TRAVEL

Japan discovered a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease in a cow in its southern prefecture of Miyazaki, just days after it lifted a state of emergency, an official said. "We cancelled two auctions of cows in the prefecture after a suspected case of foot and mouth was discovered on a farm," a prefecture official told AFP. The region reported the case to the farm ministry and was awaiting the test result to determine if it is a fresh foot-and-mouth case. (AFP)

Put aside serious political issues like the disputed northern territories off Hokkaido for now. The Japanese Embassy in Russia has published the first issue of a Russian-language magazine featuring Japanese pop culture, hoping to broaden pro-Japanese sentiment in the country. The quarterly magazine, mainly targeting young Russians, is far from a serious ordinary "government publication," but rather pop and cool. The opening page of the first issue of Yaponiya (meaning Japan in Russian) includes an interview with Hayao Miyazaki, in which the movie director said he decided to become an anime creator after being moved by the expressiveness of the Soviet-era animated feature film, "The Snow Queen" (1957). (Yomiuri)

It's not a green thumb or a knack for knowing how his crops will fare that keeps farmer Hideaki Shinpuku smiling. "In farming, you can't rely just on your instincts," Shinpuku said as he tended his fields of satoimo yams, gobo roots, daikon radishes and carrots, that cover a total of about 92 hectares in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture. In fact, the 58-year-old former textile company employee relies on a computer hundreds of kilometers away in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, to give him crucial advice on when to begin weeding or harvesting, or whether he is giving enough water to his crop. By transmitting video images taken by cameras and readings from hygrometers and other sensors placed in the ground or around the fields to a mainframe at a Fujitsu Ltd. data center, he has been able to receive prompt farming advice that in turn has helped him raise his yield. (Asahi)

The economic impact on Miyazaki Prefecture from the outbreak in April of foot-and-mouth disease among livestock is likely to total ¥235 billion over the next five years, the prefecture said. It is the first estimation by the prefecture of overall losses by its industries, including the livestock, tourism and transportation sectors. It released the projections Tuesday, estimating roughly five years will be needed before the shipment value of the livestock industry recovers to levels before the epidemic hit Miyazaki farms. (Japan Times)

Japan lifted a state of emergency Tuesday in a southern region known for its prized and pampered cattle, after a three-month foot-and-mouth outbreak forced the slaughter of almost 300,000 farm animals. The highly contagious virus, which rarely affects humans but sickens cloven-hoofed animals, had forced the suspension of meat sales from Miyazaki prefecture. "Wagyu" cattle -- from both Miyazaki on Kyushu island and Kobe on Honshu island -- are famed for being pampered, fed beer and massaged daily, sometimes with sake, and some are even played classical music for relaxation. (AFP)

A well-known property in Tokyo dubbed "Totoro's home" reopened as a park Sunday based on a sketch by Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the popular character in the 1988 animated film "Tonari no Totoro" ("My Neighbor Totoro") who cherished the spot filled with trees and plants. There are more than 100 kinds of plants on the 840-sq.-meter property in Suginami Ward, and components from the house that once stood there before it burned down, including red roof tiles, were used for a restroom facility, a local official said, referring to efforts to create an atmosphere that would make visitors feel Totoro would live there. (Japan Times)

Studio Ghibli is often assumed to be the animation house that Hayao Miyazaki built, but Miyazaki has directed only nine of its 17 features to date. Four were made by studio cofounder Isao Takahata and four by four different directors. These latter four, however, are all immediately identifiable as Studio Ghibli products, from their spunky teenage protagonists to their pictorial realism in everything from the play of shadows through the trees to the raising of sticky windows. (Japan Times)

It's not always easy to argue with an artist. Somehow, everything that's said ends up being so, well, subjective. Still, how can one not at least listen to the words of the great Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki on the subject of the iPad? According to the blog Kotaku, Miyazaki gave an interview to Neppuu--the pamphlet published by his movie studio--in which he railed against the iPad and the way people use it. He reportedly described people as "stroking" it with "strange gestures." (CNET)

Agriculture minister Masahiko Yamada reaffirmed Monday that six privately owned stud bulls in Miyazaki Prefecture will have to be killed despite local efforts to save them from the mandated slaughter aimed at containing the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. After meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, Yamada said he would demand that Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru have the bulls put down in accordance with a special law. (Japan Times)

While most media outlets have chosen to focus on the economic and health aspects of the ongoing spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture, weekly tabloid Shukan Asahi Geino (July 1) investigates how the outbreak has impacted the businesses most dear to its readership - namely, shops specializing in adult entertainment. On May 18, Miyazaki Prefecture Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru declared a prefecture-wide state of emergency. Since then, those visiting from outlying areas began canceling reservations in earnest. The owner of Japanese restaurant Igokochiya Anbai, located in Miyazaki City's entertainment district known as Nishitachi, tells the tabloid that sales have fallen to half of what they were a year ago. "In the beginning, the cancellations were limited to certain areas," the owner explains, "but after the state of emergency was declared the number rose rapidly. We are now cutting part-timers and reducing advertising and supply purchases." (Tokyo Reporter)

Farmers resumed shipping livestock in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, Friday as a three-week ban on moving animals was lifted at midnight Thursday, after confirmation that the foot-and-mouth epidemic had ended. A suspected case of the disease broke out June 9 in the city, which serves as one of Japan's major livestock centers. But no other cases have since emerged, thanks to a quick countermeasure of culling and burying all the animals at the farm. (Kyodo)

The start of the rainy season in Miyazaki Prefecture is slowing the culling and burial of cows and pigs infected with foot-and-mouth disease. The Meteorological Agency officially announced the rainy season had started in the prefecture Saturday. Work was suspended Sunday because of a predawn downpour that hindered the workers by making the air humid and the ground muddy. Although the central government ordered the prefecture to finish the job by next Sunday, nearly 28,000 cows and pigs remain to be culled. To speed up the work, the central government decided to send additional Self-Defense Force personnel to the area. (Yomiuri)

