Where NOTHING means EVERYTHING

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JAPAN

 

Ryoichi Matsumoto

The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network

Motobu, Okinawa
January 14, 2015 1:00 am

Iejima island seen from Sesoko Beach on Sesokojima island in Motobu.

The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at the Ocean Expo Park in Motobu, Okinawa Prefecture, is like a large palace.

This handicraft fair at a market operated by the Motobu town government is visited by many local people.

The Motobu Peninsula is perfect for a relaxing holiday by the sea

If there’s one place that encapsulates the beautiful ocean in Okinawa Prefecture indoors, it’s the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at the Ocean Expo Park in Motobu. The aquarium building facing the East China Sea rears up like a gigantic castle, and a stream of people enter as if drawn to it.

“Our large fish tank is one of the biggest in the world. It contains a whale shark that holds the world record for the longest survival at an aquarium or other facility,” says Asuka Kinjo, 30, who is in charge of publicity and planning at the aquarium.

“It also contains a reef manta ray and many other fish.”

The aquarium opened in 2002 and attracts more than 3 million people a year, according to Kinjo.

I listen to her brisk explanations as we walk past the crowd at the aquarium. Various creatures from both shallow and deep parts of the ocean are kept in a total of 77 fish tanks at the aquarium, she explains.

“On weekdays, many students from across the nation visit our aquarium on their school excursions, even during the off-season. If you want to see the fish in a tranquil atmosphere, I suggest you come in the early morning or the early evening on a weekend,” Kinjo says.

The Ocean Expo Park encompassing the aquarium is part of the Okinawa Commemorative National Government Park and is located on a 71-hectare lot that was the site for the Okinawa International Ocean Exposition. That event started in 1975, three years after the reversion of Okinawa to Japan from the United States.

Walking through the vast lot of the Ocean Expo Park takes more than an hour.

The park also encompasses the Tropical Dream Centre featuring rare botanical plants, the Oceanic Culture Museum and a man-made beach. The park showcases the charms of Okinawa Prefecture and is meant to attract tourists not only from other parts of Japan but also from China and South Korea.

The town of Motobu once flourished thanks to its bonito fishing.

As a reminder of that time, there are many restaurants that serve Okinawa soba using bonito soup stock.

I happened to come across a monthly handicraft fair in a small marketplace operated by the town government where you can find vegetables, home-cooked dishes and breads, and pins made from seashells bearing carved motifs. There is even an improvised flower decoration class.

Madoka Seta, who sells handmade daily commodities, confirms my suspicion that the market attracts few tourists at the fair.

“That’s the attraction,” she laughs. “Items sold here aren’t meant to follow fashion. We all bring what we like and people who like them come and we chat together. I like to spend time relaxing this way.”

The tourism association in the neighbouring Nakijin village boasts a catchphrase that reads “Nuun Nenshiga” in large letters. The phrase in the local dialect means, “We don’t have anything special, though.”

That’s not true – the village has plenty of attractive tourist spots including the ruins of Nakijin Castle, a Unesco World Heritage site. However, association Director General En Matayoshi, 45, says that he would rather promote the village as a place with “nothing special”.

“Recently, more and more people are attracted to [places in] Okinawa [Prefecture] that aren’t meant to be tourist destinations,” Matayoshi explains. “Our village is warm even in winter. The inns are cheap and not very crowded. It’s good we have nothing special.”

On my way back from Nakijin to Motobu, I spot a roadside stall selling citrus tankan, a type of tangerine grown in the prefecture. The fruit looks tough and difficult to eat, but to my surprise, it’s sweet and has a strong aroma.

“We don’t ship them to the mainland, so you should buy them here now,” says tangerine farmer Naohide Urasaki, 60, adding that tankan is grown outdoors all year round, so freshly picked tankan is sold even in midwinter.

In this region, which is some distance from Naha and other lively places in the southern part of the main island, the few tourists who come exist happily side by side with the daily life of local people.

After the summertime bustle and the typhoon season are over, the beach on Sesokojima island in Motobu regains its calmness and time slows down again. On a fair day, it might be nice to sit on the beach and do nothing but watch the gentle East China Sea.

