AgWired

I found a very nice man here in the ZEN-NOH Fresh Produce Marketing, Co. in Tokyo who is letting me use his internet connection to post a quick picture from our first tour.

I tried to load pics to the photo album but I couldn’t get connected so I’ll be adding quite a few later. This is a very large marketing firm for the Japan Agriculture Cooperative which has most of the farmers in the country as members. Cindy just conducted an interview with the head of their fresh produce marketing division.

As you can see we got to sample before leaving. Cindy likes raw vegetables and fruit better than the sushi so she was real happy about that.

One of the things we’re getting plenty of is green tea. This line of bottles shows that they were ready for us. I wish I could say that I drink it but it’s just not my cup of tea. I’ll be interested in the sake samples later.

Right now we’re in a question and answer session in the main meeting room and I’m at the head table looking like I have some other purpose than borrowing a computer that’s connected to their internal network.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

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When I mentioned that we were served food at our welcoming reception I neglected to say the word “fresh.”

These guys here are about to slice up this big fish. The Big Blue Fin Tuna Cutting Show was really interesting. The best part was eating some fresh cut sushi as they worked on this big guy.

Cindy shot video of it which I’ll try to get posted later when we’ve got more time and energy. We’re a little concerned about internet access here since we have none available in our rooms and the only place we can get online is in the press room. We’ve got some pretty lengthy tours on the agenda during the days so hopefully we’ll have some time to do some editing and posting. It’s a challenge still getting meeting organizers to realize how important putting time into the schedule for us journalists to work and have the internet access we need to get our postings done.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

Also welcoming us to Japan this evening was David Markey, IFAJ President.

David says that IFAJ is now over 5,000 members strong worldwide. I interviewed him for my weekly ZimmCast but will have to post that later since I’m running out of steam at this point.

IFAJ is made up of all kinds of journalists involved in agricultural communications including publication editors, broadcasters and an increasing number of web editors.

IFAJ Congress 2007 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by:

It takes a while to get to Japan from the United States. Cindy and I have made it and it’s almost time for the IFAJ Congress to officially begin with a welcome reception in our hotel.

I’m really glad that our flights were on time since it was a long flight anyway. It then took 3 1/2 hours to get to the hotel by the time we got our bags and bus.

This almost looks like a welcoming committee when you get in to the airport.

Going through customs was a breeze and everyone we’ve met so far has been very friendly and helpful. I’m going to have plenty of interviews and pictures over the coming days. Tomorrow we’re going on a vegetable market tour so hopefully there will be some posting time in the schedule later in the day.

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2007 is sponsored by: