Japan Agriculture

Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita asked Washington on Tuesday to reject an American rice industry request that Japan be pressured to open its rice market. Japan allows virtually no imports of rice, saying that it must protect domestic producers to assure an adequate supply of the staple food of the Japanese diet. "We sincerely hope the U.S. government will quickly reject the request," Takeshita told a gathering of local government officials. The U.S. Rice Millers Assn.

Vegetables are withering on the vine, but rice is thriving. Sales are booming, but factories are beginning to cut back or halt production. It's all because of a heat wave that has been blessing and plaguing Japan all summer--and which shows no signs of letting up.

For the past month, Calgene Inc., a Davis, Calif.-based firm specializing in genetically engineered plants, has been doing more than just splicing genes. It has been grafting business deals as well. First came the news of a $4-million agreement with Kirin Brewery Co. of Japan, announced March 15. And a week ago, the company reported that its researchers will genetically engineer disease-resistant vegetables with Sakata Seed America Inc. in a deal valued at less than $500,000.

Japan reacted with fear and disbelief Tuesday to reports that the nation had discovered its first suspected case of "mad cow" disease. Reluctant to take any chances, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines quickly announced bans on Japanese beef and beef products. "Mad-Cow Disease Could Spread Nationwide," screamed the headline in one Japanese newspaper. "First Time in Japan," warned another.

Japanese speculators, frustrated with lack of price activity in gold, are shifting to more volatile but less glamorous commodities--red beans and rubber. Their interest in red beans has been aroused by an unexpected recent snowfall and prospects of a cold summer in northern Japan. That has raised the possibility of a poor bean harvest. Low rubber prices may be ripe for a rally, according to speculators.

Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita has rejected an appeal from President Reagan to announce a plan in early December to open Japan's rice market to imports, Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi revealed Thursday. Obuchi's comment came after Yasuo Goto, vice minister of agriculture, disclosed that Reagan had sent a personal letter to Takeshita on the ultra-sensitive issue Nov. 18. It was the first time an American president had directly urged Japan to open its rice market.

Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng said Monday that published reports last week that his department is "secretly coaxing" the Soviet Union to make another big wheat purchase--reports that sent wheat futures shooting upward--are without foundation. Lyng, speaking with reporters at the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual meeting here, at first repeated the department's "no comment" statement of last Wednesday.

Japanese farmers smashed and burned an American car, torched boxes of U.S. oranges and set fire to an American flag in a rally Saturday protesting U.S. demands that Japan end its restrictions on imported beef and oranges. Three members of Japan's Parliament, including former Vice Minister of Agriculture Seishiro Eto, attended the rally in the town of Kokonone in Kyushu in western Japan. The violence came as U.S. negotiators ended a week of meetings on trade with no new agreements. A U.S.

The Toyotas on American roads and the Sonys in American recreation rooms may soon be joined by Fujis in American lunch boxes--a Japanese-bred apple that seems to be the fruit of the future. Growers say Japanese bud wood grafted onto trees in the central Washington apple belt produces an apple that is crisper, tastier and more durable than Red Delicious, the industry standard since the 1920s.

This is the heart of snow country, a narrow basin where the Uono River spills northward from the Mikuni Range toward the Sea of Japan, a harsh place where nature dumps 10 feet of snow each winter and stifling humidity makes summer an ordeal. But in October, Uonuma, as they call this district of Niigata prefecture about 100 miles northwest of Tokyo, is an idyll, comfortably between its seasonal extremes. And rice, not snow, becomes king.