 

IF YOU GO

 

Artisans find new roles for elegant washi paper

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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Artisans-find-new-roles-for-elegant-washi-paper-30249628.html

JAPAN

Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network December 12, 2014 1:00 am

From wedding dresses to jeans, this traditional Japanese wrapping paper is getting many new uses

“Washi” paper is not just for drawing or wrapping gifts anymore. Given an expanded presence on the Unesco intangible heritage list last month, the paper made by traditional Japanese methods is now being used as material for elegant wedding dresses.

“The ‘washi’ fit gently and warmly around my body,” said Tomomi Kitamura, 29, a homemaker in Shinjuku, Tokyo. “It was so soft and light.”

At her wedding four years ago, she wore a white dress made of “washi” that was a gift from her parents.

Keiko Ichihara started creating wedding dresses with the paper in 1995 in the hopes of forging a future for the material. Today, the 61-year-old owner of Minoshimai in Mino, Gifu Prefecture, makes about five dresses a year.

Some customers even recycled their “washi” dresses after the nuptials and made thank-you letters with them, she said.

At Drawing Numbers, a boutique in Minato Ward, Tokyo, jeans woven with “washi” warp and cotton weft are popular as they are said to offer a perfect fit.

The shop currently sells “washi” jeans only in men’s sizes, but plans to launch a similar product line-up for women next year.

Meanwhile, long-established washi shop Haibara in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, started a class three years ago on “origata” techniques of folding paper to wrap gifts.

“Origata” is an old-fashioned way to package a present using “washi”, a custom that spread in the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Students in the class learn different ways to wrap money, confectionery and other items using “chiyogami” – paper that comes in colourful patterns.

Kamism Co, a washi wallpaper sales and planning company in Chuo Ward, has engaged in the promotion of lamp shades and other interior furnishings that make use of the traditional paper.

At the company’s studio in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, Katsuteru Nakanishi, a craftsman with 48 years of experience, shows visitors his own personal technique of processing “washi”.

Tokyo restaurants offer adults children’s lunches

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JAPAN

Kojiro Ito
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network
Tokyo December 9, 2014 1:00 am

These Japanese eateries help grown-ups experience the fun of being a child again

Restaurants offering children’s lunches for adults are gaining popularity, and a restaurant specialising in children’s lunches has even appeared in Tokyo. While these lunches appear to be for children, their quality is on a level of food served at the best restaurants. Why not enjoy an “okosama lunch” prepared with adults in mind yet still with the fun feel of being a child again?

During lunchtime on a weekday in early October, Tokyo Rice, a 25-seat restaurant in the Minami-Aoyama district of Minato Ward, Tokyo, was almost full with customers who dropped by during shopping, and office workers. It is not unusual for there to be a line of customers in front of the restaurant.

Tokyo Rice specialises in children’s lunches for adults. Popular menu items include the “Kiwami” lunch featuring a “hamburg” steak, priced at ¥1,550 (Bt420), “Homare” featuring seafood, priced at ¥1,750, and “Takumi” with tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet), priced at ¥1,650. Along with the main ingredients, all dishes are accompanied by fried rice with chicken with a small flag on top, “Napolitan” spaghetti mixed with tomato ketchup, and “octopus” sausage. As these “children’s lunches” are targeted at adults, the restaurant uses only domestic pork for the hamburg steak. The rice is cooked with chicken stock to give it a light flavour, in efforts to satisfy adult taste buds. The restaurant also serves a dinner menu, along with alcoholic drinks, until 11pm.

“I ate children’s lunch for the first time in 40 years. I remember eating it on special occasions, such as the Shichigosan festival [for 3- 5- and 7-year-old children],” said Mitsuko Fujimoto, 49, of Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, who came to the restaurant for the first time. Fujimoto ordered the “Kiwami” lunch, and said later: “I didn’t eat it for a while because I didn’t want to remove the small flag. There were various tidbits on the plate, which makes it feel a bit special.”

Tokyo Rice opened in April 2012. Hidetaka Itahara, 43, who runs the restaurant, said: “I also have warm memories of eating children’s lunch at a department store that I visited with my parents and grandparents. I started the restaurant as I hoped to offer children’s lunches to adults.”

