Aging main complex of Nagoya fish market to close amid drop in popularity of seafood
The main building complex of Yanagibashi Central Market, a fish market a short walk from Nagoya Station, will close at the end of this month due to deterioration, ending its run of more than 50 years. Amid the continuing decline in the popularity of seafood, ...
With surprise backing from workers, Toyota group firm dares to go completely smoke-free
Toyoda Gosei Co., part of the Toyota Motor Corp. group, has decided to ban smoking in all its facilities nationwide from January. While many companies remain reluctant to go completely smoke-free out of fear that employees will leave, the parts maker has concluded it will ...
Gifu washi apprentice publishes book of 'insanely difficult' origami animals
Yuga Arisawa, 21, who has loved making complex artworks using origami since he was a child, traveled throughout Japan as a high school student looking for the best paper — fine but able to endure nearly 100 folds. In the end, he found the perfect ...
Japanese kamikiri performer's elaborate pieces draw interest from readers of Nagoya newspaper
Hayashiya Niraku is a 51-year-old practitioner of kamikiri, a Japanese performance art that involves cutting silhouette images out of a plain piece of paper based on requests from the audience. Adding to the challenge, artists create their pieces without drawing an outline beforehand. His performances, ...
A private World War II air raid shelter exquisitely lined with colorful tiles has recently been opened to the public in Handa, Aichi Prefecture. The work of a young tile tradesman facing military conscription, the room is attracting acclaim from historians as unique in cultural ...
Survivor looks to save images of deadliest typhoon to hit Japan
After Typhoon Vera, also known as the Isewan Typhoon, struck Japan in September 1959, local history researcher Kaneo Ogawa dedicated the next few months of his life to photographing the aftermath in his hometown. The typhoon is estimated to have killed more than 5,000 people, ...
Documentary puts survivors' accounts of Isewan Typhoon on film
A Japanese documentary on the 1959 Typhoon Vera, titled "Sorezore no Isewan Taifu" ("Each Person's Isewan Typhoon"), will begin screening on Saturday in three prefectures in the Tokai region. The film features firsthand accounts from the typhoon's few remaining survivors and puts together a complete ...
Various cities in Aichi Prefecture have started offering language classes to children of foreign descent in their first language. It is rare to find that type of language class in Japan, but first-language education is an integral part of the Aichi Multicultural Society Promotion Plan. Aichi ...
Junji Nagayama, the head of a heavy equipment delivery company in Nagoya, has developed a bicycle that, in just a few minutes, can be transformed into a wheelchair. Named Qjo, which literally means to rescue, the idea is to use the wheelchair for emergency purposes. Cyclists ...
More than a month has passed since Typhoon Haiyan demolished a large number of towns and villages in the central Philippines, and the people now have sufficient supplies of food and other basics. But most lost their homes and are now having to live ...
A "katana" sword confiscated by the U.S. military at the end of the war was recently returned to its owner's family in Japan. Miyoko Asai, 85, received the sword on behalf of her late husband, Masaaki, at their home in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, from Paul ...
Many people are desperately seeking ways to escape the summer heat, and businesses are cashing in with new services to help them cool down. A shaved ice machine at the hair salon Asai in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, whirs as owner Takanori Asai, 37, mixes the ...
