Marie-Josee Laforest: Harvesting the rewards of organic permaculture
From five holy basil seeds, an oregano plant, a few stems of orange mint, six fig tree cuttings and a handful of butterfly pea seeds, Marie-Josee Laforest's sprouts have grown to become a 200-hectare organic permaculture farm in the mountains Oita Prefecture.
Working mom fights the odds to become sole female LDP lawmaker in Kyushu
On a recent chilly November morning, aspiring politician Maiko Takahashi was undergoing a trial by fire as she stumped for just the second time in her life, addressing an ebb and flow of commuters near Oita Station. The temperature had plummeted that day in Oita ...
Drones tested in Japan nuclear disaster drill for first time near Ikata plant in Ehime
Drones carried supplies for the first time in a nuclear disaster drill on Wednesday at Shikoku Electric Power Co.'s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture. The exercise by the Ehime Prefectural Government involved 23,000 participants from 97 organizations, including all municipalities in Ehime and ...
Japanese fans soaking up the atmosphere while watching teams other than Brave Blossoms play
Oita has been given the honor of hosting a pair of Rugby World Cup quarterfinals matches. But it is the only city that does not have a chance to see its national team, Japan, play there. Some of the Japanese fans, however, do not appear ...
Top 10: A local's guide to the most unique hot springs in Kyushu
Panoramas, bubble baths and tingling testicles — The Japan Times' list of 10 of the most unique and rare onsen Kyushu has to offer.
With Rugby World Cup in full swing, Beppu hot spring resort still divided over tattooed visitors
Hotels and bathhouses at the famed Beppu Onsen hot-spring resort in Oita Prefecture continue to be divided over whether to accept tattooed visitors. Tattoos are widely accepted in many countries, but in Japan the practice is often associated with yakuza and other crime group members. About ...
A guide to the 2019 Rugby World Cup and its host cities
What to do, see, drink and eat in each of the RWC cities as well as match dates and information on stadiums, transport and accommodation.
Asian business bloodlines on brink as lack of heirs pushes owners into arms of private equity
After 37 years in business, Shigeru Nagatomi handed over the keys in December last year. Nagatomi Pharmacy Corp., the Kyushu medical supplies shop bearing his family name, had grown to 23 dispensing pharmacies in Oita Prefecture . Nagatomi had contemplated passing the company to his ...
A court sentenced a 44-year-old YouTube content creator in the city of Oita to two years in prison on Thursday for assaulting and confining his wife at their home after he found she had been posting defamatory comments on videos he had uploaded. The Oita ...
An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.3 hit off Kyushu on Friday, injuring a man and disrupting some local transportation networks, authorities said. The 8:48 a.m. quake occurred at a depth of about 20 kilometers under the seabed off Miyazaki Prefecture. It measured a ...
An enormous wooden "lucky cat" has been set up at one of this year's Rugby World Cup host cities to welcome tourists ahead of the event's kickoff in September. The woodcarving of the 10-meter-long cat named "Giant Lounging Lucky Cat Fukunyan" is on display in ...
Beppu hot springs may accept tattooed visitors during Japan's Rugby World Cup and beyond
Local hot spring operators see the event as an opportunity to appeal to foreign tourists.
