【News】 Never ever push me from the back! (Sept. 6, 2015)

Kotaro Yamada Narita Dream Dairy Farm, a guest ranch in Narita-shi, Chiba Prefecture, has a bridge exclusively designed for goats. It’s a popular attraction for visitors to see goats walking in the air. Wooden panels are fixed on logs to make the goatwalk of about 50 meters long, 18 centimeters wide and 2.5 meters high. It was built in July 2011 to allow goats, which love heights, can play on it. Goats climb up and walk on the narrow bridge quite lightly and easily. Sometimes they fall but never get hurt as they are also good at landing on their feet. The farm has approximately 30 goats and visitors can … Continue reading

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【Editorial】 Japan’s tourism boom an opportunity to expand agricultural income (Sept. 4, 2015)

  Waves of visitors from foreign countries are flocking to Japan, with their number approaching the 2 million mark on a monthly basis. Tourists, especially from Asian countries, are on the rise fueled by the weaker yen, relaxation in visa requirements and an increase in air routes and flights. In order to make this tourism boom a driving force to expand farmers’ income and revitalize rural villages, it is necessary to direct big-spending tourists to regional areas as repeaters. The government and the private sector should work together to take timely and sustainable measures to let it happen. According to the Japan Tourism Agency, the number of overseas tourists totaled … Continue reading

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【News】 Local monsters rampage to save Japan (Sept. 2, 2015)

Kazuhiro Eguchi “Local monsters” designed based on local specialties including agricultural products are drawing attentions as new tools for regional promotion. They are a little different from cute local mascot characters (yuru-chara) in how they leave strong impression. The whole project is produced by Dai-Ichi Tsushinsha Inc., an advertising company headquartered in Tokyo, and Hiroshi Sagae, a master art director of special effects films particularly known for his work on the monster film “Gamera.” So far, they already created two dimensional images of 49 monsters and three dimensional models for 23 monsters among them, each inhabits in 46 different prefectures. Several monsters use agricultural products as motif. For example, Twoon … Continue reading

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【News】 JA turns Shinjuku Station virtual veggie shop on “831 (vegetable) day” (Sept. 1, 2015)

A huge virtual vegetable shop appeared in the Shinjuku subway station in Tokyo on August 31, 2015. Several vegetable shelves printed on huge posters were put up on the wall and three-dimensional wraparounds featuring a Japanese radish, corn, sweet potato, and three other vegetables were set up around the columns in the walkway. In Japan, August 31 is “the day of vegetables” because of the similarity in pronunciation of 8, 3 and 1 to the word “ya-sa-i (vegetables)” in Japanese. The creative display that started on the vegetable day was a campaign presented by JA (Japan Agricultural Co-operatives) Group for promoting vegetables grown in Japan. Many including families and foreign … Continue reading

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【News】 Lantern parade gives boost to hometown (Aug. 30, 2015)

Kentarou Tominaga – Paper lantern truck parade (Toyota-shi, Aichi Prefecture)  – August 14, the middle day of Japanese bon holidays in its old calendar, was the day for pickup trucks with big illuminated paper lanterns to parade down the roads in Obara district of Toyota-shi, Aichi Prefecture. The parade is held by local residents to welcome those who are home on holidays and to communicate how attractive and lively their living will be back in their hometown. The event started three years ago in order to encourage people who left the town for schooling or working to come home and enjoy reunion. In 2015, eight pickup trucks paraded down the … Continue reading

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