Mr. Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister in charge of promotion of hometown development and export of agriculture, forestry and fishery products, visited the Tropical Agriculture Research Front (TARF) in Ishigaki, Okinawa on April 13, 2018.
The visit was in conjunction with the Ryukyu Awamori Overseas Export Project, an initiative launched early this year by the government, Okinawa Awamori Distillers Association, and private companies to promote the export of Ryukyu Awamori, an alcoholic beverage indigenous and unique to Okinawa. Mr. Miyakoshi has newly started supporting an approach aimed at awamori brewing using domestic long grain seeds.
TARF is the research base and site for research of breeding and cultivation of long grain Indica rice cultivars suitable for Awamori brewing. The Minister also had a tour of the paddy field where the TARF researchers explained about the progress of breeding brewing cultivars of rice.