The Council of Agriculture (COA) has publicly selected and cooperated with Japanese firm Ikeeiseika Co. to establish Taiwan Bussankan (Taiwan Agro-product Pavilion) and showcase Taiwanese agricultural products in Tokyo since 2006. In recent years, COA has even enhanced its e-commerce capability by setting up on-line shops on Yahoo Japan and Rakuten to expedite Taiwan’s agricultural products' entry into the Japan’s end-consumer market. For the purpose of selecting potential export products to Japan, the Taipei store launched on Feb. 4 this year, and is tasked with collecting a variety of organic agricultural products and fresh food as well as processed products with local features that are suitable for the Japanese market. The selection will be done through actual purchase by Japanese visitors and Japanese culture aficionados.

Taiwan’s agricultural products are becoming well-known in Japan thanks to Taiwan Bussankan

　　Located in Tokyo Shibuya, Taiwan Bussankan has been dedicating most of its efforts to the promotion of Taiwanese agricultural products in Japan. In addition to the showcasing and the sale of those products in its stores, it has also cooperated with major sales channels to organize promotional events, including Daiei Inc., Seibu Sogo, Angel Family, ABC supermarket, and Tokyu Corporation. Moreover, it has formed horizontal alliances with excelled business partners such as China Airlines, National Palace Museum, and Japan Post to promote Taiwan agro-products. To better serve Japanese tourists and business expats in Taiwan, it offers them the option of placing their orders in Taiwan and retrieve their merchandise in Japan, and with the opening of on-line shops on Yahoo Japan and Rakuten more retailing channels are being developed. On the other hand, major procurement managers of retailing markets are invited to Taiwan annually with the purpose of visiting place of production as well as selecting potential export products to Japan. They can also share the latest market information in Japan with local farmers and agri-business, making it easy for them to establish marketing channels, products promotion and business information exchange so that Taiwan’s agricultural products could increase its brand awareness in the Japanese market.

Preliminary selection to be done in Taiwan in order to better grasp Japanese consumers' preferences

　　In order to select suitable items of agricultural products to export to Japan and offer better service to Japanese consumers in Taiwan, the owner of Taiwan Bussankan, Ikeeiseika Co. opened on Feb. 4th an organic and natural foods store called "Kodawariya", literally meaning the uncompromising and relentless devotion towards quality. The store offers a great selection of Taiwanese fresh organic foods, processed agricultural products and some Japanese products. Through the recommendation and consumption preferences gathered from tens and thousands of Japanese citizens in Taiwan and those Taiwanese citizens who love traveling to Japan, suitable products could be preliminarily selected to meet the preferences of consumers in Japan. Besides greatly increasing the success rate of entering the Japanese market, it will also reduce the time and expenses needed for market research. 

　　Since the Japanese market demands a high standard on product quality, it is in fact an ideal benchmark for export products. In the future, the Council would continue to take grasp of consumer market tendencies particularly in Japan so that the overall export of Taiwanese agricultural products could be further upgraded and expanded.