Japan Still Pushing Globalist Insect-Eating Fad Despite Continued Population Decline
(LifeSiteNews) — It is already a well-established fact that Japan is suffering from a rapidly declining population, with 2023 marking the 13th consecutive year of population decrease for the country.
Despite this trend, for years, the Japanese government and several private entities, such as Tokyo-based startup Semitama as well as food technology company Gryllus Co., have been encouraging Japanese citizens to consume insects, alluding to the country’s declining agricultural output and tradition of entomophagy, or insect eating, that most Japanese today do not practice on a daily basis, save for a minority like Shoichi Uchiyama, one of Japan’s most notable insect enthusiasts.
Arguably, entomophagy entered the limelight more prominently in Japan following the publication of a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN) in 2013 that alleged that people should consume insects as they are reportedly efficient at transforming food into protein and could be a solution to the purported food security concerns.
After the globalist European Union (EU) in 2018 claimed that whole insects and their ingredients were “novel foods,” giving their official stamp of approval that insects should be regarded as food, Japanese companies such as TAKEO Inc., (2014), BugMo(2018) and Bugsfarm (2018) launched new businesses that manufactured insect-based products and promoted them in various ways. Promoting pre-packaged insect snacks made in ways that downplayed the original ingredients (insects) in the snacks was one such tactic. An example of such insect snacks would be the cricket senbei (rice cracker) products found in outlets belonging to Japanese retailer Mujirushi Ryōhin, or Muji for short.
“Unlike in the Western countries where insect food is primarily viewed as a healthy and sustainable alternative, Japanese consumers tend to value novel, fun and thrilling experiences of eating insects, which you want to share with friends and on social media,” Ryota Mitsuhashi, the CTO of TAKEO Inc. and a founding member of the Edible Insects Science Research Association, told Forbes in 2020.
TAKEO Inc., a business which sells an assortment of dried and packaged bugs and even has a specialty cafe called Take-Noko selling beetles, crickets, worms, tarantulas and scorpions, revealed that it had entered a capital partnership with frozen food giant Nichirei Corp in 2022, citing the “role insects could play in the future of food security.”
Having caught the bug for insect eating (pun intended), Komatsushima’s West Komatsushima High School in Japan’s Tokushima Prefecture tried to promote insect eating by serving pumpkin croquettes with cricket powder used instead of ground meat. In turn, Japanese mainstream media outlets like Kyodo News were quick to citestudents who eventually gave the insect croquettes a good rating despite showing initial hesitancy.
“I don’t like looking at bugs, but surprisingly, it tasted good,” Kyodo News quoted student Keisuke Inoue as saying. “I couldn’t tell it contained insects,” Inoue added.
Likewise, Kazuki Shimizu, who runs a YouTube channel promoting insect-based cooking and is a self-proclaimed insect food lover, told The Japan Times in 2021:
When the perception toward eating insects changes, I want to share that moment with as many people as I can.
Unfortunately for Shimizu, consuming insects continues to be perceived negativelyamong many Japanese consumers, just like their Western counterparts. For instance, when Komatsushima’s West Komatsushima High School decided to make cricket powder as a permanent ingredient in school lunches, parents and others online began to lambast the school for allegedly “forcing” students to eat insect-based foods. Undoubtedly, the school, emboldened by the apparent approval of its students in its cricket-based pumpkin croquette experiment, had crossed the line.
Even Kyodo News ran an article in March 2024 this year admitting the various challenges insect businesses faced in Japan, citing “soaring prices of ingredients and continuing resistance among consumers to making insects part of their diet.” The same 2024 Kyodo News article quoted Gryllus as saying that some people remain opposed to the idea of eating crickets:
‘Complaints have poured in by phone, and it is making the situation really tough for us,’ a spokesperson for Gryllus said.
Also, the article elaborated that Indetail, a startup involved in the cricket food business in Sapporo, Japan was ordered by the local district court to begin bankruptcy proceedings.
As per the Sapporo branch of credit research firm Teikoku Databank Ltd., sales of Indetail’s cricket products did not materialize, “causing a deterioration in financing for the operator” and a situation whereby “total liabilities exceeded 200 million yen, including from its group companies,” Kyodo News reported.
Indeed, insect-based food products in Japan, including insect snacks, are not exactly cheap either, further deterring potential consumers already reluctant to eat insects due to existing negative perceptions on it.
For example, a 2022 Euronews article on Japanese insect food products sold in vending machines stated that “deep-fried insects, including crickets and grasshoppers” “sprinkled with salt” and “chocolate flavored” cost between “1,000 to 2,600 yen, or between €6 and €19”.
