Insert two 100 yen coins into the machine and turn the handle to get the product. But please note it’s not a toy but a real umeboshi, a Japanese pickled plum, in a capsule. This amazing experience is brought by Gachapon coin-operated capsule umeboshi (not toy) vending machines, which are introduced by Kishu Minabe Umeboshi (Pickled Plum) Producers Association based in Minabe-cho, Wakayama Prefecture. The association introduced them in order to encourage children to eat more umeboshi, and accordingly to recover its consumption. It seems that they are doing a good job. The first capsule umeboshi vending machine was introduced in late January quite successfully. So now, you can find … Continue reading →

Kotaro Yamada – Iki-iki Yamada Koinobori Festival (Katori-shi, Chiba Prefecture) – In late April every year, the village in Katori-shi, Chiba Prefecture, turns colorful with rows of 200 carp-shaped streamers flying over rice paddies and local farmers doing their usual jobs, puddling soil and planting rice. The scene is already one of the early-summer features of the village. “I feel so good when planting rice sometimes looking up at Koinobori,” said Toshihiro Sugaya, 62, as he stopped his hands and smiled. He is a local farmer whose paddies are right under the great Koinobori display. The villagers of Katori-shi or the village previously called Yamada-cho decorate the area with Koinobori streamers … Continue reading →