Category Archives: Photos

Kotaro Yamada On August 8, 2014, National Veterinary Assay Laboratory (NVAL), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, had its open day for school children and offered the children opportunities to learn the work of animal doctors at the laboratory in Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo. The lab invited 20 local elementary and junior high school students and they thoroughly enjoyed being “small animal doctors” in white coats. Their first learning materials were small animals. Small doctors were asked to check the heart sounds of guinea pigs and chicks with stethoscopes. “Their hearts are beating so quickly!” they reported excitedly. The next task was checking chicken eggs to see if they are … Continue reading →

Kotaro Yamada O-Mo-Te-Na-Shi : Gorgeous Veggieful Wedding An increasing number of couples are having unique “agricultural” or “pastoral” weddings at vegetables or fruits farms. Michiyo Koyama, 44, in Inzai-shi, Chiba Prefecture, helps them make their dreams come true by producing “veggie weddings” using  vegetables and flowers grown at her family’s farm. On July 12, Hiromi and Ryoji Tokumoto, 33 and 35, had their wedding reception at one of the vinyl greenhouses of Koyama and her family’s farm, Ito Naegi. “Give it up for the newly weds, Mr. & Mrs. Tokumoto,” the usher introduced them as they entered the vinyl house, cheered on by their guests. The house was available after … Continue reading →

Hiroki Arai – Tamagawa University’s Latest Research on LED use for food production (Machida-shi, Tokyo) – While light emitting diodes (LEDs) are drawing attention as a light source for cultivating food inside sunless factories. Tamagawa University in Machida-shi, Tokyo is making an unprecedented accomplishment in this field. The university has already developed equipment for food factories, carried out testing of cultivation methods and established a unique and integrated sunless food production and sales model. A clean room was installed in “Future SciTech Lab” which was built on the campus of Tamagawa University. Inside the lab, there is hydroponic culture system on shelves with five racks each. The upper ceilings of … Continue reading →

  Kotaro Yamada On a sunny day during the rainy season in Japan, the bank of the Takahashi River in Kurashiki-shi, Okayama Prefecture, is covered by flowers, not the real ones but the ones woven into a local specialty called hanagoza, which literally means flower matting. Hanagoza is an igusa (rush straw) matting with a colored floral design in it. By drying the material completely in the morning sun for several hours, one can prevent generation of mold. This process takes place on sunny days during the rainy season to get hanagoza products in stores in time for summer, as they are most popular in the hot months. Okayama used … Continue reading →