Nipponica

Tanegashima, closer to Shanghai and Seoul than Tokyo, has fewer than 30,000 people and is best known as the home of Japan's answer to Cape Canaveral, the rocket launch center of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The next launch is scheduled for June 30.

But with launches few and far between, the center hasn't spawned a broader industrial base, leaving fishing and sugarcane farming by an aging workforce as the backbone of the island economy. With Japan's fertility rate at a record low, speeding population decline, success in regenerating Tanegashima's economy could serve as a blueprint for regions across the country seeking rural revival.

Communities across rural Japan are experimenting with many different models on how to pull people in and have them stay. The JAXA draw for Tanegashima could be huge but there does looks to be a lack of investment on their part to assist the island to grow.

The digital nomad angle could work but it is still quite remote for many. And then there is the marketing problem. How does such a small island promote itself out in the wider world? A difficult proposition but hoping they will find success.

Heavy rain battered wide areas of Japan on Tuesday, disrupting bullet train services between Tokyo and Osaka and prompting the weather agency to urge caution for landslides and floods.

People living in Japan will likely recognize "Hotaru no Hikari," a song based on the Scottish folk song "Auld Lang Syne" which has become the standard tune played at shops in the country just before closing. Outside Japan, the folk song is often sung by crowds who gather on New Year's Eve to mark the turn of the year.

"When 'Hotaru no hikari' plays, Japanese people understand that it is time to close the store. However, in recent years, the number of foreigners has increased, and more people are present who do not understand its meaning. It's difficult to announce that the store is closing without spoiling the enjoyment of shopping. Therefore, we have come up with new closing music that casually announces the closing, but still allows shoppers to leave comfortably."

This is classico Japan taking an element from overseas and transforming it into something befitting local culture.

Japan's restaurant industry is deploying a two-tiered pricing system in tourist spots as eateries look to cash in on an influx of foreign visitors without alienating local customers.

Compared with the castle pricing for tourists below, I do have a problem with this if it starts to become common outside of tourist areas. For foreign residents wanting to have a meal, an identity check should not be part of the ordering process.

"We would like to charge around $30 for foreigners and around $5 for residents," Kiyomoto said at the symposium on cultural heritage and natural disasters.

When asked about his reason for the $5 fee, Kiyomoto told reporters Monday that he wants "to avoid raising the admission fee for local residents."

For cultural sites like castles, I think a higher admission fee could be appropriate for certain tourists from higher wealth countries. But grouping all tourists in a single high-cost bucket is unfair for people from less developed nations. But the challenge is obvious in devising a pricing strategy like this. You can't expect a passport check at a ticket window.

A once-bustling shopping district in the city of Gifu which boasts a 135-year history and inspired a hit song that defined its heyday will see the withdrawal of department store mega-chain Takashimaya Co. at the end of July.

Takashimaya's departure from the Yanagase shopping arcade in the central Japan city is a portent of a more worrying trend sweeping the country, as commercial districts that have coexisted with major department stores lose customers amid Japan's declining birthrate and aging population.

I have seen multiple shopping arcades fall into disrepair around Japan in recent years and it really is a sad loss. There are still many that are vibrant, but the rural areas are hit the hardest.

Japan's parliament on Friday enacted revised laws to replace the controversial foreign trainee program, which has been criticized as a cover for importing cheap labor. Japan seeks to ensure foreign workers will stay on longer in a bid to address an acute labor shortage in a rapidly greying society.

Under the new system, workers will be able to move after working in a job for one year provided their Japanese language and professional skills meet certain requirements.

Businesses in Japan that employ immigrant labor are getting a wake up call and hopefully exploitative practices start to die out. Props to the national government for passing immigration reform for this classification of visa but there is still work to do to raise all workers up to a better overall standard wage to catch up to the rest of the world.

More than half of people in Japan are not comfortable with the recent trend of emphasizing "time performance" in leisure and other daily activities, such as watching movies at double speed, a recent survey by watchmaker Seiko Group Corp. showed.

I haven't heard of タイパ before and the idea of watching a film at double speed is crazy. However, I am guilty of doing the same thing for podcasts and audiobooks so perhaps I am just as culpable for not slowing down and enjoying art.

The transfer of U.S. Marine Corps troops stationed in Japan's Okinawa to Guam will start in December, a Marines official said Sunday, the latest development in a long-agreed Japan-U.S. forces realignment plan aimed at reducing the southern island prefecture's base-hosting burden.

The plan to move 4,000 of the approximately 19,000 Marines currently in Okinawa, agreed upon in 2012, is set to be completed by around 2028, according the Congressional Research Service and other sources.

