A Tohoku region construction firm has successfully turned about 3 hectares of land into a celebrated locale with ostriches as its centerpiece.
Yasuo Nakazato is president of construction firm Nakazato Kogyo, which manages Shirotori Dacho Mura (White bird Ostrich Village) in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture. He got interested in the world's largest living birds, which originate in Africa, five years ago when his company was in a slump amid a sudden drop in public works projects.
With fears of mad cow disease sweeping the nation, Nakazato, 65, read a newspaper report about the potential of ostrich meat.