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The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version there is no car in sight on Akabira´s wide roads on a Saturday afternoon.  The former mining town in central Hokkaido has seen better days while a handful of shops struggle to survive.  Recently, however, the Oscar winning movie Drive My Car is giving the small town a small piece of world fame.  A young couple is taking a stroll on the street in front of the oversized Akabira train station building where a single taxi is waiting for customers They seem genuinely excited to be in the back of beyond Her pretty dress and his fashionable jacket stand out against the empty quiet space that marks the city center.   Akabira is as far from Oscar glory as one can imagine “It’s a nothing place,” says Misaki Watari (Toko Miura) the young chauffeur in the movie when the owner of the red Saab asks her to drive him from Hiroshima to her childhood home in Hokkaido It’s a Japanese road movie that is three hours long and has no car chase revealing some dark personal secrets on the way Sharing a tender moment on a snowy slope in Akabira they both confront ghosts of their past.  Inside Akabira train station some posters and magazine clippings about the movie are testimony to the new found local pride Little does it matter that the movie scenes of the town are not a strong incentive to visit Akabira They picture the two characters in a harsh unforgiving landscape that reflects their loneliness and mental struggle.  Akabira looks a bit like Finland in movies by Aki Kaurismäki smoke constantly and travel through frozen landscapes – only with more sunlight The local ramen shop Chinrai has become something like the unofficial embassy for Drive My Car Inside the Showa style building from the 1980s the owner Yasuhiro Sasaki serves old fashioned ramen dishes that make for a good meal for mine workers and farmers: Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) ramen and “gan gan ramen,” hot pot ramen that comes in a clay pot with a raw egg on top.  When Drive My Car director Ryusuke Hamaguchi and his crew spent four days shooting the film scenes in December 2020 Sasaki fed the team with tonkatsu ramen for free It was not the first time the owner has been involved in a cinematographic production The shop featured in the Japanese travelog “How do you like Wednesday,” a TV show that ran from 1996 to 2002.  When the movie won an Oscar for the best international feature film in late March 2022 the ramen shop held Akabira’s official Oscar after-party.  more people have been visiting my shop“ confirms Sasaki and also a sign that celebrates the latest Oscar win He happily recounts to a group of visitors from Sapporo how the film crew ate in his place and that they enjoyed their time in Hokkaido.  Meanwhile locals in work clothes and gumboots silently eat their lunch without taking too much notice of the town´s new fame.      From the ramen shop it takes about 20 minutes to walk up to the observation deck on Zuriyama The way leads through fields around the abandoned coal plant with the mine´s rusting shaft tower in the background.  The view from here into the valley below shows Akabira city stretching along the banks of the Sorachi river between mountain ranges still covered in snow on the horizon.  A bit further down is the location where Drive My Car was filmed mainly because of its unstable terrain.  but an artificial hill of coal mining debris that accumulated during the mining years This method of spoil disposal comes with risks of landslides and erosion the last thing that members of Akabira’s tourism association want is visitors climbing around a slope of coal debris while trying to scout out the exact location in the movie.  Akabira’s brush with fame certainly comes with a small headache Town officials are trying to find other ways to keep movie fans entertained but so far not many proposals have been put forward.  until now the town’s only cultural offering there is nobody with a 30 year old red Saab 900 and a young female chauffeur.     Author: Agnes Tandler (Reporting from Akabira) Find other essays and reports by Agnes Tandler for JAPAN Forward here.  You must be logged in to post a comment ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " A fifteen foot tall snowman sits in front of the home of Mike and Michelle Lucas on Berrybrook Drive SE in Byron Center on Sunday .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Brandon Champion | bchampio@mlive.comHOUGHTON That's what students at Michigan Tech University are planning to do in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most snowmen built in an hour The current mark of 2,036 was achieved by Drama 24 Unhandy Handyman at Zuriyama Observation Field More than 1,400 people participated in that attempt which took place during the filming of a TV drama with actors as well as local citizens participating MTU's Undergraduate Student Government is hosting "Snowman Left Behind" at Sherman Field on the school's campus in Houghton Students and the public are invited to participate in the event. A Facebook event came be seen here It took an adjudicator and 4 witnesses two hours to measure and count the snowmen built in Japan in 2015 Thirty stewards were also present to ensure the participants did not use any tools and stopped making the snowmen at the adjudicator's signal Similar rules will be in effect during the attempt in Michigan's Upper Peninsula Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information National Report Aging traffic lights pose a quandary to police across Japan with many thousands needing to be replaced or repaired and some even posing a public safety threat there are about 210,000 traffic lights nationwide with a quarter of these having passed their useful life period Traffic lights have been removed in areas of heavy depopulation and decreases in traffic volume but agreements with local residents for their removal are often challenging The number of traffic lights across Japan increased rapidly as the number of vehicles increased there were only about 20,000 traffic lights nationwide in 1970 when the number of fatal accidents hit 15,801 Aging traffic lights are one of the issues facing police The useful life of traffic lights is estimated to be 19 years It costs about 1.3 million yen ($8,400) to repair each unit in addition to maintenance and other upkeep costs about 50,000 traffic lights needed repairs There have been 17 accidents where traffic light poles collapsed due to deterioration and other factors over the 10 years up to 2023 the bottom part of the pole had been corroded and broke apart indicating that dog urine may have factored into the collapse another traffic light pole collapsed in Shizuoka police departments nationwide are proceeding with the removal of traffic lights while repairing those still