【News】Popular Hime Daruma dolls in Oita handed down by a farming family (April 1, 2017)

Hime (princess) Daruma dolls, a traditional handicraft of Takeda, Oita Prefecture, are recently proving so popular that you have to wait as long as three years after placing orders to get them. The red, round dolls with a gentle smile, regarded as a talisman of good luck, are said to bring family happiness and thriving business. The dolls are produced by a Takeda woman and her daughter-in-law, the only family that inherits the tradition handed down since the Edo Period. Because the dolls are made completely by hand, it takes them roughly a week to make one daruma. Meiko Goto, 80, of a rice farming family produces the dolls in … Continue reading

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【News】 Japanese Government to promote Sake brewery tours for international tourist visiting Japan (April 5, 2017)

Japan Tourism Agency of the Japanese Government plans to promote “sake brewery tourism” for international tourists visiting Japan. In fiscal 2017, the Japan Tourism Agency will select model districts in various parts of the country, where planning of a tour around sake breweries is respectively to be undertaken. The Agency’s project aims at finding out problems to be faced in receiving overseas tourists at the model districts as well as training interpreters for the sake brewery tourism. Most of sake breweries are traditional Japanese-style buildings, where tourists can get informed about sake brewing and enjoy tasting various kinds of local sake or Japanese rice wine. The Japanese Government hopes that … Continue reading

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【News】 Population of women in their 30s increasing at 40 percent of “depopulated municipalities” in Japan (April 5, 2017)

A number of women in their 30s living at local municipalities designated as “depopulated municipalities” has been increasing, Research Institute for Sustainable Community, based at Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture, finds in its latest study. According to the study of the Research Institute, the population of the young generation also tends to grow even at local municipalities in mountainous areas as well as outer islands located especially in a western part of Japan. The Institute has made a study of population movements at 794 designated “depopulated municipalities” in Japan on the basis of national censuses conducted in 2010 and 2015. Among these depopulated municipalities, a number of female residents aged 30 … Continue reading

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【News】 Japanese Wagyu beef enjoying brisk sales in U.S. market in the first quarter of 2017 (April 3, 2017)

Exports of “Wagyu” beef to the United States have been increasing in the first quarter of 2017 at a faster pace well above that in the same period of the previous year when the export to U.S. hit an annual record. Demands for the Wagyu beef are continuously growing among many high-class restaurants in U.S. cities. It is expected that exports of Japanese beef to U.S. will surely exceed its country-specific low-tariff quota on Japanese beef of 200 tons before the end of 2017. A tariff of 4.4 cent per one kg, equivalent to an ad valorem tax of 0.06 percent, is imposed to Japanese beef imported through the low-tariff … Continue reading

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【News】Our Noh no Ikebana: “Use whole vegetable for dynamic expression” says Takako Hashimoto from Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture(Apr. 7, 2017)

Takako Hashimoto, a 62-year-old Noh no Ikebana artist from Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture, talks about how thoroughly she enjoys Noh no Ikebana. “I use whole vegetables from stems to leaves to make my arrangements lively and energetic. Take sweet potatoes for example. By using leaves and vines which are turning yellow, I can describe how they grow in the field.” “I also enjoy working with friends. This is the arrangement for the general meeting of the female group of an agricultural cooperative of Sakura Koriyama region in Fukushima Prefecture (JA Fukushima Sakura Koriyama Region) and I made it with the members of the female group. The main character is a … Continue reading

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