## Section 4 : For successfully reviving fish-rich diet

## (1) Promoting a fish-rich diet in and outside Japan (Need for activities to promote fish-rich diet that affect consumer’s buying power)

- Many consumers like to eat fish, and nearly half of consumers want to increase their opportunity to eat fish. In order to turn such potential needs into actual consumption behavior, it continues to be important for related bodies to cooperatively carry out activities to promote fish-rich diet, as well as dietary education activities to convey to consumers the tastiness, joy, and goodness for health of fish-rich diet.

- It is necessary, in the future activities, to review how to approach consumers to promote fish-rich diet, taking into account the changes in the needs of a majority of consumers toward fish and fishery products, such as increased preference for “easy to use” products.

- It is important to note that activities to promote fish-rich diet are primarily aimed at actually stimulating fish consumption through spreading information to consumers, such as nutritional properties of fish, fish-cooking methods, and the significance of eating fish. The activities conducted to date at various locations need to be reviewed from such perspective.

## (Importance of promoting Japan’s fish-rich dietary culture to overseas consumers)

- It is also important to enhance the recognition of overseas consumers and users about Japan’s fish-rich dietary culture as well as the high quality and other excellent characteristics of Japanese fish and fishery products, as a stepping stone to expanding the overseas market.

- The recent Japanese food boom overseas, a rise in fish and fishery product prices worldwide, and the depreciation of the yen since the end of 2012 are serving as favorable factors for the expansion of the overseas market.

## Column: Uses of yellowtail expanding overseas

- Yellowtail(hamachi) is hardly cultured in Europe and the United States. However, its fatty texture is gaining popularity among overseas consumers. Ninety percent of exported yellowtail goes to the United States to be mainly used for sashimi and sushi at Japanese restaurants. Recently, however, they have also been used increasingly for non-Japanese cuisines, such as Carpaccio.

Yellowtail Carpaccio is gaining increased popularity in North America.

## (2) Shifting production/distribution systems to the ones that can precisely respond to consumer demand

## (Measures for promoting distribution and expanding consumption of fish and fishery products)

- In order to promote distribution of domestic fish and fishery products that can precisely respond to consumer needs and to expand their consumption, a government project started in FY2013 to comprehensively provide tangible and intangible support for distribution from production areas to consumption areas.

## Column: Latest technology that expands the potential of domestic fish and fishery products

- Technology related to distribution and processing of fish and fishery products has made remarkable progress in recent years. The latest freezing technology has made it possible to deliver extremely fresh fish and fishery products to consumers. In addition, due to the progress of fish-processing technology, more edible parts can be obtained from fish catches than in the past.

- It is important to send out more information to consumers about the improved quality of fish and fishery products using the latest technology, and thereby create new demand for them.

Horse mackerel under alcohol brine

freezing at -25° C