On July 9th, we visited Konta-nouen located in Kahoku Town, Yamagata Prefecture. Taking full advantage of the area's climate and soil, the farm cultivates and sells cherries, La France pears, taro, and Chinese yam. The visit provided a valuable opportunity to speak with the owner, Mr. Mitsuhiro Konta,  about expanding sales channels by attaching QMS TRACE QR codes to their  premium "Beni-Shuhō" cherries.

On June 4, 2025, the kick off meeting for the initiative to use Peppol in B2B transactions between Japan and Finland was held at Paasitorni, a historic conference center in Helsinki, co-hosted by the Peppol Authority of Japan and Finland. Four Japanese companies operating in Finland and six service providers from Finland participated. The clear, early summer sky in Helsinki reminded us of the color of Peppol.

On May 21, we visited Sasaki Green Tea Company (located in Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture), a supplier of CHUO FOOD SERVICE Co., Ltd. The company is a long-established tea manufacturer specializing in deep-steamed tea, handling everything from tea leaf harvesting to production and packaging in-house. Over the years, they have won the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award a total of 34 times and became the first Japanese tea brand to receive a three-star rating from the International Taste Institute (formerly iTQi) in Belgium, earning high recognition both domestically and internationally.

Dr. Yoji Kurobane, a doctor, essayist, and local historian, is actively engaged in multiple fields. We had the opportunity to exchange opinions with Dr. Kurobane and local businesses on the role of digital transformation (DX) in regional revitalization and how to approach it, as we consider the future of Tsuruoka in the Shonai region of Yamagata Prefecture.

 Under the leadership of President Mr. Sudo of Artemyn Specialties Japan Co., Ltd., our Director Sugawara visited Sobueclay Co., Ltd., based in Nagoya. Both companies specialize in handling inorganic minerals such as talc and magnesium oxide.

 As part of the ongoing efforts to enhance operational efficiency within Japan following the renovation of the accounting system at Artemyn Specialties Japan, the introduction of Peppol for billing transactions between Artemyn Specialties Japan and Sobueclay Co., Ltd. was proposed, leading to this important meeting.

We visited Hiratsuka Fisheries Association office to report the result of the pilot trial, which was terminated by the end of February 2025.  This pilot trial was done with Hiratsuka Fisheries Association and Asatsuyu Hiroba (JA Shonan group) under the city of Hiratsuka's supervision.