The Position of Hokkaido Wheat in the Food System of Japanese Domestic Wheat : Mainly the Changes of Role Sharing between Every Japanese Wheat Production Area after the Introduction of New Strains of Japanese Domestic Wheat

The private distribution system of wheat was introduced in 2000. Since then, the production amount of Japanese domestic wheat has increased and the number of strains of wheat has risen dramatically. This change has led Japanese domestic wheat to be highly regarded and used positively by Japanese end-users. So in this paper I empirically studied the food system of Japanese domestic wheat in every main production area (mainly Hokkaido) in order to show that the role sharing between every Japanese wheat production area has changed. The results of the study about the food system of Japanese domestic wheat (mainly Hokkaido wheat) are as follows: Firstly, in all the main production areas (Hokkaido, Kyusyu, Kanto), the food system has changed differently and especially the changes in the food system of Hokkaido wheat have raised the reputation of Japanese domestic wheat strongly since 2000. Secondly, in order to increase the demand for Japanese domestic wheat, we must resolve the following issues: (1) Increasing the amount of production of Hokkaido wheat, which is suitable for bread and Chinese noodles (2) Increasing the amount of production of other production area’s wheat, which is the same quality as Hokkaido wheat and which is suitable for Japanese noodles (3) Introducing new strains that are suitable for bread and Chinese noodles in the other production area