Category Archives: Photos

GIFU, Oct. 2 ― The Nagara River, considered one of Japan’s three clearest rivers and known for the ayu sweetfish fishing, supports a population of 860,000 people living in the basin from upstream through downstream. Ayu of the Nagara River was designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2015 as satokawa, a river that enriches the lives of people in various forms including culture, industry and traditional craftwork. Seiryu Nagara River Ayu Park in the city of Gujo located in the upstream of the river allows visitors to experience live decoy fishing called tomozuri and ayu hand grabbing, as well … Continue reading →

FUKUOKA, Jul. 25 – In Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture, you’ll see this open field of chrysanthemum plants aglow at night. Motoyuki Inoue, vice chairman of the flower business committee of a local agricultural cooperative in Fukuoka (JA Itoshima), has 80-are outdoor light-culture chrysanthemum beds and 37-are greenhouses. In the greenhouses, he grows chrysanthemums twice a year. The 55-year-old man currently lights the plants with red light-emitting diode (LED) lamps and orange fluorescent lamps from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. The chrysanthemum is a short-day plant that flowers when the day is shorter than the night. So, the artificial lighting can make the plants develop buds late and bloom at the … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jun. 29 – Iriya Asagao Matsuri (Morning Glory Festival) will take place for the first time in four years. It’s one of Tokyo’s summer features which had been canceled for the last three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Yoshiyuki Hanya is extremely busy preparing for the flower shipment at his greenhouse in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo.   The 66-year-old flower grower produced 1,500 pots of morning glories this year. He planted seeds in mid-April so that they bloom in mid-June. To ensure the flowers bloom beautifully in June, he’s been watching them very carefully, avoiding their exposure to low temperatures and street lights at night. Hanya’s products are in … Continue reading →

MIYAZAKI, May. 10 – In Iwaigawa Nakao Village in Hinokage Town, Miyazaki Prefecture, you can see a rare sight of cows marching along the village road every morning. A 72-year-old breeding cow grower, Atsunori Iwata, opens his barn door at 9 a.m. every morning, and 20 breeding cows start walking to a pasture about 100 meters away from the barn. The cows arrive at the range in about 15 minutes, spend the day on the 10-hectare grassland, and return to the barn by themselves in the evening. Iwata took over the family business of livestock farming after being involved in the livestock farming management guidance at a local agricultural cooperative … Continue reading →