While most customers are women in their 20s or 30s, sometimes middle-aged men come to the restaurant on their own. When the fried rice with chicken did not have a flag at first, many customers asked why, so the restaurant started placing a flag on the top of the rice six months after its opening. Itahara plans to open a second restaurant of the same style in Tokyo.

“Okosama lunch” is said to have dated back to “okosama yoshoku” (Western-style lunches especially for children), which were first offered at Nihombashi Mitsukoshi department store in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, in December 1930. The menu then spread to other department stores. “An official in charge of the department store’s diner at that time was asked by a business partner to use plates with a flower pattern, and the official apparently came up with the idea of creating a dream meal for children,” an official at Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings said.

Children’s lunches have become standard at family restaurants, but most of the restaurants restrict the meals to customers of primary school age or younger.

Children’s lunches for adults are also offered by restaurants operated by Toho Real Estate since 2008. According to the Tokyo-based company, there are 10 such restaurants in Tokyo and four prefectures including Kanagawa and Osaka.

Baby King Kitchen, a restaurant that opened in April 2009 in the Koenji district of Suginami Ward, Tokyo, promotes itself as a cafe where both adults and children can eat children’s lunches. Many parents eat at the restaurant with their children, and a small playground slide and a swing can be seen in one corner. Sonoko Kojima, 40, of the same ward, visited the restaurant with her 10-year-old daughter, Rin, and ordered an “Ohimesama lunch” (Princess’s lunch) for herself and a children’s lunch for her daughter. “We can have a good conversation while we eat the lunches and share some food,” Sonoko said. “The hamburg steak is delicious,” said Rin with a grin.

Nobuhiro Tanaka, who runs the restaurant, said: “When I opened the restaurant, I wrote down the dishes I wanted to eat. And I noticed that most of the dishes were included in children’s lunch.” Flags used for children’s lunches are made by hand, and the restaurant plans to start offering “Osama lunch” (King’s lunch) for men.

“Children’s lunches appeal to many adults, partly because now they can enjoy the dish with their own money and at any time – even if they rarely ate it when they were children,” said Mioko Hatanaka, an editor who has been involved in compiling

cookbooks.

Children’s lunches, which look cute and include a wide variety of tidbits, could prove popular among foreigners as well. It would be fun to imagine a children’s lunch with the national flags of many nations standing side-by-side.

At the home of famous whiskey

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JAPAN

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network
Hokuto, Yamanashi, Japan December 3, 2014 1:00 am

The Suntory distillery, set in a forest, offers a view into how a perfect blend is developed

When the doors of the factory opened, the complex, bittersweet scent of fermented barley wafted out. I was at the Suntory Hakushu Distillery in the Hakushu area in Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture.

I made the visit because I’d been watching the NHK TV drama series “Massan”, documenting the lives of Nikka Whisky founder Masataka Taketsuru and his wife, and also because I wanted to see how whiskey is manufactured.

“A distillery in the middle of a forest is rare in the world,” Takeshi Ono, 49, manager of the distillery, said.

In other countries, whiskey distilleries are mostly in places like moors, where the peat used to smoke and dry the malt is easily acquired.

However, Suntory built the Hakushu distillery – and also its Yamazaki Distillery in Shimamoto, Osaka Prefecture – places with plenty of greenery and cool, clear running water.

The Hakushu distillery is located about 700 metres above sea level near the border with Nagano Prefecture. It is roughly two hours from central Tokyo by express train. As the public is allowed to sample its products, it attracts many tourists.

An intricate process in which fermented barley wort is distilled in pot stills yields a clear, transparent liquor that is stored in casks made of several species of wood such as Mongolian oak, and over several years or even decades of ageing, it takes on its amber colour. Whiskey from a variety of casks and ages is blended together to produce the finished products. The distillery still had casks from the year of its founding in 1973.

I was allowed to sample four of their products. Hakushu, blended from relatively young whiskeys, is smooth, but as the age increases from 12 years to 18, and then 25, the colour deepens, and aromas like cantaloupe and flavours like ripe persimmon come out, imparting a complex, multi-layered flavour.

