Japanese farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, a leading candidate to become the next prime minister, sought on Friday (Sept 26) to downplay criticism over his ministry’s handling of a licensing agreement for a prized grape variety, which had prompted an official protest from local producers. The day before, the governor of Yamanashi prefecture—a major producer of Shine Muscat grapes—criticized the ministry for negotiating with New Zealand on cultivating the grapes without consulting local producers. Governor Kotaro Nagasaki, joined by a representative of the regional agricultural cooperative, met with Koizumi to lodge the complaint and urged efforts to expand exports rather than issue licenses for overseas cultivation.

Koizumi, who faces an important vote within the Liberal Democratic Party next week to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as party leader, assured that the ministry had no intention of granting cultivation licenses without producer consent. “Governor Nagasaki has requested expanding the number of countries Japan exports Shine Muscat grapes to, and I fully agree,” Koizumi said. “We would not proceed with licensing without the approval of producing regions and governors.” He added that licensing is part of a broader policy approach approved by the cabinet earlier this year for select products.

Developed over roughly 30 years starting in the late 1980s by national agricultural bodies, the Shine Muscat grape is considered a promising export product. Its seedlings, however, were initially unprotected abroad and spread to China and South Korea, which now export them to Southeast Asia. In 2021, Japan passed legislation to limit the overseas sale of Shine Muscat seedlings.