Hunters in Kamijima, Ehime Prefecture, are taking steps to sell the meat of wild boars that were killed because they damage agricultural products in the town.

In August, an association of local hunters began selling raw ham made from wild boars to businesses, as part of measures implemented by the town and prefectural governments to cope with the harmful animals. The raw ham is the first processed product of its kind in this endeavor.

"Garlic coffee" can be a boon to coffee-loving pregnant women abstaining from it as a man in northeastern Japan invented the drink that looks and tastes like coffee but is made up entirely of locally grown garlic.

"My drink is probably the world's first of its kind," said 74-year-old Yokitomo Shimotai, who was a coffee shop owner in Aomori Prefecture. "It contains no caffeine so it's good for those who would like to drink coffee at night or pregnant women."

The pancake batter mixed with blueberry jam is purple.

When cooked, the inside turns light green. When a stack is cut open and lemon syrup is poured, the cut surface turns ... pink this time.

Japanese companies are pitching food products at a trade fair in Chiba City, near Tokyo, with the aim of expanding their shipments abroad.

The event that opened on Wednesday is part of efforts to achieve a government export goal. The government aims to expand exports of agricultural and food products by more than 30 percent to 1 trillion yen, or about 8.9 billion dollars, by 2019.

Cherry tomatoes and powdered cheese in miso soup may take some by surprise, and all the more so if the process begins by cooking "shimeji" mushrooms in water instead of making soup stock with dried kelp.

"These ingredients happen to release the umami (savory) elements," says Sally Hiramatsu, the 28-year-old "science-based cooking expert," who has a talent for conveying the mechanisms of how tastiness comes about through cooking from a scientific perspective.

Asahi Breweries Ltd. will raise the price of beer delivered mainly to bars and restaurants by about 10 percent in March 2018, the company's first price hike since 2008.

The increase will apply to bottles and barrels of the flagship Asahi Super Dry and other labels sold to wholesalers. The price for beer in cans will remain unchanged.

People in Yokohama's Chinatown have been treated to a giant mooncake to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival.

A local hotel bakes the huge traditional delicacy each year. Chinese folklore says eating mooncakes in the evening of the harvest festival brings good luck.

HONG KONG--A nearly 900-year-old porcelain Song dynasty bowl smashed the world auction record for Chinese ceramics on Tuesday, selling for HK$294.3 million ($37.68 million) at a Sotheby's sale in Hong Kong.

The small, blue-green item broke the previous record, also set in a sale in Hong Kong, when a 500-year-old imperial "chicken" cup from the Ming dynasty Chenghua period sold for HK$281.2 million ($36.0 million) in 2014, Sotheby's said.

You rarely find mouthwatering but pricey eel sliding its way on to the menu at an office canteen.

Whole eels are not cheap, but Nanako Ogino, the 35-year-old registered nutritionist at Tanita Corp.'s staff restaurant, has gotten round this by combining the fish with eggs in a rice bowl.

The Yomiuri ShimbunRestaurants and retailers are trying to reduce the carbohydrates in their foods with an eye on the increasing number of people who are trimming carbs from their diets to lose weight or avoid lifestyle-related diseases.

Bread, rice and noodles are among the foods that are high in carbohydrates.

SAKATA, Yamagata Prefecture--A sake brewery here has gone to extreme lengths to put out a premium bottle of sake--with a price to match.

Tatenokawa Inc. will begin sales Oct. 1 of an exclusive 150-bottle collection of "junmai daiginjo" that was created using rice polished to just one percent of the kernel core from the original brown rice.

Sushi restaurant chains Akindo Sushiro Co. and Genki Sushi Co. are in merger talks to speed up the expansion of their overseas business, the companies said Friday.

Akindo Sushiro operates Japan's largest conveyor belt sushi chain with around 470 restaurants, most of them domestic. Genki Sushi, the No. 5 chain, runs more than half of its 300 or so restaurants abroad, including in the United States and China.