Chris Loew

Seafood-processing company Kaneyoshi is capitalizing on the quirks of Japan’s recycling and tax systems to increase sales of its plastic-packaged consumer products.

At the FOODEX in Kansai trade show, held over the summer in Osaka, Japan, Kaneyoshi displayed its line of seafood packed in plastic pouches. It's seeking to capitalize on growing consumer calls for shelf-stable, yet still high-quality food products. Kaneyoshi Quality Control

Robotic waiters that can serve food, clean tables and floors, and display menu specials are catching the attention of Japan’s big sushi chains.

Column-shaped “robowaiters” made by Shenzhen, China-based Pudu Robotics were the center of attention at the Hoteres Japan trade show, which took place mid-summer in Osaka, signaling the continuance of a nationwide push that started during the Covid-19 pandemic to introduce more

Many high-end sushi shops in Japan are starting to prepare their dishes with red vinegar in a similar fashion to how sushi chefs prepared the original nigiri sushi style, edomae, over two centuries ago.

In March of this year, the Tokyo-based restaurant chain Kaiten Sushi Misaki started to heavily emphasize red vinegar in its shari (sushi rice). The improved “new red shari” uses red vinegar made from sake lees that slowly ages for two

Kappa Create, the Yokohama, Japan-based parent company of the Kappa Sushi conveyor-belt sushi chain, issued a notice to investors this summer that its actual results for fiscal year 2023 would fall below its forecast issued on 8 February – an estimate which had already sharply lowered expectations from the company’s initial 8 November forecast.

In the same July notice, Kappa advised investors it would record an impairment loss due to

Eight U.K. seafood companies exhibited at this year’s edition of the Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo, according to Seafish, a U.K. public body that supports the country’s seafood sector.

The expo, held from 23 to 25 August, took place at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center, featuring nearly 1,000 exhibitors and about 25,000 total visitors. The U.K. seafood pavilion co-located with Seafood from Scotland pavilion

The 2023 fall saury fishing season in Japan has officially begun, with the initial catch sold at record high prices, but experts believe that landings throughout the season are likely to mirror last year’s abysmal catch totals.

Before the season began, the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA) released its “2023 saury long-term fishing forecast” on 28 July. It projected the volume of saury expected to migrate

Komaki, Japan-based Fujidenolo Co. is previewing a new device that accurately detects the freshness of fish at the 25th Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo, running from 23 to 25 August at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center.

The device that Fujidenolo – a manufacturer of medical, aerospace, healthcare, and more products – is developing measures the freshness index of fish flesh, or K-value of a fish, by detecting the

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), the operator of the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, has announced it plans to move ahead with a controversial release of  contaminated water on Thursday, 24 August. 

A fight over the release of the water has stretched over years, with some countries, including China and Russia, promising import restrictions on fish from Japan if the release is conducted.

Multiple NGOs pushing the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) for a full harvest strategy for North Pacific albacore tuna got their wish at the latest meeting of the regional fisheries management organization (RFMO).

The annual meeting of the  IATTC took place from 7 to 11 August in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and several marine sustainability nonprofit organizations continued their calls for the RFMO to adopt a full