Tag - rural-life

 
 

RURAL LIFE

Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 27, 2022
Toyama puts itself on Japan’s map of sustainable tourism
From traditional architecture and local folk crafts to impressive temples and a luxury hotel, Toyama's rural Tonami Plain is rich with culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2022
Notes from Setouchi: At Naoshima, three giants of Japanese art wrestle for attention
In spaces that opened earlier this year on Naoshima, the severe architecture of Tadao Ando brings a new edge to the art of Yayoi Kusama and Hiroshi Sugimoto.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 29, 2022
In pushing adventure travel, rural towns see paths forward
Where tourists who flock by bus clog up sidewalks and restaurant reservation slots, those who travel further afield bring some positive baggage with them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 28, 2022
Notes from Setouchi: An autumnal spectacle of light and shadow
Artworks in abandoned houses play with the natural light found on the islands in the Seto Inland Sea.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 28, 2022
Notes from Setouchi: The art of loss brings lesser-known islands to life
Honjima, Takamijima, Awashima and Ibukijima open for the fall season of Setouchi Triennale 2022.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Smart Countryside
Oct 9, 2022
The city aiming to change perceptions of electronic voting in Japan
Tsukuba, a designated Super City in Ibaraki Prefecture, is hoping its trials of online voting among schoolchildren can be rolled out to municipal polls and beyond.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 27, 2022
Okinawa farmers, once finding wealth in pineapples, search for successors
Some people, including teachers, actually quit their jobs and started growing pineapples, such was the wealth to be gained from farming the crop.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jun 21, 2022
Invasive rats spreading across Yamaguchi, damaging crops
The nutria, a kind of large rat native to South America, has expanded its habitat to almost all areas of the prefecture, with municipalities stepping up measures against the animal.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 23, 2022
Rural Philippines, long neglected, newly appealing in COVID-19 times
The economic disparity between the nation's rural and urban areas has been a long-standing problem, but the lessons of the pandemic may finally lead to change.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 7, 2022
Municipal assemblies in Japan face shortage of candidates
Younger generations are seen to be shunning local assemblies because of members' precarity and low remuneration.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2021
America’s superstar cities aren’t what they used to be
The 10 biggest U.S. cities, while large and growing, now account for less than 7.9% of the country's population.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2021
A deserted Akita town offers a glimpse of Japan's demographic future
A lack of jobs is causing younger people to move away, which results in stores and other industries losing business and leaves mainly the retired population.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2021
Push to go electric could wipe out Japan’s cheap microcars
Electrification can add u00a51 million to u00a52 million to the price tag of a smaller kei vehicle, potentially doubling its price.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 23, 2020
Cheap, spacious, crowd-free: Rural Japan is having a moment with the foreign community
Laura Blackhall took a risk purchasing an empty house in the Ibaraki countryside. Amid and following a pandemic, though, it's a choice that just might pay off.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 16, 2020
An outsider's look at the problems plaguing rural Japan
When new people come to town they bring a flurry of new ideas with them. In the small town of Nakatsugawa, this has meant an exciting cultural exchange.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 4, 2020
As Japan moves to revive its countryside, pandemic drives many out of cities
In September, 30,644 people moved out of Tokyo, up 12.5% year-on-year, while the number moving in fell 11.7% to 27,006, data showed.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Sep 25, 2020
Rules on buying farmland eased in rural Hiroshima amid depopulation
Smaller plots are being made available in a bid to attract younger people from the cities to the countryside.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’