“The rain in the forests of the Southern Alps slowly percolates underground and becomes the water we use for making whiskey,” Ono stressed. “The various microbes living on the wood of the casks are an indispensable part of making the unblended whiskey. It is precisely because of this wonderful forest that we can make this whiskey.”

I understood the reasons behind the company’s efforts to preserve the forest, including tree-planting and periodic thinning.

Since there are few places to stay in Hakushu, I spent the night at Hoshino Resorts Risonare Yatsugatake near JR Kobuchizawa Station. It is known for excellent multiple-course Italian cuisine that pairs wine with local beef and vegetables from the surrounding highlands.

In addition to the beautiful reds, yellows and greens of the vegetables served as an appetiser, each had a rich flavour, complimenting the white wine made by a local vintner. The Koshu wine beefsteak, made from a brand of cattle raised on feed into which grape dregs left over from wine pressing are mixed, is also a perfect match for the bold red wine.

“The chef visits the local farmers personally to procure the vegetables, and brings out the best in the ingredients,” the hotel’s publicist Daichi Yumoto, 31, said, describing the hotel’s efforts to serve dishes using locally sourced foods.

The following day, I headed back to Hakushu, crossing the suspension bridge near Chikuu Komagatake Shrine and walking along the Ojiragawa Valley. As I went deeper in, I saw many waterfalls and deep pools, such as Sengabuchi, Jinjataki falls and Fudotaki falls.

The leaves had begun to change colour and were dazzling to the eye. Heading down into the valley and directly touching the clear waters of the stream, whose source is Kaikomagatake mountain, I felt it was only natural for a place famed for its water to produce famous whiskey.

Travel tips

It is about two hours from JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to Kobuchizawa Station by Chuo Line limited express train. It is a 10 to 15-minute drive from the station to the Suntory Hakushu Distillery and the central Hakushu area, and a 40-minute drive to the Ojiragawa Valley.

A tale of two cities

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JAPAN

Philipp Laage

Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 19, 2014 1:00 am

Tourists on the way to Kyoto temple Kiyomizu-dera pass this charming tree-lined lane and wooden houses so typical of Old Kyoto.

A yakitori stand in Tokyo.

Neon lights flash on a building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, one of the capital

Few towns offer so much contrast as Tokyo and Kyoto

When night falls in Tokyo, the neon lights are full on. In the up-market area of Shinjuku, colourful beams of light race up and down the facades of buildings.

The streets are teeming with people and the window fronts of the electronics stores are full of TV screens all tuned to the same channel. The air is full of the delicious smell wafting from a yakitori fast-food restaurant.

Tokyo feels like the urbane lifestyle cranked up into overdrive.

A first-time visitor to Tokyo will be confronted with a plethora of impressions. The young bloods in this very expensive part of Tokyo wear boots and elaborately gelled hairstyles. Society ladies toddle along the pavement in high heels, armed with expensive handbags.

The entertainment district of Kabukicho is packed with nightclubs, Karaoke bars and love hotels with translucent windows through which no eye can pierce. It’s a place of maximum anonymity in a metropolis of 35 million people.

As soon as you land in Tokyo you get the impression you have travelled 10 years into the future. Nowhere is that feeling so intense as at Shinjuku station. About 3.5 million people pass through the complex every day.

It’s a warren of platforms, escalators and endless corridors. And yet everything runs smoothly and orderly. No one barges and passengers stand patiently in line waiting for trains.

Standing in stark contrast to the capital city is Kyoto. If you travel there by Shinkansen high-speed train, you arrive in a railway station with a 500-metre-long, glass-roofed atrium.

But as soon as you leave the building and step into the streets you feel as if you have travelled back into the pre-modern era.

High-rise buildings are banned from Kyoto. Instead the city has so many temples, palaces, shrines and zen gardens that it would take weeks to visit them all.

Japan’s old imperial city was founded in the 8th century with streets laid out in a grid system that make Kyoto very easy to navigate. For centuries, Kyoto was the political and religious capital of Japan.

With the rise of the samurai class and the beginning of the Tokugawa era in the 17th century, Japan’s emperor lost influence and power and became a figurehead. Edo, as Tokyo was once called, became Japan’s true political capital with the shogun there as the true ruler.

