Tag - regional-voices:-fukushima

 
 

REGIONAL VOICES: FUKUSHIMA

Expectant parents Masataka and Saki Ohita look at ultrasound images of their unborn twins.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 23, 2025
Childbirth facilities disappearing from Fukushima towns
With just 26 facilities in the prefecture that can handle deliveries, there is concern that the trend could accelerate population decline.
Kimihiro Matsuzaki prepares dishes at his half-century-old restaurant, Yanagi, in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 2, 2025
Profitable Fukushima companies closing due to lack of successors
According to Teikoku Databank, more than a third of the companies that went out of business in the prefecture in 2024 were in the black.
Takaaki Nezu, executive director of Maruto Group Holdings, says it is the company’s social responsibility to help tackle the falling birth rate.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 5, 2025
Fukushima firms seek ways to encourage marriages
One supermarket chain has said such moves reflect a corporate responsibility to tackle the nation’s chronically low birth rate.
Ryuji Matsumoto pats one of the sheep at his farm in the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Apr 14, 2025
The man behind Fukushima town's 'Strawberry Sheep'
Ryuji Matsumoto, 54, incorporates dried strawberries into the feed for his sheep, which gives their meat a certain sweetness.
Yoko Suetsugu at Haco, her gallery in New York
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Mar 17, 2025
Sculptor connects Fukushima to U.S. through New York gallery
Yoko Suetsugu is aiming to launch a program inviting U.S. artists to hot springs in the city of Fukushima for a creative retreat.
Fukushima University student Itsuki Yamada (right) takes part in a workshop in December in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, together with local residents. Yamada leads a group of student volunteers that runs an internet community radio program featuring Iitate.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Feb 17, 2025
University students launch community radio show for Fukushima village
The program aims to spread word about the realities faced by Iitate's aging population, and support the village's revitalization.
Parents and municipal staff share their concerns during a workshop held by volunteer group Cotohana in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jan 27, 2025
Towns near Fukushima plant struggle to attract families with children
Futaba County, home to the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant, has seen a drastic reduction in the number of children in the area.
Satoyo Kojika, who has run a barbershop inside the parliament building for more than half a century
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 23, 2024
Woman who ran a parliament barbershop for half a century retires
The shop has been run by Satoyo Kojika, 85, a native of the village of Kawauchi in Fukushima Prefecture.
Makoto Nakae, a researcher of swallowtail butterflies
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 9, 2024
New museum set to bring butterflies of the world to Fukushima
The collection includes Japan’s only display of an extinct butterfly species native to South America.
Toshiyuki Nishida performs at a rock concert held in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, in September 2011. Nishida appeared in many events and dramas filmed in Fukushima to help the prefecture recover in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Nov 18, 2024
In his home prefecture of Fukushima, actor Toshiyuki Nishida lives on
Friends and others who knew him paid tribute to the late actor, who was well known for his folksy charm.
An event to support Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures is held in Sendai in March, with booths offering local specialties.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Sep 30, 2024
Nearly 40% of Fukushima municipalities want hometown tax system revised
Some want the central government to implement measures to establish a system that narrows disparities among municipalities.
Boxes of Joban-mono marine produce such as flounder are lined up at the Hisanohama fishing port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Sep 2, 2024
Fukushima fishermen not in the clear yet
Challenges remain for the prefecture's fisheries industry a year after the release of treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant began.
Tadanobu Kanno, the vice principal of Shoin Gakuen Fukushima High School in the city of Fukushima, goes through the itinerary of the school's trip to the Kansai region this year.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Aug 5, 2024
Fukushima schools hesitate to resume overseas trips
The yen's weakness and inflation have resulted in the cost of such excursions to surge — in some cases, more than double what it was prepandemic.
Ayaka Saito works on a lathe to make a part for a ship at Ena Seisakusho in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Saito, who has a 1-year-old child, takes comfort in the fact that her employer allows time off for workers for parenting duties.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 8, 2024
Special skills allow Fukushima mother to shine in full-time job
Her employer also lets her take time off to care for her child, a rare policy seen as pivotal in getting more women back to the workforce.
Takayuki Midorikawa stands in front of Ueda Junior High School in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 17, 2024
Fukushima schools open up to revising old rules
The prefecture has recently made some moves to accommodate a little more diversity in the classroom.
Language support groups in Fukushima Prefecture are calling for the creation of a better environment for foreign children to learn Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 27, 2024
With more foreign children, Fukushima struggles with language support
A number of children attending schools in the prefecture in fiscal 2023 were unable to fully understand Japanese.
The smartphone screen of a man in his 70s from the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture shows exchanges with a person claiming to be a woman from Taiwan discussing investment in gold.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 6, 2024
Online predators seduce elderly victims into investment scams
Cases of people being swindled out of money show working-age people are also falling victim.
A poster for digital coupons at a store in the city of Fukushima
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Mar 11, 2024
Fukushima’s welfare coupon campaign highlights digital divide
A call center dedicated to the initiative received so many calls that telephone lines were overloaded.
Misao Shoji (center) speaks to executives of Lion Dor about the Omega Class, a new educational center she is launching in Aizuwakamatsu that targets "uniquely gifted children.” Lion Dor has offered a venue for the project free of charge.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jan 15, 2024
Fukushima educational project aims to nurture gifted children
Omega Class aims to provide a place of learning suited to each child, with local experts serving as volunteer instructors.

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