There are a high level of imports in the Japanese market. Apart from some varieties of organic vegetables, organic rice and organic green tea that are domestically grown, most organic foods are imported. The production of primary organic products has not increased much since the mid 1990s and Japanese companies are moving towards producing value added products like organic noodles, organic juices and organic processed foods.

Japanese grown organic fruit & vegetables are mostly sold via the Teikei system in which growers supply direct to consumers. Over a half of the organic fresh produce grown in Japan is sold via direct marketing whereas most imported volumes go to the retail trade.
Most organic food sales have traditionally been from specialist retailers like macrobiotic, health and organic food shops. A pioneer in retailing natural food and other products is Natural House, based on the concept of the German “Reformhaus” with a number of outlets in Tokyo. The number of organic food shops in Japan has mushroomed since the early 1990s, especially in the metropolitan Tokyo area. The most important is Mother’s, which is a chain of fourteen organic foods stores.
The supermarkets are showing greater interest in organic foods with the large retail chains beginning to offer organic products since 2000. The leading supermarkets are JUSCO and Daiei. The convenience stores are also playing an important role in the organic food industry with Lawson and 7- Eleven increasing the range of organic products in their stores. Lawson is the second largest chain of convenience food stores in Japan and it opened a new store, Natural Lawson, in July 2001 that specialises in marketing natural foods and organic products. Kinokuniya, an upscale supermarket known for high-quality imported products, offers a wide range of natural and organic products and also publishes a newsletter with detailed information in Japanese and English. So does Alishan, a major importer and retailer of organic products which also operates an organic restaurant. In Septermber2003 KANESUE (www.kanesue.co.jp), a large supermarket (about 1000 m2 floor space) dedicated to natural and organic food, opened in Ichinomiya near Nagoya. Although there are hundreds of retailers selling organic products, none of them are “organic only’ (like in European and other countries). In addition to conventional items they offer a wide range of healthy, green, natural and certified organic products. Until now most large trading companies have shown little interest in organic products, leaving this business niche to smaller and specialized companies. On the other hand, major retailers are frequently dispatching managers and staff members to the USA and EU to gather information about traceability and organic products.