Another 2022 article by SoraNews24 reported that a do-it-yourself (DIY) cricket ramen (Japanese noodle dish) from the Antcicada company that supposedly contains a hundred crickets with each serving cost “2,200 yen (US$16).”
In contrast, Japanese consumers can get steaks, beef on rice (Japanese gyudon), and beef burgers (with real meat) at cheaper prices than these insect-based foods. What is more, Japan, as an island nation, has been blessed by a wide variety of seafood as alternatives to meat.
Independent Japanese journalist Masako Ganaha, notable for getting rebuffed in 2023 by World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab when trying to interview him in Davos, told “Health Ranger” Mike Adams that Japan’s sovereignty, culture and people are presently under attack by the same globalists trying to destroy the United States.
Undeniably, Japan is as vulnerable as other countries like the United States when it comes to the top-down diktats from globalists and climate czars on the so-called “need” to eat bugs. That being said, the populations of Japan and many Western countries are not “growing,” unlike what Chef Joseph Yoon, an Edible Foods Ambassador for Brooklyn Bugs to create insect-based recipes, claimed on “Let Them Eat Bugs:
‘How can we sustainably feed the growing population around the world? And it doesn’t suggest that we want to get rid of anything. How do we add something to our diets and maybe look towards the past for solutions for the future? They’re incredibly nutritious. They’re sustainable, but most importantly, they can be prepared absolutely deliciously,’ Yoon claimed at that time.
Evidently, Yoon, and many others of his ilk, are not in sync with the reality of struggling Japanese food businesses due to reduced consumer spending and a graying population.
Perhaps it would do Yoon some good to actually visit Japan to have a look at the millions of uninhabited houses in the country owing to population decline before spewing his views on demographic trends.
US Government Will Pay $500 Million for New Oral and Nasal Vaccines for COVID-19
The US government has committed $500 million towards the development of new oral and nasal vaccines for COVID-19.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) announced the funding boost on Thursday, which will pay for mid-stage trials as part of Project NextGen, a $5 billion project led by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop new COVID vaccines and therapeutics.
Over $450 million was awarded to Vaxart for a study to evaluate its oral COVID vaccine, and Castlevax and Cyanvac were awarded $34 million and $40 million respectively for their intranasal vaccines.
Each vaccine will be tested in trials involving 10,000 volunteers. The safety and efficacy of the new vaccines will be compared to existing FDA-licensed vaccines.
“Currently approved Covid-19 vaccines are administered intramuscularly and, while extremely effective, are limited in their capacity to induce a robust immune response in mucosal areas such as the mouth, nose and gut, where the SARS-CoV-2 virus first enters the body,” the HHS said.
Project NextGen was launched last May by the HHS as a successor to Operation Warp Speed, which produced the first generation of vaccines and therapeutics during the pandemic. Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been paid out to biotech and pharma companies.
The Project has a fraction of the funding of Operation Warp Speed and the government will not be committed to bulk purchases of any vaccines or therapeutics that are successfully developed.
“As the virus continues to evolve, we need new tools that keep pace with those changes,” said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell, in a statement announcing the Project, last year.
“Project NextGen combines the research and development expertise at HHS with the lessons we have learned about the virus throughout the pandemic—strengthening our preparedness for whatever comes next.”
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Pentagon Wants To Feed US Soldiers ‘Experimental’ Lab-Grown Meat
The Pentagon has been slammed over its woke plan to test lab grown meat on American soldiers. According to a report by the Free Beacon, a Pentagon contractor that has received over $500 million in […]
The post Pentagon Wants To Feed US Soldiers ‘Experimental’ Lab-Grown Meat appeared first on The People’s Voice.
‘Really Scary’: FBI Asked Employee About Views on Covid Vaccine Mandates During Security Clearance Review
FBI officials asked a longtime employee if he opposed COVID-19 vaccination, supported former President Donald Trump or had ever attended a pro-Second Amendment rally, according to memos obtained by Just the News and published Monday.
Describing the incident as “The New McCarthyism” and a “shocking litmus test,” Just the News reported the memos “prompted a complaint to the Justice Department’s [DOJ] internal watchdog alleging political bias inside the bureau.”
The questions were asked during a spring 2022 security clearance — several months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for private employers and another federal court issued an injunction on the government’s vaccine mandate for federal employees.
The employee’s security clearance was subsequently revoked, Just the News reported, noting that the interviews “confirmed his support for Trump and gun rights and his concerns about the COVID vaccine.”
