This paper clarifies the actual situation of selling vegetables and fruits at convenience stores and the merits for stakeholders from analysis of model cases. The analysis clarifies the following three points. First of all, consumers can purchase fresh agricultural products at low cost in addition to being convenient. Next, a convenience store can improve the customer unit price. And lastly, farmers can increase revenue, stabilize transactions and reduce burdens. In other words, selling vegetables and fruits at convenience stores provides merits for all the stakeholders. Based on this result, it is suggested that selling vegetables and fruits at a convenience store be increased in the future.

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Black tea consumption in Japan has almost doubled since introduction of RTD (Ready-To-Drink) tea or bottled (iced) tea approximately 30 years ago. This paper illuminates the commodity-based food system for black tea, through analysis of its five “sub-structures”: competition structure, consumption structure, corporate structure and business combination (mergers and acquisitions) structure, with chain structure at its centre. The paper reports on a case study of tea from Sri Lanka and consumed in Japan, as Sri Lanka accounts for over half of black tea imports to Japan. Japan's increased consumption of black tea is mostly directed a function of RTD production, where the tea price as an ingredient of the RTD is proposed by the manufacturers calculated from the price of the final product. As prices of black tea as packaged final products have long been determined by tea packers, this indicates that these drink manufacturers have replaced tea packers as price leaders, and emerged as a new actor in the chain structure of the food system with a strong influence on price formulation for over half of black tea consumed in Japan. With Japan's significant proportion of black tea consumption as RTD, Japan imports bulk tea at a higher rate than other importing countries. This suggests that Japan's propensity for bulk tea for RTD consumption contributes less to recent value-adding efforts to tea exports for tea-exporting countries; i.e., exporting black tea in the form of final products or partially finished goods by processing them within tea-growing countries.

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This research verifies the sales situation and clarifies the brand strategy in production and sales for life-brand rice produced through environmental-friendly agriculture. With Niigata prefecture's Sado city recommending environmental-friendly agriculture, we analyzed the current state of circulation and sale of rice produced under the “certified rice living with the Japanese Crested Ibis certification system, ” clarifying the actual sales situation. We examined the consciousness of the rice shop as a selling destination based on a questionnaire survey and conducting hearing research about the environmental conservation awareness of consumers. With regard to the sustainability of environment-friendly agriculture, biodiversity conservation and security ensured by securing the inherent safety of agricultural products will increase both in real value and long term sustainability from an economic point of view. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the securing of cooperating rice shops and ensure their understanding. An important issue concerns development of a mechanism of information transmission to improve the understanding level of consumers regarding these factors.

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This study clarifies the reasons why a cooperative shipping system was formulated by Ehime citrus production groups before the War, by analyzing a case of the traders' withdrawal from the Uwa Citrus Guild. Before the Second World War, there were many citrus farmers possessing high quality production technology in Kitauwa Province, Ehime Prefecture. On the other hand, several native traders had control over the marketing of citrus produced in the province. Because the traders' criteria for citrus selection were not unified among them even after the Uwa Citrus Guild was established, the outcome of their marketing didn't satisfy the farmers, who had pride as brand leaders. As a result, the farmers forced the traders to withdraw from the guild. These developments were strongly related to the Tachima Citrus Cooperative, which had already established a cooperative shipping system, together with the broad economic power of the farmers who belonged to it.

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In order for new agricultural produce to become popular, it is necessary not only to establish sound cultivation techniques, but to also expand potential markets. One important part of this is the need to increase the number of repeat buyers for the produce. This study clarifies the reasons why repeat buyers purchase domestically produced mangoes. In this study, the research questions are clarified using text mining and self-organizing maps. In Japan, domestic mango cultivation started in Okinawa in 1980. In 2007, a mangoe boom occurred, after which, the total cultivation area and the amount of domestic production has continued to increase. The mangoes produced in Miyazaki, Okinawa, and Miyakojima reflect the typical circumstance for mangoe production, marketing and sales. Mangoes in these areas are produced using different cultivation methods, have different quality levels, and are priced differently. Therefore, there are differences that reflect the purchasing trends and motivations among repeat buyers of these mangoes. One can conclude that these differences may have resulted in a “habitat separation” in the domestic mango market.

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