About 50 years too late and it is only a small portion of the total military based in Okinawa, but it will be a welcome improvement.

When viewed from an angle, the building resembles a ship without the bow and stern, forming a U-shape with gentle curves. According to the company, it is thought that the design was in fact inspired by a ship, since the headquarters was built on the site of a former shipyard.

I love the ugly concrete buildings that seem native to modern Japan and the unique design choices made to make them stand out. This is one example with an interesting curved base to keep fumes from coming into open windows.

The owner of a ramen restaurant in the city of Nara appeared frustrated as they described their search for a new hire. In January, they registered their business on a major job search site to hire a part-timer, but received few inquiries. Finally, in March, they got a nibble, but still couldn't fill the position. "Three people were supposed to come in for interviews, but they all pulled out. And only one of them notified me. Young people's thinking is off the rails," they said.

Interesting article about a phenomenon happening elsewhere around the world that is surely linked to a wide dissatisfaction with wages and the expectations of the worker/company relationship. The article also posits that inefficiencies in the application process turn away qualified applicants which also rings true. But they place part of the blame of workers submitting multiple simultaneous job applications as a problem when, in reality, it is a necessary part of job hunting.

After registering their face photo data and credit card information in advance on a dedicated website, passengers can board trains, without buying tickets, via cameras installed at the ticket gates at stations that recognize their faces. Passengers with commuter passes can also use the system.

No mention of privacy concerns here at all. Also, with FeliCa-based cards so prevalent in the country, this seems totally unnecessary.

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and IBM aim to develop a quantum computer with 10,000 quantum bits, or qubits, which would be 75 times more than current quantum computers have. In quantum computing, a qubit is the basic unit of information -- just like a binary bit in conventional computers -- and gives a rough idea of performance.

The most advanced quantum computers currently have 133 qubits.

Speedy.

Japan played an important role throughout Calder’s life — a destination that he himself never physically visited but that presented itself from the very start. A seed planted by his parents’ collection of Japanese art and objects in the late 19th century, later clearly reflected in the unmistakable Japanese-inspired aesthetics integrated into many of Calder’s own artworks.

Holders of an all-access pass will be able to use facial recognition by registering their photo and a payment method in advance. The system will enable them to enter the event and make purchases at shops and cafes by just scanning their faces.

The organizer expects the registration of about 1.2 million accounts, making the Expo one of the largest events to use the technology.

If it works, it is interesting tech. I remember the first time I boarded an airplane in Hong Kong with just my face and it felt that I was cheating by not booping my paper ticket on the laser machine. But, as with any biometrics, privacy is the killer app. It takes almost to the end of the article before the p-word is mentioned.

The restaurant, located in the bustling Akasaka area of Tokyo, offers a unique “Okinawan kaiseki” — a fusion of Ryukyuan court cuisine and the traditional Japanese kaiseki multicourse dinner. It was opened in 1998 by culinary researcher and author Rin Takagi, who came up with a modern interpretation of the Ryukyu dynasty's cooking method, known as a secret to people’s health and longevity in the region.

In more positive Ryukyu news, a lovely survival story about a Michelin star Okinawan restaurant in Tokyo.

In the 48-seat prefectural assembly election, candidates who supported Gov. Denny Tamaki obtained 20 seats, while 27 were occupied by those who opposed him and the remaining one went to a neutral candidate. Before the voting, each side had 24 seats.

A blow to Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki's push against the Henoko base construction. The Okinawan people will continue to bear the defense burden of the country.

Voter turnout was the lowest on record at 45.62 percent, according to the local election committee.

Also worth noting considering Japan's overall low turnout rates in elections.

The Gamagori Municipal Government in central Japan's Aichi Prefecture is investigating a whistleblower's report that the scores of women sitting its employment exams were lowered to prioritize their male counterparts, apparently at the mayor's instruction, multiple sources told the Mainichi Shimbun on June 14.

Absolutely shameful but no real surprise here. The mayor is states later on in the article that the reason for the exam tampering is due to staff shortages for maternity leave.

...researchers in western Japan's Ehime Prefecture have developed a new type of paper material that's cooler to the touch.

The developers are also considering cutting the paper into fine threads to be processed into towels and other textile products.

This kind of thing is where Japan really does excel: taking the normal materials of life and improving them by small margins over time.

Central Japan Railway kicked off a farewell tour for the "Doctor Yellow" diagnostic shinkansen bullet train on Friday at Tokyo Station, where enthusiasts gathered to pay their respects to the perennial favorite.

Any place where being a train nerd can be somewhat mainstream is a good place to be.