Consumption principle Toshiki MASHIMO Paper presented at the World Foodless Day in Tokyo, October 16, 2008 The current world-wide food crisis has made it clear that the low Japanese food self-sufficiency ratio is the underlying cause of various food-related problems. As one of the fundamentals for our survival, food is more and more dependent on foreign political and commercial trends that are beyond our control. Also Japan hunting for food in other countries contributes to the tension on world food trade markets and tends to raise international food…
Symposium To Celebrate 40 Year Anniversary
Consumers Union of Japan is celebrating 40 years of consumer activism this year with a symposium on June 7, 2009. The event will be held at the Sohyo Kaikan in Ochanomizu, Tokyo 13:00-16:30. Speakers will include Arthur Binard, Oe Tadaaki, Nakajima Kiichi, Yamazaki Tatori and Amagasa Keisuke.
5th GMO-Free Regions Conference
Over 260 regions, more than 4500 municipalities and other local entities and tens of thousands of farmers and food producers in Europe and Japan have declared themselves “GMO-free” expressing their commitment not to allow the use of genetically modified organisms in the agriculture and food in their territories. Since 2005, the movement of GMO Free Regions in Europe holds an annual meeting. Consumers Union of Japan, NO! GMO Campaign, Seikatsu Club and Green Coop participated from Japan this year in Luzern, Switzerland. It was the fifth annual conference with 250 participants from 39 countries. Read more: Conference on GMO-Free Regions, Biodiversity and Rural Development “When given the choice, people renounce genetically “enhanced”…
Moving Tokyo’s Fish Market: Tsukiji In Trouble
Consumers Union of Japan and the Food Safety Citizens’ Watch are involved in the efforts to get to the bottom of the proposed move of Tsukiji, Tokyo’s famous fish market. FSCW notes that the new site at Toyosu is an old factory site in Koto Ward once operated by Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. This 40 hectares site was found to be heavily polluted with carcinogenic benzene at levels some 43,000 times higher than permitted, and cyanide compounds found to be some 800 times higher than levels considered safe. Levels of other toxins such as arsenic, lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium were also found to be high at the Toyosu site. Tokyo Gas Co.,…
What Caused the Food Price Hikes During 2008?
Here is the presentation made by Yasuaki YAMAURA, Secretary General of Consumers Union of Japan (CUJ), as one of the programs at the World Foodless Day in Tokyo on October 16, 2008. The Present Situation of the Food Crisis In April 2008, rice prices started to increase rapidly in the Philippines and several parts of Asia. This induced hoarding and export restrictions of grains, which in turn led to even higher grain prices around the world. There were food riots happening in a number of countries. This also affected Japan, as increasing general food prices hit Japanese consumers hard. In addition, we experienced the problem of frozen gyoza made in…