As Japan’s domestic market shrinks due to population decline, the global food market continues to expand, highlighting the need to systematize Japanese food culture as an industry and connect it to sustainable growth. This paper defines the food culture industry as one that generates social and economic value from food as a cultural resource. It examines its structure, characteristics, and scale, while clarifying both the strengths of Japanese food culture and the challenges facing the industry.

The paper further presents key policy perspectives, including maximizing the potential of the food culture industry as a pillar of Japan’s economic growth, promoting value creation led by the food service sector, and redesigning Japanese food and food culture to adapt to changing lifestyles. It also emphasizes the importance of utilizing intellectual property systems—such as geographical indications and trademarks—to achieve both the protection of cultural value and the sustainable development of the industry.

This paper reviews the literature on the protection of Geographical Indications （GIs） and re-examines the actual operation of Japan’s dual GI system, with a particular focus on sake. While GIs involve state intervention and presuppose a causal link with the region, they possess institutional ambiguity in that they do not automatically guarantee origin or quality. This study aims to clarify how this ambiguity can be complemented or reconstructed through the accumulation of technological, cultural, and environmental factors in sake, such as the concept of micro-terroir. Furthermore, considering the “death of trademarks” debate prompted by generative AI, this paper argues that the multilayered nature of technology, culture, and narratives is as crucial as the legal framework in GI protection.

This paper examines the conditions under which Geographical Indications （GIs） for Japanese sake function as intellectual property rights, using a framework of vertical and horizontal product differentiation. While existing studies have focused on whether GIs produce measurable effects, this paper’s contribution lies in theoretically redefining the conditions under which GIs become functional. GIs do not generate economic value by themselves; rather, they acquire sustainable economic value only when quality differentiation driven by innovation is combined with meaning-based differentiation such as terroir. Through a comparison with the wine industry, this paper argues that three types of terroir─rice, microorganisms, and adjunct ingredients─can theoretically be established in Japanese sake production, and suggests that GIs should be designed not as instruments of market creation but as institutions that protect producers who have already achieved differentiation.

Although no honey products have been registered under Japan’s Geographical Indication (GI) system, numerous registrations exist in the EU and China. This study analyzes these cases and discusses implications for Japan. As of 2025, the EU had registered 40 honey GIs across 11 countries, including 31 Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and 9 Protected Geographical Indications (PGI), while China had 48 honey GI registered under the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). EU cases demonstrate links between regional characteristics, such as floral resources and honeybee subspecies, and honey quality, with many registrations concentrated in island and mountainous areas and among forest-derived honeydew honeys. In China, GI strategies have been used to promote beekeeping and conserve indigenous honeybees, particularly in mountainous rural regions. While GI registration requires collaboration among regional stakeholders, the predominance of family-operated beekeeping and limited consumer recognition of regional honey values may hinder adoption in Japan. Future efforts should re-evaluate the diverse values of regional honey and link them to forest multifunctionality, biodiversity conservation, and rural development.

The Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute has developed a novel technology to produce alcoholic beverages directly from wood. Using a wet milling process, wood is finely pulverized in water without heat or chemicals, exposing cellulose fibers that can be enzymatically converted into glucose and fermented into alcohol. This enables the production of “wood-based alcohol,” a completely new category of alcohol beverage. The resulting products exhibit unique and complex flavors depending on tree species, combining inherent wood-derived aromas with fermentation-derived compounds. In addition, the concept of “drinking tree rings” offers a distinctive narrative value linked to the tree’s growth history. Safety evaluations, including chemical analyses and toxicity tests, have confirmed no significant concerns. To support commercialization, the institute has established patent licensing, technical training programs, and a certification mark to distinguish authentic products. This innovation is expected to contribute to the high-value utilization of domestic timber, promote forestry, and revitalize rural economies in Japan.

To address global challenges, geopolitical divisions, and technological innovation, the government formulated a new international standards strategy in June 2025─the first in 19 years─and identified 17 strategic and key domains （including food, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries） on which Japan should focus, while taking economic security into account. Since then, the government has been monitoring domestic and international trends through activities such as monitoring and follow-up in each area, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is currently developing an international standards strategy for the food, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors. Based on an “open and closed” strategy, the government plans to comprehensively examine business strategies, intellectual property strategies, and international standards strategies in an integrated manner. This approach is expected to strengthen Japan’s international competitiveness in the food, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors and contribute to food security and global challenges.

This paper focuses on wine production in Austria, a country with a longer history in this field than Japan, where environmental and soil conservation, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation, are discussed against the backdrop of growing consumer awareness of organic farming and recent extreme weather events. Concurrently, this paper introduces the case of the Geographical Indication （GI） system within Austria’s wine law. European wine laws are conventionally classified into two systems:the Germanic wine law, which traditionally emphasizes sugar content, and the Romanic wine law, which emphasizes the region of origin. In Japan, the main system currently prevalent for the product labeling of alcoholic beverages is the ones which prioritize technical indicators such as the rice polishing ratio and distillation methods; this approach is conceptually similar to the Germanic wine law. Conversely, the GI system, whose further utilization is expected in the future, aligns closely with the concept of the Romanic wine law, which emphasizes regionality. Although Austrian wine law is historically grounded in the Germanic system, the country introduced the Romanic-style Districtus Austriae Controllatus （DAC） system in 2002, successfully establishing values rooted in terroir. Notably, Austria has achieved a multi-layered labeling structure that integrates the DAC into its framework while preserving traditional Germanic standards. This case demonstrates the effectiveness of intellectual property management in enabling the coexistence of existing technical indicators and the emerging value of regionality, thereby offering implications for considering the future vision of utilizing the GI system for Japanese alcoholic beverages.

This study explores intellectual property （IP） management practices in the development of recirculating aquaculture system （RAS）technology, with a focus on a case study at the University of the Ryukyus. An “Intellectual Property （IP） Three-Layer Framework” was proposed to organize IP creation based on constituent technologies, and an IP map was developed as a communication tool to visualize the overall IP structure. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with project stakeholders to evaluate the utility of the IP map in conveying IP positioning and fostering mutual understanding among researchers from different disciplines. The findings suggest that the IP map can enhance interdisciplinary communication and serve as an effective tool for university-based IP management.