Category Archives: Photos

A very special lunch box went on sale just recently in Ina-shi, Nagano Prefecture. It’s a boxed lunch called “Inadani Meibutsu Chinmi Bento (meaning a lunch box full of local rare delicacies of Inadani region)” and it contained various rare ingredients including wild boar meat, bee larvae, locusts, silk worm pupae, and young water bugs. The very exclusive bento boxes were sold on April 10, 2016, at the Cherry Blossom Festival held at Ina Park. Only 100 boxes were prepared and sold at 1500 yen each. The idea of selling such unique lunch boxes came from a group of retail store owners and local residents, the foundation for the protection … Continue reading →

Large-scale commercial cultivation of Shinano Gold yellow apples developed in Nagano Prefecture will start in South Tyrol, Italy. Nagano Prefectural Government has signed a license contract with the South Tyrolean Fruit Growers’ Cooperatives (VOG) and the Val Venosta Cooperative Association (VI-P) on March 24, 2016. Italian-grown Shinano Gold apples will be sold in Europe and surrounding areas and the prefecture will receive license fees. Nagano expects that this will also help it to promote Nagano Brand in Europe. Shinano Gold is a medium-late season apple variety with well-balanced sour-sweetness. It was developed by Nagano Prefecture in 1999. The two European fruit grower’s associations expect Shinano Gold to become popular in … Continue reading →

Landscape paintings of a 33-year-old farmer-cum-painter in Kasai-shi, Hyogo Prefecture, are drawing attentions for their fresh interpretation of the harshness and the preciousness of the nature that the painter knows from his days as a farmer. The young farmer and landscape painter, Kazuya Sakurai, draws fruits and vegetables by the window and farmland looking through the window on one canvas. He paints out of his imagination using many very small dots. He came up with this style without receiving any formal art education. He once was a shut-in, or hikikomori in Japanese, and isolated himself from any social contact after becoming truant and dropping out of senior high school. However, … Continue reading →