(SINGAPORE 2026.6.23) Japan will launch a new public–private agency in August aimed at protecting the rights of domestically developed plant varieties, amid rising concerns over the unauthorized overseas cultivation of Japanese fruit and crop strains—particularly in China and South Korea.
The initiative is designed to prevent a repeat of the large-scale outflow of Shine Muscat grape (阳光玫瑰葡萄) seedlings and to strengthen Japan’s ability to defend agricultural intellectual property overseas, according to Nikkei Chinese (日经中文网), the Chinese-language platform of Nikkei Shimbun.
In recent years, the overseas spread of Japanese-bred agricultural varieties has become a growing policy concern. A 2025 survey by Japan’s agriculture ministry found that seedling companies in China and South Korea were marketing around 50 Japanese-developed varieties—including strawberries, citrus fruits and grapes—via their commercial websites.
A prominent example is the Shine Muscat grape, developed by Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO). Its seedlings were later found to have spread to China and South Korea without authorization.
By 2022, Shine Muscat cultivation in China had expanded to around 73,700 hectares—about the size of Singapore and nearly 30 times the fruit’s planted area in Japan. Japan is estimated to be losing more than 10 billion yen (about S$85 million) annually in royalties, while South Korea’s production has also expanded, intensifying competition with Japanese exports.
Against this backdrop, the new agency is set to begin operations in August. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will formally designate it as a specialist body for plant variety protection and provide institutional backing.
The organization will act on behalf of public research institutes and prefectural governments that hold initial breeders’ rights, managing and enforcing those rights both domestically and overseas. It will also monitor foreign markets for unauthorized cultivation of Japanese varieties and, where infringement is identified, pursue measures including legal action.
At the same time, it will promote legitimate licensing by connecting promising Japanese varieties with seedling producers, distributors and overseas plant variety authorities, encouraging authorized cultivation abroad. Royalties collected from licensed growers will be returned to original breeders and research institutions, supporting the development of new varieties.
Officials say this will help establish a virtuous cycle in which intellectual property is protected, royalty income is secured and reinvested, and new high-quality varieties continue to be developed.
According to the agriculture ministry, the body will be Japan’s first institution dedicated exclusively to managing breeders’ rights. Preparations began in 2023, when nine organizations including NARO and JA Zen-Noh ( National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations) formed a preparatory council.
The agency will employ specialists in plant breeding as well as legal experts in licensing and intellectual property disputes.
Under Japan’s Seed and Seedling Law, breeders’ rights are a form of intellectual property granted once a new variety is officially registered. Many leading varieties are developed by public research institutions such as NARO and prefectural centers, but limited budgets and manpower have made international enforcement difficult.
To further prevent overseas leakage, the agriculture ministry is also seeking parliamentary approval to amend the Seed and Seedling Law. The proposed revision would allow authorities to prohibit illegal exports from the moment a variety’s registration application is publicly disclosed, rather than waiting until full registration is completed.
The Shine Muscat grape is often cited as a landmark case in Japan’s agricultural innovation. Developed over decades by researchers at NARO, it combines the aromatic sweetness of European muscat grapes with the crisp, seedless texture of Japanese table grapes, along with disease resistance property suited to Japan’s humid climate.
When it entered the Japanese market around 2009, Shine Muscat commanded prices exceeding US$100 (about S$129) per bunch, making it one of the world’s most expensive fruits.
However, from the 2010s onward, Shine Muscat began appearing across East Asia—not as Japanese exports, but as locally produced fruit in China, South Korea and later other markets, sold at far lower prices and widely distributed in supermarkets. Within a decade, Chinese production alone had grown to a scale that far surpassed Japan’s domestic output.
When Shine Muscat was first registered in 2003 under Japan’s Plant Variety Protection Act (種苗法, Shubyo-hō), protection applied only within Japan, in line with the UPOV (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) convention, which Japan joined in 1982. Rights holders—primarily NARO and the government—held exclusive control over production, sales, export and licensing only domestically.
However, the overseas protection gap proves critical: the variety was not registered in China or South Korea at the time of release. Because UPOV protections are territorial, Japan’s domestic registration did not extend abroad, requiring separate filings in each jurisdiction.
Plant material from Shine Muscat—cuttings and seedlings—was subsequently propagated and cultivated commercially in China and South Korea without authorization. Given that grapevines reproduce easily from cuttings, a single plant can be rapidly multiplied, making large-scale expansion relatively quick and straightforward.
While the exact circumstances of how the material first left Japan remain disputed, the consequence is clear: by the early 2020s, China had developed extensive Shine Muscat vineyards producing fruit at significantly lower cost, with supply eventually flowing into regional markets, including Japan, often under the same variety name.
The case became a turning point for Japanese policy. In response, Japan revised its Plant Variety Protection Act in 2020, with strengthened enforcement provisions coming into effect in 2022 to prevent similar leakage.
Now it is further seeking a tighter version through the Seed and Seedlings Act which would lock down seedlings and genetic materials earlier and more strictly—especially to prevent overseas leakage before and after registration.
Japan’s agricultural sector includes numerous high-value varieties—such as Yubari melons ( 夕张蜜瓜 ), Amaou strawberries ( 甘王草莓 ), Ruby Roman grapes ( 红宝石罗曼葡萄 ), Koshihikari rice ( 越光米 ), and Wagyu cattle ( 和牛）breeds—each representing decades of research and investment, and each potentially vulnerable to similar IP loss if not proactively protected.
As genomic breeding accelerates and climate pressures increase, countries and companies are racing to develop better seeds and plant varieties. Countries that can protect theirs across international markets are likely to gain a structural advantage.
