Tag - hokkaido

 
 

HOKKAIDO

At the Akan International Crane Center, just north of the city of Kushiro proper, visitors can see the majestic red-crowned crane — a symbol of Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 17, 2024
Faces of the north: A Hokkaido town grapples with depopulation
Residents of Kushiro face an issue that more and more communities in Japan are having to deal with. The city may be young, but it's rich with tradition.
Established in December 2021 in the middle of the pandemic-fuelled gaming craze, Sega Sapporo Studio is remarkable for growing amid a recent slump in the industry.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 17, 2024
Sega developers say new Sapporo studios lead to better lives
Aside from quality-of-life benefits that come from living outside a major metropolis, Sapporo also has a history of game development.
Naoko Motooka began hunting 10 years ago. Her hobby is one way Hokkaido hopes to curb a current boom in the deer population.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 15, 2024
Hunting in Hokkaido; Taylor Swift comes to Tokyo
You probably don’t think of guns when you think of Japan, but Hokkaido’s hunters do.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2024
Unseasonably warm temperatures set to continue across Japan
Temperatures in the Kinki, Tokai, and Kanto Koshin regions hovered around 18 C, reaching 19 C in Kanagawa Prefecture and 20 C in Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
Hokkaido areas named for second-stage survey on nuclear waste disposal
The town of Suttsu and the area off its coast will be surveyed, as well as the area within the village of Kamoenai excluding a zone around a volcano.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2024
Struggling unit of 7-Eleven's parent company to exit central and northern Japan
The Seven & I Holdings unit will close five of its 17 stores in the regions and hand over 11 to other supermarket operators.
Shiki Nakayama at a snow-covered baseball field in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, last month. Nakayama grew up watching her older brother’s exploits on the diamond and first picked up a bat and ball in elementary school.
BASEBALL
Feb 9, 2024
Meet the Gen Zer in Japan who is forging a path for girls in baseball
For 16-year-old Shiki Nakayama, it's no big deal that she's the only girl on her high school baseball team.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024
Kishida vows to conclude peace pact with Russia
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday vowed to conclude a peace treaty with Russia after resolving a territorial row over four northwestern Pacific islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024
Orcas appear to escape after being trapped in drift ice off Hokkaido coast
Local officials are hopeful that the animals escaped to safety as the density of drift ice decreased Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2024
Sapporo Snow Festival opens with food areas coming back
Set to run until Feb. 11, this year's festival features a total of 196 snow and ice sculptures at three venues.
Japanese regulations determine which hunters can handle certain firearms based on the individual's experience and the level of rifling in a long gun's barrel.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 3, 2024
Hokkaido hunters say more firepower means more humane kills
A revision to Japan’s firearms laws would mean new hunters would be temporarily limited to less potent shotguns.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2024
Local governments in Japan battle overtourism challenges
Officials are seeking ways to solve problems that emerge from higher tourist numbers, such as a shortage of taxis and the accumulation of garbage.
In the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in March 2023, Hokkaido's Niseko resort area saw a cumulative total of more than 1.4 million visitors, including day-trippers and those who spent at least one night.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jan 29, 2024
Ski season surge tests limits of Niseko’s infrastructure
The return of tourists to the Hokkaido resort area is putting pressure on food retailers and transportation.
An offshore wind turbine off the coast of Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, in 2013. Japan aims to increase its offshore wind power capacity to 10 GW by 2030.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Jan 21, 2024
As Japan makes major investments in wind power, some residents are pushing back
In a sense, the city of Ishikari represents the idealized, natural version of Hokkaido for many Japanese. Some residents say massive wind turbines will destroy that image.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 21, 2024
Northern lights likely to be seen in Hokkaido again in 2024
Solar activity is forecast to increase toward 2025, likely leading to opportunities to see the ethereal curtains of lights.
Sunset at Cape Puyuni in Hokkaido, Japan. The northern island is home to the indigenous Ainu.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 21, 2024
To Bird, a savage. To Chiri, alive and aglow.
When given a pen, Yukie Chiri wrote about the Ainu in ways outsiders never tried to understand.
In August 2019, Toru Takamatsu became the youngest master sommelier in history at just 24 years old.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 21, 2024
Japan’s first master sommelier dreams of Hokkaido wine glory
Why would a master sommelier go from Michelin-starred restaurants to the hands-on life of an apprentice winemaker in Hokkaido?
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2024
Korean Air plane 'strikes' Cathay aircraft in Japan; no injuries
The incident at New Chitose Airport serving Sapporo came two weeks after a near-catastrophic collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.
Hiromi Uetake has future plans to turn some of the currently unused rooms of the former elementary school into taprooms for visiting customers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 14, 2024
Craft beer’s hoppy road to the deep north
Beer drinkers in these occasionally frozen lands now enjoy flavors infused with deep stories and their home prefectures’ splendid natural beauty.
The Sapporo Snow Festival offers outdoor dining, markets, sports, ice sculptures and more across three event sites.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 6, 2024
Asia's winter festivals: Snow, fire and spectacle galore
The ancient city of Nara wards off the wintertime darkness with an unusual tradition: lighting a local mountain on fire.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes