Japan has been trying to promote its agricultural products for
foreign markets even as many farmers are aging and dying. It has
also been importing a great proportion of its food for decades. How
are its prospects for feeding itself or others?
Actually, many Japanese corporations have been getting into
agricultural business by means of indoor farm (vegetable factory)
technologies for some time. Mao Suzuki reported and
commented that Japanese inventions and development of
technologies for growing produce in controlled environments such as
under LED lights have led globally, with over 2,000 patent
applications per year.
The advances in Japan by companies such as Panasonic in farming
technology represent not only forays into the foreign
market–many Chinese like Japanese produce–but perhaps a
struggle to protect food production in Japan itself. It is a
strength reflecting a weakness. Worries about nuclear contamination
following the 2011 Fukushima plant disaster and
