SHONAI, Japan — This broad coastal plain near the Sea of Japan, blessed with abundant water and rich soil and checkered with rice paddies hued golden yellow in the early spring, is one of the ...

AGO BAY, Japan — For generations, a string of perfectly round, classic white pearls — the kind worn by fashion icons like Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy — has been the epitome of understated ...

KAMIMOMI, Japan (AP) — In the remote village of Kamimomi in Japan’s western Okayama prefecture, a small group of rice farmers began their most recent harvest in sweltering heat, two weeks sooner than ...

Shinjiro Koizumi, agriculture minister of Japan, eats a rice ball during his visit to a rice farm in Sugito, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Shinjiro Koizumi, agriculture ...

Shinjiro Koizumi, agriculture minister of Japan, eats a rice ball during his visit to a rice farm in Sugito, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Credit - Soichiro Koriyama—Getty ...