In recent years, there has been a Japanese food boom in foreign countries because of its healthy image and sophisticated taste. Moreover, high-quality Japanese agricultural products are highly appreciated in the world. Amid the recent boom in Japanese food in foreign countries, the exports of Japanese agriculture, forestry and fishery products and foods have been increasing, and the value of exports in 2007 reached over 400 billion yen, a 50% increase compared with the figure for 2001. Setting the goal for the export value of agriculture, forestry and fishery products, and foods, at about one trillion yen by 2013, in the circumstance, the Government of Japan has prepared a logo for export promotion, has developed a comprehensive export strategy and has held exhibitions and commercial meetings in foreign countries. In parallel to the export strategy of Japanese government, we provide Japanese farmers with a wide range of consulting services about export promotion, especially certifying GLOBALGAP that is an important international production standard for suppliers of agricultural products to the retail sector, for suppliers of the participating European supermarkets. GLOBALGAP, former EUREPGAP, distinguishes required and encouraged standards, and whose checklist defines minimum production standards that reflect the existing safety, quality and environmental guidelines of International retailers. GLOBALGAP's mission statement is to encourage the adoption of commercial viable farm assurance schemes which promote the minimization of agrochemical inputs within Europe and worldwide. According to Chairman Nigel Garbutt of GLOBALGAP, GLOBALGAP currently covers over 80,000 certified producers in no less than 80 countries with other expected to follow. Grower organizations or individual growers that meet GLOBALGAP criteria receive a certificate, which is issued by a GLOBALGAP approved Certificate Body. Another option is to participate in the GLOBALGAP Benchmarking Option, which facilitates existing national or regional quality assurance schemes to prove equivalence with GLOBALGAP requirements, which encourage the development of regionally adjusted integrated crop management systems. Going beyond Europe, for instance, established equivalent schemes such as ChileGAP, ChinaGAP, KenyaGAP, MexicoGAP, ThaiGAP and mostly JGAP are backed by national governments, retailers, producers and exporters. In Japan, the Japan GAP Initiatives (JGAI) published JGAP in February 2005. The GAP Promotion Council of the Ministry Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries included JGAP as part of the ministry's comprehensive food projects for 2004. The council modified GLOBALGAP to reflect Japan's meteorological phenomena and other production conditions. However, the propagation of JGAP comes with a lot of difficulties. Not only does Japan show much less interest in GAP as a transaction standard than foreign countries because it exports only small amounts of agricultural products, but also overwhelming amounts of agricultural products are distributed through the wholesale market, and thus farmers do not think that risk management brings any advantage to their business. At the same time, because most fruit and vegetables are traded on the wholesale market, wholesalers and retailers -- both of whom are involved in trading agricultural products -- are not greatly concerned about sharing the burden of securing food safety.