On August 31, a giant snake made of straw and bamboo paraded in Sekikawa Village, Niigata Prefecture, as a star of a village festival, the 35th Taishita Mon Ja Matsuri, which literally means the festival of a massive snake in Japanese. The giant figure was rebuilt this spring, marking the year 2025, which is the year of the snake in Japan.The annual event began to commemorate the Uetsu Flood that struck the area in 1967. The length of the snake, 82.8 meters, corresponds to the date of the disaster, August 28. The gala motif is a local legend about a giant snake. In 2001, the figure was registered by Guinness … Continue reading →

GUNMA, Aug. 30 — A nursing and rehabilitation facility operator in Gunma Prefecture has developed a wheelchair cushion using konnayku, a high-fiber, jelly-like food valued for its health benefits. The prefecture is known as Japan’s top producer of konjac plants, whose corms are used to make konnyaku. HAPPINESS KEY, a firm in Ota, Gunma Prefecture, adopted konnyaku as a material to create a cushion used on wheelchairs at its nursing and rehabilitation facility Asu Purasu Kea. The firm is applying for a patent for the product and plans to start marketing the cushion in autumn together with a user-friendly wheelchair that allows users to maintain a good posture. Keisuke Sekiguchi, … Continue reading →

IBARAKI, Aug. 21 – The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) is installing carbonated water vending machines that can refill bottles at low prices at its farmers’ markets to increase the number of regular repeat customers. One of the farmer’s markets run by JA ZEN-NOH Ibaraki saw a sales increase of more than three times for carbonated water in July, compared to May, the month the machine was installed. The store, Pocket Farm Dokidoki Ibaraki Town, gave away water bottles for free and promoted the carbonated water from its vending machines at a cooking class for parents and children, aiming to encourage the purchase of water. According to a … Continue reading →

GUNMA, Aug. 24 — Despite the continuing heat waves, konjac leaves are growing well in farms in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture, one of the major producing areas of the plant, whose corms are used to make konnyaku, a high-fiber, jelly-like food valued for its health benefits. The konjac plant, also known as devil’s tongue, grows thick like a jungle, but surprisingly enough, each plant actually has a single leaf divided into numerous leaflets. The summer is when konjac corms underground grow significantly in size, and farms are busy disinfecting the leaves to protect them from disease. Shibukawa, thanks to its pumice soils that drain well, is fit for konjac cultivation. There … Continue reading →

HOKKAIDO, Aug. 14 – JA Yubari City, a local agricultural cooperative in Yubari City, Hokkaido, held an official offline meet-up to interact with its 64K followers of its official account on X (formerly Twitter), which is one of the most popular JA accounts in Japan. From all over the country and from several different industries, 10 people gathered in the city famous for producing Yubari Melon and enjoyed a tour at a Yubari Melon greenhouse and an experience of fruit sorting processes. The event provided the participants with the opportunity to observe how one of the most luxurious and expensive fruits in the world is being grown while deepening connections … Continue reading →