Category Archives: Others

An increasing number of local governments are turning to YouTubers – people who make money by creating online videos – to promote their local specialties and tourist spots. Some videos by popular YouTubers have attracted more than 1 million views, showing the power of social media in marketing efforts targeted at young people. The city of Iki located in Iki Island in Nagasaki Prefecture posted a video on YouTube in December 2016 to promote local specialties such as Iki wagyu beef and sea urchins, the products that are offered as gifts to people who donated money to the city under the hometown donation system. Yuka Kinoshita, 32, a popular YouTuber … Continue reading →

Billowing black smoke, a steam locomotive pulling passenger cars ran through the rice fields in the Aizu Basin in Fukushima Prefecture on May 20, as the region entered a rice planting season. The locomotive, named Shinryoku meaning fresh verdure in Japanese, carried 250 passengers for a 60-kilometer, two-and-a-half-hour ride between Aizuwakamatsu and Aizukawaguchi stations of JR Tadami Line, as a part of a special event held over the weekend to ride on the train. The train passed by the shining water-filled paddy fields reflecting the early summer sky, blowing steam whistles as it wound through the basin known as the major production area of rice varieties such as Koshihikari, Hitomebore … Continue reading →