“Kyoto has managed to avoid overbearing modernisation,” says Wolfgang Schwentker, professor of comparative history at the University of Osaka.

The streets in the district of Gion are lined with restaurants that are both fancy and refined at the same time.

Storm clouds loom above Kinkakuji temple in the north of the city. The temple’s Golden Pavilion stands behind a large pond in which the building is reflected. The structure is completely covered in gold leaf.

On a day like this, when the weather is bad, there are hardly any visitors and Kinkakuji becomes a quiet place of contemplation.

Of course even Kyoto cannot escape some aspects of modern life and the south of the city has plenty of industry.

By the same token, Tokyo also has its share of historic places of interest such as the imperial palace, the Meiji shrine and Sensoji temple in Asakusa. But Tokyo has always been a city with one foot set firmly in the future.

Edo’s rise began when General Tokugawa Ieyasu usurped the emperor’s power and founded the Tokugawa shogunate. Japan’s regional princes were obliged to travel to Edo every two years and reside there to demonstrate fealty, explains historian Schwentker.

When the Meiji emperor restored his power in 1868 he moved himself and his court to Edo. The city was renamed Tokyo, which means the Eastern Capital.

The driving force behind Japan’s modernisation was strategy.

“China became a mere toy for the major western powers after the Opium War,” says Schwentker. The Japanese wanted to prevent that happening to them by embracing a rapid programme of modernisation.

In 1923 a devastating earthquake provided the opportunity to completely remodel the city.

Today, Tokyo is a showcase for everything that is modern and trendy, a year before it arrives in the West.

To get an impression of how this works go to the hip area of Shibuya, or even better Harajuku. Takeshita Street is lined with stores.

“Tokyo absorbs energy,” says Schwentker. If the city were a country, it would have a higher GDP than Thailand or Austria.

To get an idea of just how big Tokyo is you can return to Shinjuku and visit Tokyo’s city administration, housed in two enormous high-rise buildings made from steel and glass and designed by the architect Kenzo Tange.

There is a viewing platform in the 45th floor of one of the towers. A sea of roofs and buildings will greet you in every direction extending into a hazy horizon. From this vantage point Tokyo looks like a set from a science fiction movie.

On a clear day you can see Mount Fuji far in the distance.

Kyoto on the other hand is surrounded by mountains and cannot grow any bigger than it already is. The city slowly blurs into the natural surroundings. That is most clearly seen from Kiyomizu-dera, a temple in the east of Kyoto.

The first hall in the Buddhist complex was built in 789, while the present building dates from 1633. Not one nail was used to construct the timber building. The temple has a large veranda with a view over Kyoto.

In the distance are mountains. It’s not a view of the future, as in Tokyo. It’s more like gazing down upon an open-air museum.

Children cheer lively robot wrestling

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JAPAN

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network
Tokyo November 11, 2014 1:00 am

“Now’s your chance! Go for it!” – the cheers of children filled the venue. Eliciting the cheers and attracting children’s gazes while engaging in fierce wrestling moves were small robots.

It was the scene of a robot wrestling match held at the Setagaya Kumin Kaikan hall on October 26, sponsored by a group called Robot Pro-Wrestling “Dekinnoka”. Four matches were held in the morning and four in the afternoon with 10 robots participating.

The robots entering the ring were between 40 and 50 centimetres in height and weighed about three kilograms. Some of the robots wore distinctive costumes or masks and some moved comically while others demonstrated violent moves and techniques that shook the ring.

Established by Yoshifumi Omata, 32, a company employee in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, nine years ago, the group has 10 members. Some members control their own original robots made from scratch.

Spectators can watch the robots fight free of charge, with a ringside announcer making on-the-spot explanations and comments during the fights to liven up the mood.

“I’d like to control a robot, too,” said Mashu Hamaguchi, 7, a first-grade primary school student who visited the venue.

Omata said: “It’s interesting when one’s own robot moves as you expect it to. I hope young people become interested in making things through experiencing this simple enjoyment of controlling a robot.”

Motivated by these small wrestlers, children might become interested in science, which could help advance Japan’s science and technology in the future.

