After 300 years, is majestic Mount Fuji 'on standby' for next eruption?
Snow-capped, symmetrically cone-shaped and awe-inspiringly tall, Mount Fuji has for centuries provided Japanese with something of a spiritual backbone, attracting hundreds of thousands of climbers every year. But often overshadowed by its beauty is the fact that the mountain straddling Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures is ...
7-year-old girl still missing after police end 16-day-long search in Yamanashi Prefecture
“We did all we could in the search,” local police chief Hisashi Inoue said. “We’re sorry that we couldn’t find her.”
Hunt for missing 7-year-old girl continues in Yamanashi and Kanagawa as family releases picture
Yamanashi Prefecture authorities continued their search on Wednesday for a 7 year-old-girl who went missing last month, as family members released a photo of her taken on the day she vanished. Misaki Ogura, a first grader from the city of Narita, Chiba Prefecture, disappeared on ...
Search continues for 7-year-old girl missing from Yamanashi Prefecture camp site
Police and rescuers on Tuesday continued to search for a 7-year-old girl who went missing three days ago at a mountain-side campsite in Yamanashi Prefecture. Misaki Ogura, a first grader from Narita, Chiba Prefecture, arrived at the site in the village of Doshi on Saturday, ...
Shrinking Yamanashi village converts 150-year-old home into hotel in hope of reversing decline
A new hotel in a traditional wooden house has been opened in a small village in Yamanashi Prefecture in the hope of revitalizing an area that it is grappling with a declining population. The village of Kosuge, where the population has fallen by 40 percent ...
A woman in her 20s was confirmed dead after being hit on her head by a falling stone while climbing Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak, local police said Monday. An ambulance was called at around 7 a.m., reporting that the woman climbing in a group ...
World-class white wines in the shadow of Mount Fuji
Inside a 19th century silk merchant's house in Katsunuma, Yamanashi Prefecture, the three Aruga brothers are pouring several white wines in their timbered tasting room. All are made at their Katsunuma Jyozo Winery Co. under the Aruga Branca label from Japan's unique grape variety, ...
UNESCO lists Kobushi mountains spanning Tokyo and three other prefectures as biosphere reserve
UNESCO on Wednesday added the Kobushi mountain region, which straddles part of Tokyo and three other prefectures, to its list of biosphere reserves, Japanese officials said. As of July last year, 686 areas in 122 countries have been designated as biosphere reserves — areas for ...
Number of abandoned homes in Japan edges up to record high of nearly 8.5 million
Empty homes now account for 13.6 percent of Japan’s housing stock, with the bulk of them concentrated in Yamanashi and Wakayama prefectures, government data show.
Japan-U.K. ties get boost with gift of thousands of cherry trees for British schools and parks
Thousands of cherry trees will be planted across Britain to celebrate its relationship with Japan, with a high school becoming the first site to get one. The initiative is being organized by Japanese individuals and companies in both countries as a symbol of friendship, and ...
Even Mount Fuji climbers who don't plan to push for the summit will be asked to pay up
Even hikers who have no intention of reaching the summit of Mount Fuji will be asked to make a donation of ¥1,000 for stepping foot on the country's highest mountain from this summer, local prefectures said Thursday. Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, which the 3,776-meter-high volcanic ...
Ruling bloc-backed candidate Kotaro Nagasaki wins Yamanashi gubernatorial election
Former House of Representatives member Kotaro Nagasaki won the Yamanashi Prefecture gubernatorial election Sunday with support from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc. Nagasaki, 50, who ran as an independent but with recommendations from the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito, defeated three ...
