Road damage after torrential rain on Yakushima Island leaves about 200 people stranded
A total of at least 10 buses being used to transport mountain hikers and several cars became stranded on Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Saturday following torrential rain, leaving about 200 people trapped there, local officials said. The heavy downpour caused a road near ...
Japanese teenager lops off Guinness World Record-setting locks ready for Reiwa and college
An 18-year-old Japanese woman, once recognized as having the longest hair in the world among teenagers aged 13-17, had her first-ever haircut Tuesday before starting life at university. Keito Kawahara, who lives in Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, said she plans to donate the hair that was ...
GSDF launches new bases in Kagoshima and Okinawa for defense of Japan's southwestern islands
The Ground Self-Defense Force launched new camps on Amami Oshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Tuesday, as part of its moves to enhance the defense of southwestern islands in the country. The camps will take charge of first response ...
Japan to recommend southwestern islands in Kagoshima and Okinawa for UNESCO listing again
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a decision to again recommend a chain of southwestern islands as a candidate for UNESCO's 2020 World Heritage list, after withdrawing the initial bid on the U.N. body's advice to conduct a further review. The recommendation will be done ...
Japanese couple makes rare transition from IT world to miso-making
For people used to the fast-paced tech world, making miso in a sleepy town in Japan's countryside might not seem too appealing — unless they realize that's where their true calling lies. Yu Maeda, a former employee of Microsoft Japan Co., and her engineer husband, ...
Japan plans to buy island slated as likely host for U.S. military training site by end of March
The government is planning to buy a southwestern island, regarded as a candidate U.S. military training site, by the March end of the current fiscal year, government sources said Wednesday. According to the sources, the government is expected to acquire the island of Mageshima in ...
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coasts of Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures on Tuesday evening, the Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The epicenter of the quake, which hit at 9:39 p.m. and measured 4 on Japan's seismic ...
'Call of nature' prompted 169 kph expressway drive, Kagoshima assemblyman says
A municipal assembly member in Kagoshima Prefecture said Thursday that a desperate search for a toilet prompted him to break the law by driving his car at 169 kph on an expressway in April. Masataka Hisai, a 28-year-old member of the Shibushi Municipal Assembly in ...
Japan's Tanegashima Space Center marks 50th anniversary of its first rocket launch
A ceremony is held to mark the 50th anniversary of the first rocket launch from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Short-staffed nursing home in Kagoshima Prefecture denies mismanagement after six residents die
A nursing home in Kagoshima Prefecture where six people died in just over a month has denied any mismanagement even though it staffs the facility with just one overnight caregiver for its 30 residents. The operator of Kaze no Mai, a care facility in the ...
On Amami Oshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture concerns have been raised over feral cats that are preying on rare species after losing their territory and moving into nearby mountainous regions. The Environment Ministry has started to catch such cats in a bid to preserve the ...
Akira Furusho, 40, was found collapsed and bleeding from the neck in a cage by a colleague after the Hirakawa Zoological Park had closed for the day Monday.
