The words “Japan, wine exporter” have a somewhat unlikely ring but that is the aim of a new organisation, Koshu of Japan, which is keen to shine an international spotlight on a grape variety that is often dismissed within its native country.
I have just made my second visit in 12 years to Yamanashi prefecture, the Bordeaux of Japan in terms of winemaking. Except it reminds me more of Switzerland than Bordeaux. Every square metre in the heavily populated Kofu basin overlooked by Mount Fuji is cosseted. Individual vineyards are tiny, …

The UN-backed wildlife trade agency supports a call to stop cross-border trade in the fish when 175 member nations to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meet next month in Doha, Qatar.

Marine wildlife experts say that, despite fishing quotas, bluefin tuna stocks have plunged by 80 percent in recent decades in the Western Atlantic and Mediterranean, threatening the predator species with extinction.

Japanese agriculture is in a free-fall decline. In the years between 1960 and 2005, the share of agricultural output in gross domestic product (GDP) dropped from 9% to 1%, the food self-sufficiency ratio from 79% to 41%, and agricultural land, indispensable for food security, from 6.09 million hectares to 4.63 million hectares.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is set to urge all local governments to introduce a total ban on smoking in public places in principle to help prevent health hazards caused by secondhand smoke, sources said. Having judged that the mere separation of smoking areas is not adequate to protect people from secondhand smoke, the ministry is believed to be seeking a total ban in schools, hospitals, restaurants and other public places. The ban would also extend to theaters, department stores, private and public offices, stations, hotels and amusement facilities. …

So how about a look at Valentine’s Day in Japan?
Chocolate love and the art of giving here is a totally one-way street with men being the receivers, but it has it’s rewards one month later for the women on White Day.

That’s right. Calorie Mate. Riding on the popularity of “24″, “Calorie Mate” and Kiefer Sutherland have teamed up in an effort to sell more “Calorie Mate.” However despite actually – heaven forbid – talking on the phone on the Tokyo subway. He seems to have the same issues as everyone else on the Tokyo Subway, even his exit from the train is reminiscent of the last time I tried to pile off this morning.

This season you can find sushi, beer, curry, green tea, shochu, and baseball in their chocolate incarnations.

A variety of Japan’s tastes and trends are made into “cho-co” versions for the Valentines Day boom.

Suntory has done it! They’ve made a chocolate drink, which contains no chocolate. And it’s good! Well, that is if you like your chocolate even more liquefied than fondue. It’s probably going to be really popular for those with chocolate allergies since it contains no chocolate. Oh to be a kid again!
You can see the official Suntory Chocolate Sparkling site here.

Yakult Honsha, a Japanese maker of yoghurt-like drinks, plans to start output in the United States by 2012 to meet growing demand, the head of the company’s overseas business said on Thursday.

Yakult also expects its business in China to remain profitable despite costs of expanding in the fast-growing economy, Yoshihiro Kawabata, senior managing director in charge of international operations said.

In Japan, a good restaurant will display replicas of what’s on the menu. Craftsmen perfectly reproduce the food – it takes as much skill as the real thing. Now, if only they dusted these every now and then once they were in the windows.