The 40% Barrier. The Frontline of Food Self-Sufficiency.

Cookoo, the mysterious creature born from a famous chef's hat.
Cookoo, who absolutely loves cooking! His insatiable curiosity about food leads him to interview people at Dentsu Inc. who have "delicious jobs"!

Cookoo: Today, I'd like to introduce Yuhei Watanabe. Nice to meet you!

Watanabe: Nice to meet you. I'm Watanabe, stationed at the Food Action Nippon Promotion Headquarters Secretariat of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from Dentsu Inc.'s Sales Division.

Cookoo: From Dentsu Inc. to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries! What exactly do you do there?

Watanabe: I work on developing markets for domestic ingredients and increasing our food self-sufficiency rate.

Cookoo: Food self-sufficiency rate?

Watanabe: It's the percentage of food consumed in Japan that comes from domestic ingredients. Cookoo, are you eating enough domestic food?

Cookoo: I do! Last night I made sukiyaki with matsutake mushrooms and Kuroge Wagyu beef. The matsutake were Canadian, but everything else was domestic!

Watanabe: Matsutake and Wagyu sukiyaki! Sounds great~. But you know, Cookoo, even with domestic beef, much of the feed needed to raise the cattle is imported. So eating domestic meat doesn't necessarily boost the food self-sufficiency rate. Lately, more producers are raising cattle using feed rice – rice grown specifically for animal feed.

Cookoo: Huh?! Really!?

Watanabe: Yes. Living solely on domestically produced goods is actually quite challenging.

Cookoo: That's shocking. Increasing food self-sufficiency is really difficult, huh?

Watanabe: Exactly. It's been eight years since Food Action Nippon started its activities, but Japan's food self-sufficiency rate hasn't changed much from around 40%.

Cookoo: Really?

Watanabe: Given the influx of cheap foreign ingredients, just maintaining the status quo is quite an achievement. By the way, there is one area where we've seen an increase besides the food self-sufficiency rate.

Cookoo: What is that?

Watanabe: The number of companies and organizations participating in Food Action Nippon. We started from zero, and now nearly 9,000 companies and organizations are participating.

Cookoo: Over 9,000 companies! That's an incredible number.

Watanabe: Japanese producers, manufacturers using domestic ingredients, and distributors and food service companies working to expand this use the Food Action Japan logo to show their support. We hope that displaying this mark adds value to products and helps build a win-win relationship between companies and the nation.

Cookoo: I've seen this mark before! From now on, I'll buy products with this mark too, aiming to boost our food self-sufficiency rate!

Watanabe: That's wonderful to hear. But you know, we've also realized something. For Japan to thrive, it's not just about domestic enthusiasm. It's crucial to keep expanding consumption of Japan's delicious ingredients, including exports overseas.

Cookoo: Expand consumption? How do we do that?

Watanabe: To put it simply, we need to create domestic food products that sell well and aggressively market them both domestically and internationally. To achieve this, it's vital that everyone involved—producers, sellers, and consumers—works together as one team.

Events where producers and consumers can interact, or business meetings where producers and distributors can connect.
By increasing producers' income, we strengthen the foundation of Japanese agriculture. I believe this will ultimately contribute significantly to raising our food self-sufficiency rate.

Cookoo: If everyone involved—producers, sellers, and consumers—works together to promote domestic ingredients, it could really take off!

Watanabe: We want to make agriculture and fisheries more attractive industries and increase the number of people entering them. Recently, you know, there are even high school students dedicating their youth to local ingredients.

Cookoo: High schoolers devoting their youth to local ingredients? Really?

Watanabe: Yes! The place where they gather is the " Local! Ultimate Delicious Food Koshien."

Cookoo: Local! Delicious Food Championship? What a mouthwatering name!

Watanabe: It's a competition where high school students from agricultural, fisheries, and commercial schools create dishes using locally sourced ingredients and compete. The winners from regional competitions will gather at " JAPAN HARVEST " in Marunouchi and Roppongi on November 7th and 8th to showcase their menus. Cookoo, you should definitely come check it out.

Cookoo: What an amazing battle! I absolutely have to go to learn about regional ingredients.

Watanabe: Even though they're high schoolers, the ingredients and dishes they use are incredibly authentic. It's truly heartwarming to see the younger generation developing such a deep appreciation for local ingredients.

Cookoo: Still, Watanabe-san, you've been beaming the whole time. It's making me feel happy too.

Watanabe: Is that so? (laughs) Since starting this job, I've realized that when you're interested in food, happiness comes around three times a day. Between you and me, it even sparks great conversations with my wife! (laughs)

Cookoo: Food talk is the ultimate conversation starter!

Watanabe: Speaking of domestic food, " Domestic Food Week " starts November 1st, encouraging everyone to eat and think together. I hope this opportunity sparks lots of conversations over delicious domestic ingredients.

Cookoo: The perfect week for autumn's appetite! I'll be cooking chestnut rice, grilling Pacific saury, and frying ginkgo nuts to cheer you on!