Category Archives: Others

Sunflowers in full bloom in empty town in Fukushima, as hopes rise for lifting of evacuation orders

FUKUSHIMA, Aug. 29 – Sunflowers are in full bloom in the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, where all the residents have been unable to return after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident brought about by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A group of 50 residents sowed the seeds on a 1.8-hectare land in June in an effort to maintain the weakening ties between the town and the evacuated residents, as more than seven years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The yellow flowers fill the fields besides a street in the town’s Ogawara district where people drive on to return to their homes temporarily. A message … Continue reading

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National high school baseball championship runners-up ‘Kana-no’ creates new history as agricultural high school

HYOGO, Aug. 22 – Kanaashi Nogyo High School, an agricultural high school in Akita Prefecture known as “Kana-no,” finished second in the 100th National High School Baseball Championship on Aug. 21, beaten 13-2 by Osaka Toin High School of Osaka Prefecture in the final. The team, the first from Akita to reach the final since 1915 and the first agricultural high school to do so after World War II, left a new footprint at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture, impressing people with its never-give-up attitude. “We were able to come this far thanks to the support of the local community,” Kanaashi Nogyo ace Kosei Yoshida said in tears after the … Continue reading

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Abandoned world war factory sitting still in farmland

SAITAMA, Aug. 15 – The day to remember the end of the World War II came again on August 15. However, in a crop land in Kushibiki region, Fukaya city, Saitama Prefecture, a thick concrete building always sits still to help you recall the war. The 5-square-meter 10-meter-high 2-story building used to be a gunpowder factory built during the World War II. Both the building and the farmland belong to a local farmer, but he grows nothing there as the land is always shady because of the structure. During the war, it was, reportedly, part of the No.2 arsenal of the Tokyo army base. It was moved from Tokyo to … Continue reading

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Green tea dealers of Shizuoka offering new ways to enjoy green tea at cafés

SHIZUOKA, Aug. 2 – How about choosing your favorite temperature to roast green tea leaves, or enjoying green tea made with an espresso maker? In an effort to spread green tea among young people who tend to drink coffee at cafés, tea dealers of Shizuoka Prefecture, a major tea producing region, are coming up with new ways of serving green tea. Maruzen Tea Roastery Last year, Maruzen Seicha Co. Ltd., a tea dealer in the city of Shizuoka, opened a green tea café in the city center full of coffee shops. Maruzen Tea Roastery lets customers choose the temperature to roast tea leaves from five different degrees between 80 and … Continue reading

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Kanekobara no Mushi-okuri Odori continuing to send away insects and pray for good harvest

July 29, SHIMANE – On July 20 every year, some villagers of Kanekobara, Shimane Prefecture, in summer yukata and with traditional straw hats with paper flowers and perform traditional dance named “Kanekobara no Mushi-okuri Odori,” which literally means “dance to send off insects” in Japanese. The dancers walk around the village to draw insects from the rice fields and flame them at the end of the ceremony. At 1:00 P.M., a straw-made soldier on horseback called Sanemori-san and 20 male villagers left the Mihoryo Shrine and started the 8-kilometer walk to the Suwa Shrine. Some with banners led the party and the others with traditional instruments such as kane (ching) … Continue reading

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