[/floatr]Yomiuri: Green lanterns signify domestic ingredients
A movement to hang midori-chochin, or green lanterns, under the eaves of restaurants as a sign that they use domestic ingredients in their food has been spreading around the country. The movement is aimed at boosting domestic agriculture and helping Japan to become more self-sufficient in food. Jidori Hirokawa, a chicken dish restaurant in the basement of a building in the Kanda area of Tokyo began hanging midori-chochin, unlike traditional aka-chochin (red lanterns), at the top of the staircase leading to it in April. The green-paper lantern has a sign reading, "This restaurant supports local produce." The lantern also is decorated with four black stars on a five-star scale, indicating that at least 80 percent of the ingredients it uses are domestically produced...The midori-chochin movement is the brainchild of Kiyoaki Maruyama, director general of the National Agricultural Research Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture...One to five stars are awarded in accordance with the ratio of domestic to imported produce used at the restaurant. Restaurants that use domestic produce for more than 50 percent of their cooking are given one star. One extra star is awarded for every further 10 percent of domestic produce used, with five stars given to restaurants that source 90 percent or more of their ingredients locally. The system operates on the basis of self-declaration. If restaurants are found to have lied about the ratio of local produce they use, the restaurant staff are supposed to wear a headband bearing kanji meaning "regret" and shave their heads...more...