“I think it’s becoming more and more apparent that we have entered the new American McCarthyism era,” said journalist Kim Iversen on Wednesday’s edition of “The Kim Iversen Show.” Iversen said people are routinely and openly punished for their views and opinions.
She added:
“If you were any of those things that might red-flag you according to the FBI’s security clearance … if you were skeptical of Big Pharma vaccines and if you actually are pro-Second Amendment, a right that’s enshrined in our Constitution, then you potentially are un-American and you potentially need to be red-flagged … or you might just have the propensity to become a terrorist.”
‘If you question the vaccine, you’re potentially an enemy of the state’
According to Just the News, “The memos show that agents for the FBI’s Security Division asked at least three witnesses in spring 2022 whether the employee, whose name and job title was redacted from the memos, had been known to ‘vocalize support for President Trump’ or ‘vocalize objections to Covid-19 vaccination.’”
One of the witnesses confirmed that the employee in question “had declined to get the coronavirus inoculation” but “was following the bureau’s rules for unvaccinated employees.”
“Very against masks and vaccines. Not vaccinated. … Not vaccinated and tried not to wear mask,” the agent noted for one of the security clearance interviews, adding that the employee was “connected to anti-vaccinated FBI groups” but had participated in “no anti-FBI rhetoric.”
Commenting on the memo, Iversen said, “Can you believe this? So, if you question the vaccine, you’re potentially an enemy of the state. You can’t have a security clearance. We can’t trust you.”
‘The FBI has always been the American Gestapo’
Experts who spoke with The Defender said they were not surprised about the revelations.
“I ran investigations into problems in the federal government as a Senate investigator and I’m shocked to see this stuff,” said investigative journalist Paul D. Thacker of The Disinformation Chronicle, adding:
“Government agencies should definitely be backgrounding people for political extremism. Asking them whether they support government vaccine mandates seems fair, since it’s questioning whether someone would follow federal policy. But asking potential government employees which politicians they support — that seems to cross so many lines.”
Mark Crispin Miller, Ph.D., an author and professor of media studies at New York University whose research focuses on propaganda told The Defender the FBI’s actions are reflective of “government’s police powers growing still more dangerous” in recent years.
“It’s therefore way past time to junk the old ‘left/right’ divide, in favor of a subtler split between authoritarians and real believers in American democracy — whom some may call ‘populists,’ perhaps,” Miller said.
Francis Boyle, J.D., Ph.D., professor of international law at the University of Illinois, told The Defender, “The FBI has always been the American Gestapo.” Boyle cited his addition to the U.S. government’s terrorist watch lists in 2011 after he refused a joint FBI-CIA request to become an informant on his Arab and Muslim clients.
Boyle said that he remains on these lists, “five or six” in number, to the present day, noting that when he applied for Social Security benefits, he was told his name “had come up on a computer alert list” and he was “going to have to have a personal interview — which is not how it is usually done.”
“I had about a one-hour interrogation, where I politely and diplomatically had to convince the Social Security examiner that I was a law professor, not a terrorist,” he said.
Evidence the FBI’s practices were ‘not isolated’
The employee’s lawyer, Tristan Leavitt, submitted a letter to the DOJ inspector general with these whistleblower disclosures, alleging that the security clearance process was commenced after the employee self-reported taking a vacation day on Jan. 6, 2021, to attend the pro-Trump rally outside the U.S. Capitol that day.
“The FBl’s intentions are made clear by the questions it chose to put in black and white on a government document,” the letter states, arguing the FBI violated the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent concerning the First Amendment and employment law.
“The Supreme Court held that terminating public employees for political patronage purposes — belonging to the wrong political party — ‘to the extent it compels or restrains belief and association is inimical to the process which undergirds our system of government and is at war with the deeper traditions of democracy embodied in the First Amendment,’” the letter states.
According to Just the News, FBI officials declined to comment on the story. However, two sources revealed that “there is evidence that information was gathered during FBI security clearance reviews on other employees’ political views, suggesting the practice was not isolated.”
In late 2022 and early 2023, subsequent releases of the “Twitter Files” showed the FBI colluded with Big Tech platforms such as Twitter — now X — and Facebook to keep track of and censor individuals who questioned the Biden administration’s COVID-19 policies or the 2020 U.S. presidential election results.
These documents included revelations that the FBI flagged specific users for Twitter to take action against, pressured platforms to remove purported “COVID misinformation” — including information confirmed to be true — and partnered with Stanford University’s “Virality Project” to develop an internal “ticketing” system for tweets to be further scrutinized for their content.
