Category Archives: Photos

【News】 Look! That’s Totoro! (Nov. 1, 2014)

  Kotaro Yamada For Reijiro Tsukida, 70, woodpile is a work of art. Using firewood for his wood-burning stoves at home, the flower grower creates mosaic. The artwork is built out of konara oak firewood he keeps under the eaves at his home. Each piece of firewood has different colors and tones, and all are in different diameters. He builds motifs making use of all such unique features of each piece of the materials, sometimes placing them in different angles. The patterns he chooses are also varied from famous animated characters to his own family and flowers he grows. Every spring, he goes to the surrounding mountains to cut trees … Continue reading

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【News】 Nice! Nippon Farmers! (Oct. 19, 2014)

  Tetsuya Onda – Farm stay programs for international students                                      (Semboku-shi, Akita Prefecture) – Semboku-shi in Akita Prefecture is actively accepting international students mainly from Asia to offer them a chance to experience farming in Japan. On October 10, 2014, the city accepted approximately 100 Indonesian students for a farm stay program of three days and two nights, during which the students enjoyed Japanese food and life in the village and built close relationship with local Japanese farmers. The farm stay program for foreign students was part of International Youth Exchange programs led by the Japanese government. The students were introduced to 20 different host families, either farmers or … Continue reading

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【News】 Take fresh colors with you to enjoy anytime, anywhere and forever (Oct. 12, 2014)

  Kotaro Yamada – Dyeing clothes using gentians (Niimi-shi, Okayama Prefecture) – Farmers in Niimi-shi, Okayama Prefecture, are trying to convey the charm of their local specialty, gentians, by making gentian-dyed clothes their new local attraction. They color clothes using unmarketable gentians so that people can enjoy their colors anytime, anywhere and forever. The initiative was launched in 2012 by the Division of Flowers and Ornamental Plants of JA Ashin, an agricultural co-operative of Okayama Prefecture as a project to make use of unmarketable gentians, due to badly-shaped stems for example, particularly in pale purple and pink. The method they introduced is not something special. You put handpicked gentian petals into … Continue reading

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【News】 Give our reliable mates another chance—NPO’s attempt to reintroduce horse plowing (Oct. 5, 2014)

Kotaro Yamada (Tsuru-shi, Yamanashi Prefecture) A non-profit organization (NPO), Tsuru Environment Forum, is trying to reintroduce the tradition of horse plowing in Tsuru-shi, Yamanashi Prefecture. In late September, the NPO held a seminar for local farmers to learn how to work with horses. During the seminar, one person leads a horse while another holds the plow, following the horse. Many of them had difficulties leading horses. They found that it requires skills to work with the horses in perfect harmony and plowing the field straight is not as easy as they thought. However, the reactions of the farmers were quite positive. Miwako Akiyama, 41, found that the horse plowing is … Continue reading

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【News】 Easy swallowing food for aging society (Sept. 21, 2014)

Kotaro Yamada Recipes for dysphagia are drawing attentions in the fast-aging society of Japan. Hospitals and aged care facilities all over the country are doing their best to “recreate” traditional food such as Japanese hot pod dishes for people having difficulties chewing and swallowing. They do so by using mashed-up ingredients and gelatin and shaping them into certain shapes. On September 19, 2014, a contest for easy swallowing traditional food recipes was held in Koto-ku, Tokyo, jointly by Health care Central Kitchen Association of Japan and Engeshoku.com. In the venue were 163 traditional dishes looking and tasting almost exactly the same as their original models but prepared to be soft … Continue reading

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