Abstract
This symposium aims to examine the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on food system and depict the outlook of the Japanese food system in post-COVID-19 era based on the outcomes of last year's symposium, additional information, and the characteristics of COVID-19 control measures, which restricted the movement of people. We received presentations on four different aspects of the food system: food consumption, food processing（B2C business）, wholesale, and tourism. The first presentation examines food consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic period. It shows the overviews of changes in food consumption behavior based on the text analysis of previous studies and discusses the potential structural changes that may have influence on consumption behavior after the pandemic through micro data analysis. The second presentation focuses on food processing industry during COVID-19 pandemic. From the viewpoint of B2C food business, it examines changes in the Japanese and US market and problems in supply chains during the pandemic period. The third presentation analyzes the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on seafood supply chain. The wholesale market system still plays a major role in seafood supply chain and central wholesale markets has an essential role. It discusses the COVID-19 crisis and its countermeasures using Toyosu market as an example owing to the perspective of its public nature. The final presentation covers rural tourism as a form of the tourism industry, which has been affected by the pandemic. It investigates the rural tourism in Kurume city, Fukuoka Prefecture and examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on farm managements involving rural tourism, their countermeasures, and the impact on the growth strategy of rural tourism in the area.
