The top ten booms in Japan now. (10) Forest girl boom. Fashion inspired by Anne of Green Gables. For your fashion life in the forest. (9) Tokai region local government mascot character boom. More than 30 municipalities in Tokai have mascot characters. (8) Calligraphy boom Influenced by "Tomehane Suzuri High School Calligraphy Club" TV show
Wild animals are being hunted by local government employees in an effort to reduce crop damage and the number of animals prowling populated areas. The "civil service hunters" are targeting monkeys, bears, deer, wild boars, foxes, and other animals. The public servants are being trained in the use of rifles in order to obtain hunting
A tiny dog is the honorary stationmaster at Oku-Nakayama Kogen Station, in Ichinohemachi, Iwate Prefecture. Maron, a tiny 8-year-old Yorkshire terrier, wears a tiny uniform and tiny hat and serves as a tourist attraction for the Iwate Galaxy Railway Company. Since 2000, the dog had been accompanying its owner to work at the then-named Oku-Nakayama Station. In June 2008, the president of IGR officially proclaimed the dog as stationmaster
The camera-police-hotline-alarm-equipped Coca-Cola vending machine installed in a park in Toyohashi, on October 10, 2008, has been vandalized. (Crime-Fighting Vending Machine) LJ October 12) Police report the top-mounted security camera wiring had been cut and the camera was dangling over the front of the machine. "Surveillance society" (in Japanese) had been sprayed in black paint
Coke machine guards park A new vending machine has a built-in direct phone line to the police department, an alarm buzzer, a 24-hour video-recording surveillance camera, and a revolving red light on top. "The "Help Vending Machine" was provided by Coca Cola in cooperation with the Aichi prefectural police. The machine is located in Iwata
Report: Tama-chan Boosts Business For only the price of cat food, a kitty in a train station in rural Japan has benefited the local economy. In April 2008, Lets Japan wrote about Tama-chan (Cat in Hat Can’t Quit), the official hat-wearing stationmaster feline at Kishi train station on the Kishigawa Line in Wakayama Prefecture. Tama-the-cat
