In search of Japan's lost wolves: Chance encounter
Hiroshi Yagi has devoted most of his life trying to prove the existence of the Japanese wolf, a saga that began with a series of piercing howls he heard more than half a century ago.
In search of Japan's lost wolves: Primal howl
In the first installation of a five-part series, we track a four-legged enigma that some believe might still be roaming the nation's mountains and forests.
Ahead of administering vaccines, municipalities are facing challenges such as selecting venues, securing doctors and nurses, and informing residents.
'Her Blue Sky': Testing the limits of a successful formula
The latest film from Tatsuyuki Nagai, Mari Okada and Masayoshi Tanaka sees a return to the city of Chichibu, but can the success of the trio's previous productions be repeated?
Debate over Japan's extinct wolf grows
An unidentified animal howl recorded in the Okuchichibu mountains bears a strong resemblance to a wolf howl, according to an analysis of audio samples provided by Hiroshi Yagi, an independent researcher who has been working to prove the existence of the officially extinct Japanese ...
It was around 3 p.m. on a chilly day in December. The sky was overcast and the scent of rain hung in the air when Rina Kambayashi happened upon a creature she had never seen before. Opening the front door to her family's gracefully ...
A weekend in Saitama: Coffee, temples and a spot of river rafting
Kick off a weekend in Saitama Prefecture in Kumagaya, an excellent starting point for a trip that will take you all across the region — from river rafting in the forested mountains of Chichibu to the historical alleys of Kawagoe.
Chichibu: Steeped in tradition, but challenged by industry
The city of Chichibu, about 90 minutes by train from Ikebukuro, Tokyo, has a population of approximately 60,000. The region, which sits in the shadow of Mount Buko and alongside the Arakawa river is steeped in tradition with more than 300 festivals taking place ...
Jobs battle environment on sacred but scarred Mount Buko
Shin Sasakubo grew up listening to blasts of dynamite scar the slopes of Mount Buko and echo across his small town every day at half past noon. But it wasn't until the guitarist returned from Peru, where he studied Andean music, that he understood the ...
Small Saitama town embraces sharing economy in bid to battle demographic drain
Yokoze, a quiet, scenic town of around 8,400 in the mountainous Chichibu region in Saitama Prefecture, isn't immune to the sweeping demographic change impacting hundreds of rural municipalities across Japan. The town's population has been shrinking for the past two decades as its residents age. ...
Saitama's Nagatoro is home to stillness, motion and an endless variety of color
It wasn't immediately clear what the man tossing large pebbles at the torii of a shrine was trying to achieve. What appeared to be the desecration of a religious structure, with the vocal encouragement of his wife, turned out to be related to superstition, the ...
The 'washi' paper trail: from the tree to its many purposes
Stepping off the bus at the Gakko-iriguchi stop in Higashi-Chichibu Village in Saitama Prefecture, the first things to strike the eye are high-flying clusters of balloons, suspended like colorful dirigibles. Here, the workshops and exhibition spaces of Washi-no-Sato, a well-known papermaking center tucked into the ...
