Ota wants greater food self-sufficiency for Japan


NHK says the new agriculture minister Seiichi Ota from Fukuoka "wants to conduct a drastic change in Japan's farm policies to raise the country's food self-sufficiency rate to deal with soaring imported food prices."

On collapsed free trade talks at the World Trade Organization, Ota stressed the need to limit the excessive pursuit of market principles. He also met the Dalai Lama during his visit to Japan on April 10, 2008, showing a keen interest in the issue of Tibet. A real LDP man, not afraid of saying what he thinks, not afraid of abandoning the "liberal" in the economic sense of the old party name...?

Former postal affairs minister Seiko Noda will be the minister in charge of consumer affairs (she also loves sake, and serves as President of the "Sake-Loving Female Diet Members Club"), and Tetsuo Saito (from New Komeito) will be Japan's new environment minister.

That's all we get from NHK, after a very interesting Friday. Stay posted, as Kurashi is trying to keep you up-to-date on current events, and if you don't care to wait for that, do have a look at what other, more clever bloggers, including Jun O and Shisaku, may have to say.

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