insights from frontier Japan

The Obihiro Region Wholesale Market (Obihiro) in the Tokachi area plans to strengthen new business from the new fiscal year. Product development using imperfect produce is the business core. This summer, it will sell high quality gelato made from Furano grown melons as a private brand.

One hundred and fifteen fishing boats hauled ashore to avoid the drift ice off the Okhotsk Sea coast in Tokoro-cho in Kitami in eastern Hokkaido are waiting to leave the port to go fishing. Work to return the fishing boats to the sea began on March 3. March 20 is the date when, in normal years, the “opening of the sea” – when the amount of drift ice reduces enough for the boats to set sail – usually occurs.

Hokkaido Airports Co., Ltd. (HAP, Chitose) began operation of runways and the like at 5 airports in Hokkaido – at Hakodate, Kushiro, Obihiro, Memanbetsu and Wakkanai – on March 1, as transfer integration of operations of airport buildings and the airports themselves was completed at all 7 Hokkaido airports subject to privatization.

Wine-grape vines grown in an experiment in the town of Nakatombetsu in the Soya region of northern Hokkaido bore their first fruits last autumn. The yield comprised just 20 bunches, but is seen as the first step towards realizing the aim of creating “northern Hokkaido brewing grapes”.

Farmer Hayashi Kenji (52), who runs hot spring facilities called "Kogane Onsen" in central Hokkaido's Rankoshi Town, will launch a delivery service in March of hot spring water attained at his own private home property. The water will be delivered in tanks by truck to vacation homes and lodging facilities in areas including the nearby Niseko region.

Kotani Koichi (70), a farmer from the village of Sarabetsu in the Tokachi region of eastern Hokkaido has begun cultivating white mustard with the aim of harvesting the crop. The mustard is often cultivated in Hokkaido for use as a fertilizer, but is rarely harvested as a crop in Japan.

A machinery parts maker in central Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, is drawing attention at home and aboard with its "monster wolf" robot designed to scare away bears and other wild animals.

The new headquarters and factory of venture company Interstellar Technologies Inc. (IST) that was being built in the town of Taiki in the Tokachi region of Eastern Hokkaido, has been completed. The company’s new buildings will be used to accelerate rocket development, with the company announcing its entrance into the satellite development business on December 21 last year. Work will begin on Japan’s first integrated rocket and manmade satellite development, helping to accelerating competitiveness in the space industry.

Export certification organization National Research Institute of Brewing (Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture) announced on November 19 that the original winemaking grape "Yamasachi" has been registered as a grape variety by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV, Paris). The grape variety was developed by eastern Hokkaido's Ikeda-cho Grape and Wine Research Institute.

This year’s first auction of ‘Nanamitsuki’ apples, the original brand of the town of Nanae in southern Hokkaido, took place at the Hakodate Regional Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market on November 12. One box of seven apples with a net weight of 3 kg was auction-off for 70,000 yen, the same record-high price as the past 5 years.