The government has decided to cover the cost of all measures to tackle foot-and-mouth disease among livestock in Miyazaki Prefecture under a special law aimed at preventing the spread of the disease, officials said Monday. The government intends to decide on the steps, including compensation for farmers who have slaughtered their livestock, at Friday's Cabinet meeting. It expects to allocate 60 billion to 70 billion yen to implement the measures, the officials said. (AP)

It is a calamity for this quiet cattle community. A prized black calf born last fall will soon be killed, part of the mass destruction of livestock in Japan's battle against its worst foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in at least a century. The epidemic threatens to ravage the country's trade in prime marbled beef, considered a delicacy in this country. Miyazaki, on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, is one of Japan's top beef producers and sends calves to other cattle-producing regions across the country, including the area that produces the famed Kobe brand. (New York Times)

The foot-and-mouth animal infectious disease has spread within Miyazaki Prefecture to a city serving as Japan's largest livestock industry center as three cows in Miyakonojo tested positive for the highly contagious disease in genetic tests, local officials said Thursday. Located about 50 kilometers away from the town of Kawaminami and its vicinity in the southwestern Japanese prefecture and bordering Kagoshima Prefecture, the latest finding shows a failed effort by the central and local governments to contain the epidemic devastating local livestock. (AP)

The Miyazaki prefectural government on Monday euthanized 49 stud bulls kept by the prefecture's Livestock Improvement Association, after giving up efforts to save their lives amid the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The cull left only five stud bulls to the prefectural government, which is known for shipping high-quality calves to livestock farms around the country. The remaining five, which have been evacuated to Saito in the prefecture, are Miyazaki's top stud bulls in terms of semen provided. Most of the 49 bulls euthanized Monday were young, but among them was Yasuhira, one of the nation's top stud bulls. Retired at the time of his death, the old bull fathered about 220,000 top-quality calves. (Yomiuri)

The Diet on Friday enacted a special law to allow the central government to forcibly slaughter livestock to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, as the House of Councillors unanimously approved the proposed legislation at its plenary session. The new law on measures against foot-and-mouth disease is expected to be promulgated next week and take effect immediately in the face of the rapid spread of the contagious ailment among livestock in Miyazaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The House of Representatives approved the bill Thursday. (AP)

The government decided Monday to slaughter 49 stud bulls in Miyazaki Prefecture in the face of the spread of foot-and-mouth disease there, despite the local authorities wanting to keep the animals alive. The decision was confirmed during a meeting between Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano and senior vice farm minister Masahiko Yamada at the prime minister's office. The slaughter of the 49 will leave only five seed bulls in the prefecture, which have been separated from other cattle. (AP)

One of six stud bulls that have been separated from other cows after the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture has been confirmed infected with the disease, sources close to the issue said Friday. The development is expected to deal a devastating blow to the livestock industry in the western Japan prefecture because the bulls are used to breed the prefecture's prized Miyazaki beef. The prefectural government plans to slaughter the bull which tested positive for the virus under gene examination. (AP)

Japan, scrambling to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, will slaughter all livestock within 10 kilometres of the disease-hit areas, the government said Wednesday. The highly contagious virus has brought to a halt all Japanese beef and pork exports for the past month and crippled the premium beef industry in the affected Miyazaki prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu. Japan had already designated more than 118,000 cows, buffalo, pigs and goats from 131 affected farms to be destroyed. About half of them have already been put down in selected culls, latest government figures showed. (telegraph.co.uk)

Suspected cases of foot-and-mouth disease in pigs and cows have been found at 12 more farms in Miyazaki Prefecture, the local government said Thursday. The finding brings the tally of suspected infections to 35 farms and livestock facilities in Miyazaki, the government said. Gene examination found that six cows and 13 pigs tested positive for the virus at the 12 farms, all located in the town of Kawaminami, according to the government. The prefectural government plans to slaughter 184 cows and 10,723 pigs being raised at these farms. (AP)

Peculiar weather patterns this spring have kept cherry blossoms in bloom longer than usual across the country, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Thursday. While high temperatures from early to mid-March helped cherry blossoms come out early, the subsequent period for the flowers to reach full blossom -- normally one week -- has been drawn out due to cold weather in late March, the agency said said. Cherry blossoms took as long as 19 days from blooming to reach peak blossoms in Matsuyama, the longest ever observed in the city, followed by 16 days in Miyazaki, 15 days in Kobe and Takamatsu, and 14 days in Osaka -- all record lengths. In Nagoya, the period was a record-tying 15 days. (AP)

Fully ripe mangoes, well-known for their high sugar concentration - and high prices - have gone on sale nationwide with the first box of two fetching a wholesale price of ¥200,000. The first deal for the Miyazaki Prefecture-grown red mango, dubbed the "egg of the sun," was made Monday. Bidding started at 7 a.m. at the central wholesale market in the city of Miyazaki. (Japan Times)

A 22-year-old man under arrest has admitted to killing his 6-month-old son, wife and mother-in-law in the city of Miyazaki, investigative sources said Wednesday. Investigators said Akihiro Okumoto, who was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of abandoning the body of his son, Yuto, told them, "I killed the three." (AP)

A 22-year-old Miyazaki man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly burying the body of his 6-month-old son near their home, where his wife and mother-in-law were also found slain. Akihiro Okumoto was taken into custody after admitting in questioning that he tried to bury his son, Yuto, and police are investigating whether he is involved in the deaths of his wife, Kumiko, 24, and her mother, Takako Ikegami, 50, at their home in the city of Miyazaki. (Japan Times)