Kumamoto’s stone culture a symbol of local people’s power

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JAPAN

Kazuhiro Katayama
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network October 28, 2014 1:00 am

Amazing bridges in this Japanese prefecture were built more than a century ago

Horse sashimi, shochu spirits and the mascot character Kumamon are aspects of Kumamoto Prefecture that quickly come to mind for many people. But I’m most impressed with the prefecture’s amazing stone bridges. I recently flew there for a closer look.

About an hour’s drive in the mountains from Kumamoto Airport, I arrived in the town of Yamato. There, I saw huge artworks made of tree branches, tree barks and other materials in the shapes of people, animals and other subjects. I heard they were floats made for the hassaku festival, which was held in early September to pray for a good harvest and prosperous business.

Much renowned in the small town is the Tsujunkyo bridge. It is designated an important cultural property by the central government. Just over 20 metres high, the bridge has an enchantingly dignified air.

I walked up a slope from the foot of the bridge to reach the flat surface on top. Then, with a roar, water that had been flowing unseen inside the bridge burst from its sides. The water gushed from the central part of the bridge like a waterfall on each side, falling into the river below.

I wondered why water is discharged from the bridge. Soon, I found the answer when I saw displays at the Tsujunkyo Shiryokan museum nearby.

“Tsujunkyo is an aqueduct bridge connecting two plateaus,” Shinjiro Ishiyama, 70, who works at the museum, told me. “It was built 160 years ago to supply water to the Shiraito Plateau, which had no water source.”

A set of three stone pipes runs through the upper part of the bridge. Water is brought from a source 6 kilometers away through the pipes to the Shiraito Plateau, where 100 hectares of agricultural land came into cultivation as a result. I was amazed at the bridge’s precise design and the details of its operation.

I also heard the water discharge was originally meant to wash away mud and pebbles that accumulated in the pipes. Currently, the discharge is conducted as a tourist attraction from noon on weekends and national holidays from April to early May, and from late July to the end of November.

In Misato, a neighbouring town, you can see the magnificent Reidaikyo bridge, which is also an important cultural property. That grand bridge is nearly 90 metres long.

In addition to Tsujunkyo and Reidaikyo, there are also many smaller aqueduct bridges in the surrounding area of central Kumamoto Prefecture. These bridges are tucked away in the mountains amid forests and cultivated fields.

Among them is the Okedakebashi bridge in a mountainous area in Misato. It was built nearly 200 years ago and is still in use as an aqueduct.

“As Tsujunkyo is a large-scale project, it looks the bridge must have been built by the national government. However, stone bridges in this area were actually built by local people, not by the Tokugawa shogunate or the local feudal domain,” said Satoshi Mizukami, 38, an official of the social education department of the town’s education board.

Bridges built with funds provided by local farmers are still used today by people to cross rivers and to supply water to rice paddies and cultivated fields.

Once home to stonemasons

Detailed records of the history and background of stonemasons who built these bridges are preserved at the Toyo Sekishokan museum in Yatsushiro in the prefecture. It is located in a mountainous area about an hour’s drive southwest of Reidaikyo. The place was once home to stonemasons called Taneyama ishiku (stonemasons in Taneyama). In keeping with local history, the museum is built with stone. It displays a huge model of timber supports that are used in the construction of arched stone bridges.

“Kangoro Hashimoto was a local stonemason who was involved in building Tsujunkyo. He was later invited by the Meiji government to build Manseibashi bridge [over the Kandagawa river near Akihabara Station] and other bridges in Tokyo,” Naotaka Uetsuka, 79, honorary director of the museum, explained to me, referring to hand-lettered display panels and other exhibits.

Many bridges in this area were built by local stonemasons for local people using welded tuff, a type of stone created in eruptions of Mount Aso in the prefecture. Tsujunkyo is a record of the “stone culture” that prospered in this area.

Chatty, charming guesthouses draw foreign visitors

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JAPAN

Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network
tokyo October 20, 2014 1:00 am

Guests must share rooms, lavatories and shower facilities, with room rates starting from ¥2,700 (Bt810) per night

Reasonably PRICED guesthouses in Tokyo have been attracting travellers from overseas since the city won the bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

Such accommodations are popular among foreign visitors as they provide a relaxing atmosphere where it is easy to communicate with other travellers as well as locals, with shared rooms, lavatories and shower facilities being the norm.

