Fruit and vegetable demands are characterized by regional dietary patterns, except for globally standardized fruits of multinational companies (MNCs), such as bananas. On the other hand, recently, fresh pineapples, a traditional plantation crop like bananas, have shown a significant presence in the global market, although its trend differs in main importing regions like Japan and the West. For a comprehensive understanding of the MNC behavior, it is necessary to clarify this new demand pattern. This study conducted an interview survey at the Dole Japan Co. Ltd., which has a significant share of Japan's pineapple market, and a questionnaire survey on Japanese consumers, to reveal the structure of Japan's domestic pineapple distribution. The main findings are as follows: (1) pineapple distribution in Japan follows an oligopolistic structure and importer behavior significantly influences the market, and (2) although consumer preferences follow importer behavior, the traditional variety is still popular. This presents a unique consumption trend among developed countries.

View full abstract

This paper aims to present an analysis of food industry policies in Japan, thereby clarifying the current situation and problem issues while giving a view of future policy directions. The subject of the analysis is the “Food Industry Vision of the Future”, a policy statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in March, 2012. A structural analysis of the style of the statement, made with the aim of clarifying the characteristics of the policies, is followed by an investigation into their functions, classifying them into infrastructure policies, structural policies and organizational policies.
As a result of the above analysis, the following clarifications can now be made.
(1) the legitimacy of the policies and the norms of policy intervention have been framed by a citizen-oriented re-definition of the role of the food industry;
(2) the construction of a “collaboration” framework has gained importance as a new policy method;
(3) the standardization policy has gained importance as an infrastructure policy for the food industry;
(4) the current policy of promoting agriculture, forestry and fisheries as leading industries in Japan, has functioned as a meta-policy;
(5) the reflection effect from “sixth industry” promotion policy has the potential to have an influence on the structure of the food industry.

View full abstract