I live in Southeastern Japan (near Tokyo) and it is potato planting time here. I planted some "May Queen" potatoes just this past weekend. I dug a furrow and laid down some premixed potato fertilizer. They tend to have a lot of premixed fertilizers here for different plants.
I covered that with about an inch of soil and placed the potatoes in about 10 inches apart. I covered the potatoes with another inch or two of soil and placed about 4 inches of pine needles on top of that. Lastly I partially covered the pine needles with a bit of soil.
Once the plants emerge and get to about a 8 inches tall i plan to add a bit more fertilizer, some more needles and hill them up a bit.
The climate here is much different to anywhere I have gardened in the US. Many things grow better in the cooler seasons here and it gets very hot and humid in the summer.