There is a rising concern over the buyer power of retailers distorting the performance of the milk supply chain, creating anomalies such as the coexistence of soaring feed prices and consistently low raw milk prices. Some attributed this market malfunction to retailers' buyer power, but econometric evidence has been limited. This study estimates the market power of retailers when purchasing milk from manufacturers. To investigate market power based on an imperfect competition model, I estimate a system of simultaneous equations using instrumental variables. The results show that retailers were imperfectly competitive from April 2005 to March 2014; the wholesale price was approximately ¥194 which is almost ¥30 higher than predicted prices if the wholesale market were perfectly competitive. Furthermore, I show that the extent of market imperfections in the wholesale market for milk is moderate compared to that of other products, periods, and countries. Finally, I discuss the mechanisms of price transmission through the Japanese milk supply chain under retailer oligopsony.

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In this study health promotion theories were employed to analyze systems for promoting taste education (one of the food pedagogies common to Japan, France, and Italy) with a view to making recommendations for the improvement of the institutionalization of Japan's Shokuiku (food education) initiative. Each country's promotion system was examined, with a special focus on its pedagogies; its political/institutional positioning in primary school education; the organizational structures of promoter institutions; and effective strategies within communities, institutions, and public policies. The methodology included a literature review of related articles, interviews with the leaders of key organizations, and observations of organizational activities (e.g., classes and training programs). The major findings relate to (1) enabling a pedagogical classification of several taste education variants; (2) articulating the similarities and differences of the legal status of taste education within the educational systems of each country; (3) identifying effective strategies for promoter organizations at two different levels (central and regional); and (4) unmasking the critical roles of previously hidden actors such as “intermediary” organizations (for example, French and Italian inter-professional organizations) in effectively promoting food education. All of these findings inform suggestions for effectively orientating Japan's contemporary Shokuiku initiative.

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