usable The NPA surveyed the target number of traffic lights to be removed by prefectural police departments over the five years from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2028 excluding the three prefectural police departments that have not yet set a target or about 2 percent of the overall number of existing traffic lights The percentage of those targeted for removal in Wakayama and Tokushima prefectures was the highest at about 10 percent of the existing traffic lights in both prefectures The NPA’s guidelines set the conditions for installing traffic lights These five conditions include “traffic volume per hour is 300 vehicles or more” and “the distance between traffic lights and its adjacent one is 150 meters or more.” one of the following conditions must also be met such as “elementary or junior high schools or hospitals exist nearby,” or “there must be at least two accidents per year resulting in injury or death and no measures other than traffic lights can be taken.” the specific removal location is determined comprehensively from various perspectives such as when traffic would flow smoother without the traffic lights or when safety can be ensured without them There have been locations where residents have opposed removing traffic lights “It is necessary for each police department to obtain the understanding of local residents before proceeding with the removal,” a senior official of the NPA said On a one-lane prefectural road in the Kami-Oshima district of Tsukuba cars and motorcycles sped through at the rate of about one every three seconds This is the location where the removal of a push-button traffic light was temporarily considered whose daughter used to commute to school there “The traffic is so heavy and dangerous that we can’t cross without a traffic light.” the traffic light was considered for removal in 2018 when the nearby elementary school closed and the number of users decreased when the police explained about removing the light to residents The residents said because many elderly pedestrians used the crossing it would be dangerous without the traffic light it was decided that the traffic light would remain there There are other locations where traffic lights were removed with the agreement of residents 19 traffic lights were removed during 2023 One of these was a push-button traffic light in front of the former Akama Elementary School in Akabira It was removed in December because the school had closed the previous year and traffic on the road in front of the school had decreased The traffic light was used by only a few people other than schoolchildren and the residents did not voice any opposition to its removal there are cases where traffic lights were not installed even though local residents requested them three people were killed in a collision between two cars at an intersection in  Rokunohe in Aomori Prefecture There was no traffic light installed at the intersection and nine accidents occurred there over the five years through 2023 According to the Aomori prefectural police the traffic volume at the intersection does not meet one of the required conditions for installing traffic lights The police also said that it is safer to install stop signs instead of installing a traffic light The intersection lacks a traffic light even now The police explained that traffic crackdowns at the site were bolstered and increased stop signs put in place since the accident occurred in September 2024 A total of 2,212 traffic lights were newly installed nationwide over the five years through fiscal 2023 indicating that compared to the number of traffic lights being removed only about 60 percent were newly put in place (This article was written by Daichi Itakura and Yuka Suzuki.) Police face new complication over cyclists using earphones Over 200 police officers penalized for misbehavior in 2024 Marker installed at 1st ‘scramble crossing’ in Kumamoto Residents voice anger after students killed by DUI driver Smartphone app system tells blind people the color of traffic signals Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions Please right click to use your browser’s translation function.) A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II In-house News and Messages No reproduction or republication without written permission Event and there are plenty of events to enjoy during the winter holidays and the New Year Here are 10 recommended events for January to enjoy winter in Hokkaido including winter fireworks and winter activities that the whole family can enjoy Image source: Sapporo Moiwa Mountain Ropeway Image source: Fighters Sports & Entertainment Co. Image source: Hokkaido Television Broadcasting Co. Image source: Noguchi Tourism Management Co. Image source: Kitami City Railway Revitalization Council Image source: Nakasatsunai Village Board of Education Would you like to share the wonderful activities of those of you who are active in Hokkaido with more people Posting an event on Domingo takes just 5 minutes and is free and easy for anyone to do Not only can you widely disseminate your activities and ideas but you also have the chance to be selected by Domingo to be featured in articles and on street visions in Sapporo If you're a beginner, you can easily get started here . Expanding the circle of exchange in Minami-ku, Sapporo! What is "Yaoyo Cafe", a community market created by students together with the local community? [Updated for 2025] A complete guide to accessing Daiwa House Premist Dome (Sapporo Dome) and nearby hotels! Convenient for trips and concerts Enjoy seasonal spring gourmet food and Golden Week! 10 recommended events in Hokkaido [May 2025] Check out these Golden Week outings! 5 recommended events in Sapporo [May 2nd - 6th, 2025] Let's do something good! 5 easy-to-participate social good events in Hokkaido [May 2025] [2025 Edition] 16 Flower Events in Hokkaido: Cherry blossoms, rape blossoms, azaleas, and tulips in full bloom Seasonal “news” of Hokkaido can be checked by category! You can check the information of your “town” in one place! Events” held throughout the province are easy to find and can be saved! This page has been automatically translated by Google Translate service. Onyebuchi Chukwu yavuze ko abo barwayi bari mu muji mukuru wa Lagos. Bose bari babonanye kandi n'umunya Liberia afise akabira ka Amerika yaguye agishika ku kibuga c'indege, mu nyuma agahava yitaba Imana. Bwana Chukwu yavuze ko uwanyuma mu banduye ari umuforoma yamuvuye. Igihugu ca Cote d'Ivoire cabujije ingendo zose z'indege ziva muri Guinee, Liberia na Sierra Leone, ibihugu bigeramiwe na Ebola gusumba ahandi. I Geneve hari inama y'ishirahamwe rijejwe amagara y'abantu kw'isi, n'abahinga mu vyerekeye amategeko afatiye ku nyifato mu mwuga. OMS n'abo bahinga bahuye kugirango bihwereze hamwe, ikibazo c'ikoreshwa ry'imiti itaremezwa, yari ikiri ku rugero rw'igeragezwa.