In addition to trade liberalization, other factors have contributed to the strong growth of red meat production in Canada since the end of the 1980s. In particular, the outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Taiwan and in South Korea eliminated two competitors in the Japanese market. This...

This paper presents the latest information on the Japanese marketing environment of structural lumber that is used for house construction. The demand for lumber has decreased, while the demand for structural laminated lumber has been rapidly increasing. The changes in end-users' requirements...

Analysis of survey data indicates that Japanese consumers discount their willingness to pay for U.S. beef and pork relative to that of domestic products, but that the discounts have declined from 2006 to 2009. The discounts for U.S. products were greater than those imported from other countries...

Japan’s agriculture has been inward oriented, protected by trade barriers from foreign competition. Even though the share of Japan’s food consumption provided by Japanese production has gradually fallen, Japan’s farm sector remains the second-largest among the countries negotiating the...

The system of agricultural cooperatives, collectively referred to as JA, is one of the most politically powerful organizations in Japanese politics. Based on its strong ties with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in government for almost the entire postwar period, JA has...