KAGOSHIMA, May 20 – Yukari Miyazawa, a 38-year-old resident of Okinoerabu Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, has started selling playdough made from irregular potatoes after learning that they are being disposed of. “I hope people will have more interest in the issue of food waste through the product,” Miyazawa said. Miyazawa moved to the island from Okinawa Prefecture in 2018 with her husband who was transferred there. She learned that potatoes, the local specialty, are often wasted if they are damaged and are not suitable for shipping, and looked for ways to recycle them. She found out that it is possible to make playdough by mixing starch extracted from potatoes with … Continue reading →

NAGANO, May 19 – A vending machine offering horse meat sashimi in the town of Iijima, Nagano Prefecture, is proving popular amid the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling customers to make purchases 24 hours a day while avoiding face-to-face contact. The vending machine service is offered by Wakamaru, a meat seller with more than 100 years of history specializing in horse meat, a local specialty of Nagano’s Minami Shinshu region. While selling products at its shop next to its factory, as well as online and at local restaurants, the firm set up a vending machine with a quick-freezing function at its headquarters. Five raw horse meat products are available from the vending … Continue reading →

CHIBA, May 11 – “Evangelion 3.0+1.0″ is the final film in the famous Japanese anime series released in March this year. It’s creating a buzz on social media on the actual location of the terraced rice paddies (tanada in Japanese) featured in the movie. Japan Agriculture News confirmed that the rice fields in the film is Oyama Senmaida in Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture, in the interviews with the people who have been protecting the landscape. Rice fields preserved by “owner system” to welcome site visits by fans “We can’t tell the name of the movie, but please let us use the scenery in the film.” A nonprofit organization (NPO), Oyama … Continue reading →

GUNMA, May 3 – A Fordson Model F, the world’s oldest mass-produced tractor model, found in the village of Tsumagoi in Gunma Prefecture is attracting people’s attention after a local folk museum confirmed it to be the oldest existing tractor of the kind in Japan. The tractor is owned by Kenji Kaneko, 73, a resident of Tsumagoi who repairs and sells tractors. Kaneko obtained it roughly 30 years ago from a bereaved family of a rancher in Shizuoka Prefecture. The 20-horsepower tractor had been sold at about 10 million yen in today’s value. Although it was rusted and didn’t run when he got it, Kaneko disassembled it, put it back … Continue reading →