Category Archives: Photos

In Kamigori town, Hyogo Prefecture, the production of Kaguyabina, a pair of paper dolls place inside a Hyogo-made bamboo container, is now in full swing ahead of Girls’ Day on March 3, the day for people in Japan to pray for the happiness and healthy growth of girls. A pair of hand-crafted paper dolls in Kyoto-Yuzen patterned paper kimonos and artificial peach flowers are placed in the bamboo container of approximately 20 centimeters in height and 12 centimeters in diameter. It’s designed based on “Taketori Monogatari,” which a centuries-old Japanese fairy tale about a mysterious girl “Kaguya-hime” who was found as a baby inside a bamboo stalk. Koji Matsui, a … Continue reading →

Shimoguri-no-sato is a solitary hamlet in the mountains in Kamimura village, Iida city, Nagano Prefecture, which has become one of the popular tourist destinations in Japan. A photo of the village taken by a drone showed impressive houses and fields that cling to the steep slope on the southeastern side of the mountain. People grow local specialties such as Shimoguri potatoes and buckwheat on the well-drained soil on the slope of up to 38 degrees at approximately 800 to 1,000 kilometers above sea level. The village enjoys sunlight from early morning till evening. So people used to say, “don’t let you daughter get married to a man from Shimoguri-no-sato,” as … Continue reading →

It’s about 40 minutes’ drive from Asahikawa Airport. The blue pond lies down in absolute silence in the remote forest in Biei town, Hokkaido. In winter, after the sunset, the pond and the larch and Japanese white birch trees coming out of its frozen, snow-covered surface are showered by surreal blue and white illumination. The pond was built in 1989 by Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau as part of an erosion control system to stop mud flow into the town of Biei in case of an eruption of nearby Mount Tokachidake. This mysterious landscape suddenly became famous among international travelers after this cobalt blue pond was featured in one of the … Continue reading →

The village of Umaji in Kochi Prefecture has managed to put on track the business of creating unique items from cedar logs that come out as a result of forest thinning. Ecoasu, a joint public-private venture enterprise which is working on revitalizing the forestry industry in the district, is engaged in the whole process from thinning forests to manufacturing products. The firm’s top selling product is “monacca,” wooden bags created from wood slices. Logs are first sliced into 0.5-mm-thin sheets. Then six sheets are glued together, molded into the shape of a bag with a pressing tool and are completed after fasteners are sewn on and coating is done. The … Continue reading →