Japan confirms second pig case of classical swine fever

TOKYO, Nov. 18 ― Japan’s agriculture ministry said on Nov. 16 that a domestic pig at the livestock center park in Gifu prefecture was tested positive for classical swine fever, also knows as hog cholera. The announced came after the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) confirmed swine fever virus in the final analysis. This is the second case of domestic pigs found infected with the swine fever virus in Gifu. In addition, the carcass of a wild boar found in Gifu in September was also found infected with the virus. The swine fever is unrelated to the African swine fever that has broken out in China and other … Continue reading

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Tokyo makes video to educate farmers on African swine fever

TOKYO, Oct. 21 ― Japan’s agriculture ministry has issued an online video to educate farmers on preventive measures to avoid African swine fever, as the highly contagious disease is on the rise in China and beyond. African swine fever is not harmful to humans but is often fatal to pigs and impossible to vaccinate against. The online video, which last two-and-a-half minutes, advises farmers to observe hygiene, to properly monitor people’s movements in farms and to heat animal feed very well as the virus can survive for months in meat products. African swine fever has now reached most of China’s pig-farming regions. According to the Japanese agriculture ministry, the deadly … Continue reading

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A Hokkaido dairy farmer closes his farm following earthquake, writes poems to show gratitude

HOKKAIDO, Nov. 6 – “No more sound of buckets No more sound of cows mooing No more sound of milkers No more sound of bulk coolers Every sound of production is completely gone Silence Desolation Tears Tears” Shoichi Narita, 77, a dairy farmer of Nemuro, Hokkaido, wrote this poem to thank his cows, his farm and his fellow farmers who supported him, after he sold all his cows and gave up farming in October. Narita had been running his farm which his grandfather reclaimed in the Meiji Era, keeping 120 cows on a 100-hectare land. But following a major earthquake that hit Hokkaido in September, Narita, his wife Hiroko, 73, … Continue reading

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[Our Noh no Ikebana] “I’d like to celebrate the coming of the autumn,” says Michiko Sekimori, 70, from Chofu, Tokyo

“I’ve been enjoying Noh no Ikebana for almost 13 years. One day, I saw the arrangements of the No-no-ikebana group in Tokyo at a gathering among female farmers in Tachikawa, Tokyo, and thought I want to do it myself. “Look, you are going to be a star. Let’s have fun on the stage together.” I always talk to the flowers and materials silently while I make arrangements. The theme of this arrangement I created this October is “Fall finally came!” It’s been a very hot summer, so I used Japanese silver grass and persimmons to express my happiness to welcome the autumn. I would like you to pay extra attention … Continue reading

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“Honnyo” stands in rice fields as symbol of rice growing culture in Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture

It’s believed that the name “Honnyo” has come from “honio,” the name of the method of stacking freshly-harvested rice plants, or from “honioh” from the shape that looks like a temple guardian. To make Honnyo, you assemble four bunches of the rice plants in the shape of a cross and hung them around a cedar pole of two to three meters long which stands in the rice fields. Usually, you can place around 30 of them per 10 are. Farmers in Nagasaki region do it a little differently, by making triangles with the rice plants and assemble them on the pole in an angle so that the tips of the … Continue reading

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