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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Food service industry lobbies for U.S. beef imports

Lobbying for an early resumption of U.S. beef imports, a large restaurant industry group provided more than 10 million yen in political donations last year to lawmakers representing the special interests of farm-related industries, according to the group's 2004 political fund report released in September.

The Japan Foodservice Association, consisting of about 800 restaurants, is collecting a million signatures demanding an early, full resumption of beef imports from the United States, which has been suspended since the BSE outbreak.

The Association made donations through its political action committee led by the association's chairman. The committee's stated aim is to support lawmakers who cooperate with the restaurant industry.

The association spent 10.9 million yen in total on 60 occasions as political donations to several factions of the Liberal Democratic Party and as fees for politicians' fund-rising events. Among these politicians were Nakagawa Shoichi, the minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (1 million yen), Shimamura Yoshinobu, the former minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (500,000 yen), Hata Tsutomu, former prime minister and currently a senior advisor of the Democratic Party of Japan (300,000 yen), Takebe Tsutomu, the LDP secretary general (200,000 yen), and Oshima Tadamori, the former secretary-general of the Environment Agency (200,000 yen). They were all once ministers of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. -- Akahata, October 15, 2005