Guesthouse “Toco” in the Shitaya district in Taito Ward opened four years ago in a renovated 90-year-old traditional private house. A Japanese-style garden outside the veranda of the wooden house creates the atmosphere of Japan’s good old days.

Though guests must share rooms, lavatories and shower facilities, the cost is affordable, starting from ¥2,700 (Bt810) per night. As the living room includes a minibar that opens at 7pm every night, guests can enjoy chatting with other guests and Japanese locals who visit the bar lounge.

“About 80 per cent of our guests are foreigners,” owner Takuya Kirimura, 29, said. “Talking with local residents who come to drink at the bar provides a source of pleasure for them. It keeps love alive.”

Another popular guesthouse is “Khaosan World Asakusa Ryokan & Hostel” in the Nishi-Asakusa district of Taito Ward. As the renovated building was formerly a “love hotel” constructed during the economic bubble years, the guesthouse has intentionally maintained some rooms with their amorous atmosphere.

The cost of such rooms, which are popular among tourists, starts from ¥2,200 per person.

“[Not only guests, but] most of our staff are backpackers who go travelling on holidays,” general manager Masahiko Magome, 32, said. “That’s why we can be a little ‘out of the box’ in the services we offer to guests.”

One of the guests, Christian Curz, 30, a graphic designer from Mexico, said with a smile that the guesthouse is reasonable and unique with friendly staff members, adding that he plans to tell his friends and family members about such charming accommodations in Tokyo.

Such accommodations, which many locals have not heard of, may give foreign travellers a chance to know the real Tokyo.

Applying makeup improves muscle strength

ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Applying-makeup-improves-muscle-strength-30245123.html

JAPAN

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network October 10, 2014 1:00 am

Japan’s hospitals, nursing care centres introduce “cosmetic therapy” for patients and elderly people after research shows its benefits

Making a routine of applying makeup can help elderly women improve their muscle strength and prevent dementia, according to research findings.

Senior citizens tend to have few opportunities to go out and get physical exercise. The findings, which show it is possible to maintain health with the aid of cosmetics, have attracted attention.

The researchers also said women’s desire for eternal beauty can provide a solution that allows them to spend their days enjoying a higher quality of life.

Jointly conducted by Shiseido and Chiba University, the research found that more muscle loading is imposed on the shoulders and arms when elderly women apply skin-care products and cosmetics.

When the women unscrewed caps to open and close cosmetic containers, and massage their faces, the muscle loading volumes were two to three times greater than those when they had meals. The researchers discovered this by measuring their muscle movements using sensors.

In another study conducted by Shiseido, researchers asked 19 elderly women whose average age was 90 to continue applying makeup every day. Three months later, their grip strength had risen by two kilograms on average.

Among the test subjects was a woman who regained the ability to feed herself with a spoon and other utensils. She had needed assistance with her meals before the experiment.

Similar research results by other universities and study groups have found that if elderly women apply makeup, it can lead to an improvement in dementia symptoms and reduce stress.

The purported synergy effects include putting elderly women in a brighter mood, resulting in a tendency to hold more conversations and improve the appetite.

Some hospitals and nursing care centres have introduced cosmetic therapy for patients and elderly people as a result.

If elderly women are reluctant to walk, stretch or do other physical exercise, they can experience a sense of joy even if all they do is put on makeup.

Care Town Narimasu, a special nursing home for the elderly in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, recently held a seminar on cosmetic therapy for its residents.

Mieko Ichimaru, 79, who attended the event, actively moved her hands and said, “As I’ve been putting on makeup recently, I feel happy because I look more attractive.”

Shiseido launched a study in July to seek evidence of a link between putting on makeup and such factors as muscle strength and cognitive ability. It involved 300 people aged 65 or older living in Tokyo.

The firm asked people in varying levels of physical health – from those who are healthy to those with dementia – to attend seminars twice a month and put on makeup every day. After three months, the company will measure how much the recipients’ grip strength and memory have improved.

