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Eriko Aoyagi
For Eriko Aoyagi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 27, 2016
Photographer helping to hand down Ainu culture with new photo book
Hokkaido photographer Taka Maesawa plans to publish a sequel to her photo book documenting the life of the Ainu indigenous people in the country's northernmost prefecture to help efforts to hand down their culture to future generations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2016
Sapporo women passing on 'furoshiki' wrapping skills to others
A group of women in Sapporo are helping to spread the art of traditional wrapping by teaching young mothers and foreign students the many different uses for a furoshiki.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2015
Hokkaido 'senbei' firm looks to crack overseas market
A shop in Sapporo aims to crack an overseas market this fall with its hand-grilled senbei rice crackers made entirely from rice grown in Hokkaido.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2015
Inmates in Hokkaido raise beef cattle to learn about value of life
Abashiri Prison in Hokkaido allows well-behaved inmates to raise beef cattle at a nearby farm in a program designed to teach them that each life must be respected.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
May 4, 2015
Memories of the man who inspired 'Giovanni's Island'
The man whose life inspired the 2014 animated film "Giovanni's Island" has described the two years he shared with friends from the former Soviet Union and the impact of its occupation of his hometown following World War II.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2015
Photographer documents Ainu life
Taka Maesawa, a photographer from Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, has published a photo book documenting the Ainu ethnic minority for more than 30 years since 1983.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2014
Hokkaido woman chases wacky world records to promote region
Ayako Maura is collecting world records, not of an athletic kind but of a quirky sort, in an attempt to inject pizzazz into her area.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2014
Retired Hokkaido farmer describes rural plight in novels
Novelist Hiroshi Tamai, a 79-year-old self-described "peasant writer," is proud that he persisted with his craft through the toughest years as a cattle farmer in Betsukai, eastern Hokkaido.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2014
Girl embraces Ainu dance, shivers her timbers
Ayaka Ono is not an Ainu but has long been fascinated by the indigenous inhabitants of Hokkaido. Last year, she even became a performer of one of their traditional dances.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2012
Nearly four decades on, Hello Kitty continues to entrance young girls
Yumi Shida, a 15-year-old model for a popular teen magazine, never feels lonely, even when she has to work away from her family — if she has some Hello Kitty goods with her.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on