Category Archives: Others

  Keita Takeuchi In France, a system of collecting fees from hunters to be used to compensate for crop damages caused by deer and wild boars has played a significant role in supporting farmers’ businesses. But the system is facing difficulties due to decline in the number of hunters and increasing amount of compensation brought about by rising prices of agricultural products. Gregoire Callies, 49, runs a 150-hectare hunting ground in the village of Brignancourt in Val d’Oise, which is located some 40 km northwest of Paris and is known for vast wheat fields which appear in the paintings of Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. Showing a menu for … Continue reading →

  Keita Takeuchi Fife, Scotland, is a hilly county where sheep graze in pastures and wheat field ripples, and where wild animals live in scattered forests. In one of the forests in Cupar, a town located in the eastern part of Fife, there is a training facility for students of Elmwood College’s gamekeeping course, where they study hunting, gamekeeping and wildlife ecology. Gamekeeping lecturer Jim Goodlad, while driving a four-wheel drive car, tells six students accompanying him to look at pheasants pecking at insects in cattle manure. It is a part of field courses to learn how to rear pheasants, a popular game for hunting. To create a feeding place … Continue reading →

  Yuu Kawasaki Hunting is popular in Europe and the use of gibier (game meats) is well established in the region. But even in European countries where hunting is deeply rooted as a tradition, damages caused by wildlife to agricultural products are becoming increasingly serious. In this series, we look at the situations and concerns in Europe related to hunting and game meats, and what Japan can learn from their experiences. Marnia Alexander, 57-year-old professional hunter in Bavaria in southern Germany, proudly states that hunters are the ones who suppress threats by wild animals and protect farmlands and forests from devastation. In the region where hunting is the most popular … Continue reading →

  Hiroko Obara Nearly 100 families who evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture after the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant accident live in Shirasagi Apartment, a municipally-owned, 12-story apartment building located in a quiet residential area in Nakano ward, Tokyo. Evacuees have been holding meetings once a week in a temporary meeting room in the building since September 2011. Two and a half years after the accident, more than 30 people still attend the weekly meeting called Kirasse (meaning “welcome”) Salon. In the salon, elderly people take care of children and listen to young mothers’ worries. “I feel relaxed coming here, looking at children’s smiling faces,” says Norio Takamatsu, 66, who had … Continue reading →

  Jyunichi Miura Urgently wanted: young nurses who can work night shift. Kashima Kosei Hospital, located within 30 km of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, is suffering from chronic shortage of medical staff, especially nurses. With a number of temporary housing complexes built nearby, the hospital, run by an agricultural cooperative in Fukushima, has to accept increasing number of outpatients and emergency patients. The hospital has recruited nurses through newspaper ads and public job placement offices, but has not received many applications. Nurses, who are disaster victims themselves, are caring patients while struggling with their own psychological stress. “We are making desperate efforts to run the hospital with a … Continue reading →