Shiseido has fostered about 50 specialists for cosmetic therapy seminars. In 2013, the company held about 2,200 such seminars in hospitals and nursing care homes for the elderly across the nation.

By the end of this fiscal year, the company will tally the results and will make a recommendation to other entities on holding such seminars.

The government will also back Shiseido’s efforts. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry’s Healthcare Industries Division will provide subsidies for the firm’s research.

Japan develops robots that behave like humans

ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Japan-develops-robots-that-behave-like-humans-30244872.html

JAPAN

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Asia News Network October 7, 2014 1:00 am

One such “humanoid”, which will be the world’s first robot capable of recognising emotions, is set to hit the Japanese market in February

Inside one of Hitachi’s Central Research Laboratory rooms in Kokubunji, Tokyo, a Yomiuri Shimbun reporter asked a humanoid robot, EMIEW 2, “Where’s the watch?” The cute-looking robot, just 80 centimetres tall, replied: “It’s on Mr Tanaka’s desk. I will take you there.” Adroitly avoiding obstacles, the robot made its way to the watch.

After hearing the reporter’s voice, EMIEW 2’s brain, which is linked to a computer server in an adjacent room, recognised the shape of the watch in just one second after a camera installed on the ceiling that interfaces with the server focused on the desk.

Junichi Tamamoto, 46, chief of the institute’s robotics research department, said: “Though [the EMIEW 2 robot] is this small, high-level intelligence processing has become possible with the use of communications.”

Installing a large number of data-processing functions in a single robot’s body is a difficult task. But progress in information technology allows cognitive functions to be separated from a robot’s body, as well as making small robots capable of high-level data processing.

Tatsuhiko Kagehiro, 45, a chief researcher involved with the robot’s development, said: “Ten or 20 years ago, today’s technologies were considered to be mere dreams. But in the next 10 to 20 years, we’ll surely be able to develop technology close to that seen in Astro Boy.”

But in the field of information technology, where important work on artificial intelligence is being carried out, Google, Apple and other US companies are in the lead. Japanese researchers are racing to see if they can develop unique features particular to Japan.

One such attempt is the development of Pepper, a humanoid robot model created by the SoftBank group set to hit the market in February. The main selling point of the 120cm-tall robot is that it’ll be the world’s first robot model capable of recognising emotions.

Kaname Hayashi, 40, chief of SoftBank Mobile’s department in charge of the robot project, said: “We’ll make [Pepper robots] that can bond with people, not as something inorganic. We wanted to produce robots that can judge when a person becomes happy and independently act accordingly.”

A Pepper robot can detect emotions such as anger and sadness by reading facial expressions, behaviour and voice tones, which will prompt it to express words it deems suitable. These robot learns from conversations – the more experience they accumulate, the more humanlike their expressions will be.

They’re not sophisticated enough to understand emotions the way people can. At best, they detect emotions, but that alone can have healing effects on people.

A robot is an amalgam of various cutting-edge technologies, with applications in a wide range of fields.

For example, technologies used in Hitachi’s EMIEW 2 are also utilised in Fuji Heavy Industries’ EyeSight, a car system that automatically applies the brakes whenever bikes, pedestrians or other obstacles are detected in front of cars.

Apple’s iPhones have also given birth to a large number of apps that exceeded the company’s expectations. “Applications that we haven’t even imagined will be developed,” Hayashi said.

According to government forecasts, the market size of robot-related industries in Japan will rapidly grow from about ¥1.6 trillion in 2015 to around ¥ 9.7 trillion in 2035. Rising demand is expected not only from the manufacturing sector, but from service sectors as well.

Given the rapid development of robotic technology particularly in military-related fields across the United States and other major countries, how should Japan’s robot industry move forward?

Takayuki Furuta, 46, general manager of Chiba Institute of Technology’s Future Robotics Technology Centre and one of Japan’s leading experts in the field, said: “Among the industrialised countries, Japan has the most rapidly graying population. What we should aim for are robots that can assist in the daily lives of the people.”

The government will soon launch a conference comprising manufacturers and users to realise a robotic revolution. The future of robotics seems to lie in the best application of robots in the day-to-day lives of the people.