The Virality Project is affiliated with the Stanford Internet Observatory. Platformer reported Thursday that Stanford is “winding down” the observatory’s operations, as “the lab will not conduct research into the 2024 election or other elections in the future.”
Referring to the Just the News revelations, Iversen said, “This is really scary.” She added:
“We’ve talked to several FBI whistleblowers who’ve said, look, they’re going after Catholics. They’re going after parents at parent-teacher … conferences where the parents were angry, saying, ‘Hey, we don’t want our kids to be masked up all the time and we want you to open the schools back up.’ And they’re labeling all these people as terrorists. …
“We can’t be allowing the elites, the Deep State, the powers that be to be just eroding every right that we have and telling us that we need to become robots, just gobbling up everything they tell us or else we’re enemies of the state.”
New Poll: J.D. Vance Massive Favorite for Trump VP Pick
J.D. Vance emerged as the overwhelming favorite to be Donald Trump’s vice-president, in a straw poll conducted at the Turning Point Action’s People’s Convention, in Detroit.
Nearly 2000 respondents took part in the poll, in which Vance racked up 43% of votes. Tim Scott was a distant second, with 15.4%, followed by Marco Rubio and Doug Burgum, with 7.7% and 7.0% respectively. Just over a quarter of respondents remained undecided.
BASED JD VANCE DESTROYED CNN HOST: JAILING POLITICAL OPPONENTS IS “THE DEFINITION OF FASCISM” ? pic.twitter.com/SqXusc5RO4
— 1776 (@TheWakeninq) June 16, 2024
The poll also included questions about policy priorities. 83.3% of respondents said that immigration and border security should be the main focus of the first 100 days of a Trump second term. Economic issues were identified as the main priority by 14% of respondents.
A mere 2.7% believed that Ukraine and foreign aid should be the primary focus of an incoming administration. 91.7% of respondents expressed opposition to continuing aid for Ukraine.
Both Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson took a battering in the poll. Just shy of 80% of respondents said they strongly disapproved of McConnell’s performance as Senate Minority Leader, and 58.6% said the same about Johnson in his role as House Speaker.
In other notable news from the Convention, Alex Jones made a surprise appearance on stage with Jack Posobiec. Jones laid out his predictions for the 2024 election and the deep state’s attempts to thwart a Trump victory.
Alex Jones Gives Powerful Speech At Turning Point Action In Detroit pic.twitter.com/ahtfoMEbZ4
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) June 16, 2024
He also said that the regime’s attempts to censor and persecute Trump and key Trump allies were backfiring. He warned the audience to remain vigilant about election interference and attempts to demonise the populist movement.
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China Rapidly Expanding Nuclear Arsenal – Report
China has been expanding its nuclear arsenal “faster than any other country” in recent months, an annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has claimed. Beijing has supposedly added 90 warheads to its inventory since January 2023.
The document does note, however, that other nuclear-armed nations have also been modernizing their weapons of mass destruction and ramping up the number of operational nuclear warheads at their disposal.
According to the SIPRI report published on Sunday, the US and Russia are by far the largest nuclear powers, possessing nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.
READ MORE: UN chief sounds nuclear war alarm
However, China is “expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country,” according to Hans M. Kristensen, associate senior fellow with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program. SIPRI’s findings indicate that Beijing’s nuclear arsenal grew from 410 to 500 warheads between January 2023 and January 2024.
A separate report by the US Department of Defense last October concluded that China “possessed more than 500 operational nuclear warheads as of May 2023 – on track to exceed previous projections.”The Pentagon predicted at the time that this number would likely exceed 1,000 by 2030.
SIPRI claims that, “for the first time, China may also now be deploying a small number of warheads on missiles during peacetime.” While Beijing allegedly has 24 nuclear warheads on high operational alert, that number stands at more than 1,700 each in the case of the US and Russia.
The report concludes that “China could potentially have at least as many intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as either Russia or the USA by the turn of the decade, although its stockpile of nuclear warheads is still expected to remain much smaller than the stockpiles of either of those two countries.”
READ MORE: US may expand nuclear arsenal – Biden aide
In an interview with The Telegraph on Sunday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg revealed that member states were discussing the removal of more nuclear-capable missiles from storage and placing them on standby. He cited perceived threats emanating from Russia and China, insisting that the US-led military bloc needed to send a clear message regarding its own nuclear capabilities to Moscow and Beijing.