Ibaraki — How about staying with a group in the Hokutosei express sleeper train that once ran between Tokyo’s Ueno Station and Hokkaido’s Sapporo Station please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent has begun offering accommodation plans in four Hokutosei train cars on display at the theme park The Hokutosei train on display was in service for 27 years There are four cars: a sleeping car with two single-bed rooms and seven two-people rooms; the Grand Chariot dining car; a lobby car with sofas; and another sleeping car with bunk beds for up to 32 people The cars are on display at the Yumenoba vehicle theme park within The Hirosawa City The fee for exclusive accommodation is ¥200,000 per night including tax and accommodation is available for one to forty-eight people “Yumenoba is the only place where you can stay exclusively in a four-car sleeper train Please stay with your railway enthusiast friends or come for a company trip.” Meals are available in the dining car for an extra charge Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun The novel will also get an e-book and an audiobook release Impressed by Kakeru's agility, Kiyose persuades Kakeru to move into Chikusei-so, a run-down dormitory where he resides with eight other boys. Chikusei-so's colorful residents include identical twins Jota and Joji, honor student Shindo, detail-oriented Yuki, trivia junkie King, Tanzanian international student Musa, nicotine-loving Nico, and manga otaku Prince unbeknownst to Kakeru or any of the other dorm residents Chikusei-so is the historic home of the Kansei University Track and Field dorm and Kakeru is just the person Kiyose has been looking for Kiyose reveals his grand plan of assembling a 10-man team of runners to compete in the Hakone Ekiden the Chikusei-so gang aren't too athletic--or interested in participating this ragtag team will put aside their differences to pursue an elusive dream Run with the Wind is a thrilling celebration of what it means to run--for yourself The novel has also inspired a stage play adaptation and manga Miura's other works published in English include The Easy Life in Kamusari, Kamusari Tales Told at Night, and The Great Passage. The Great Passage inspired a live-action film in 2013, an anime series adaptation in 2016, and an upcoming live-action series in February HarperVia has previously published such novels as The Tatami Galaxy and The Tatami Time Machine Blues The imprint will release Park Seolyeon's A Magical Girl Retires novel in English on April 30 A crop-dusting helicopter resides in a paddy field in Chikusei on Monday after crashing when it apparently struck a power line The 49-year-old pilot didn't sustain any life-threatening injuries Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information National Report A set of golden tea-making utensils associated with renowned feudal warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi fetched 300 million yen ($2.15 million) at an auction in Tokyo It is believed in some circles that Hideyoshi (1537-1598) used the set in his famed golden tearoom It is also said the warlord gifted the utensils to Todo Takatora warned bidders the auction house would not guarantee the authenticity of such claims before the set went under the hammer on May 27 said it bought the set to revitalize the neighborhood which was formerly owned by Count Takatsugu Todo (1884-1943) It is not known who produced the items or when but records show the set was displayed at an exhibition in 1929 A survey conducted during World War II showed that the set was made of gold-silver alloy with a gold content of 80-88 percent Self-Defense Forces hold 1st auction to raise cash amid virus Defense Ministry to auction off used nonessential gear in late July Raw whale meat sells for a record price in auction in Shimonoseki Racehorse raised by high school students sells for 25 million yen 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 A local fisheries cooperative in Chikusei City on Sunday held its annual tour of the Kinugawa River for children to watch salmon swimming upstream That number has now dwindled to only a few An organizer said the event won't be able to continue if the salmon catch keeps falling Poor catches have been reported across the country 2,000 to 3,000 salmon were caught daily off Miyagi Prefecture's Sanriku coast But only a few salmon were caught each day in October Japan's salmon catch peaked in 1996 and has been declining ever since This season's numbers so far are even lower The catch in Miyagi is currently only about 10 percent of last year's figure for the same period a professor emeritus at Hokkaido University's Arctic Research Center says salmon were unable to return to spawn this year because the summer's intense heat made sea temperatures too high for them The record-low catch has affected restaurants that serve harako-meshi Miyagi Prefecture's best known salmon dish One restaurant serving the dish takes pride in using locally sourced salmon and roe But this year it has only been able to buy a quarter of its salmon locally and has turned to Hokkaido salmon to make up the difference the restaurant's owner says the poor catch worries him The city of Murakami in Niigata Prefecture is known as a salmon town One long-established Japanese restaurant offers full-course meals using local salmon all November and it's fully booked The restaurant's owner is visiting local fishing ports daily to obtain enough salmon He says he can't tell customers he's run out so the shortage is a grave problem Kaeriyama says the distribution of salmon will shift north unless global warming is stopped He says he expects salmon populations to increasingly move to the Bering and Arctic Seas and areas where they can exist in Japan will be few to none Police from Chikusei City in Ibaraki Prefecture have arrested a man named Makoto Sekiguchi on Tuesday for allegedly posting images of new Pokémon characters before the release of the latest Pokémon games Sekiguchi is a 27-year-old part-time company employee from Yokohama Sekiguchi said in a deposition that he "thought I would show everyone the characters that haven't been made public yet." The police are investigating how the images were obtained The Chikusei Police discovered the images while on "cyber patrol" and consulted with the publisher Shogakukan and the Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) Sources: 47News, Nikkan Sports This is how you do a premiere episode right What I love the most about Run with the Wind so far is how finely crafted it is. The animation is good an all (this is Production I.G but even more impressive are the direction and sound-design This is a series that is keenly in tune with the emotions of its protagonists who are both very passionate people caught in very different stages of their young adulthood Haji is trying to achieve his dream of completing the Hakone Ekiden marathon even if it means tricking an apartment full of broke college-students into signing up for their school's hitherto defunct track-and-field team The scars on his leg and his reserved nature tell us that Haji is harboring some baggage but it isn't enough to stop him from eyeing Kakeru as he's fleeing from a convenience store he just stole a loaf of bread from single-minded determination: This is a man that just needs to eat The only thing we hear is his heavy breathing and the sound of his feet hitting the pavement a lonely chord or two amidst the buzzing of electric lights and the silence of the night like a spell that Kakeru is casting on himself that is only broken when Haji happens to cycle by Contrast that with when we revisit this meeting from Haji's perspective; the camera distorts Haji's face as he beholds Kakeru's ethereal form and it's immediately clear that Haji recognizes the gift that can lift Kakeru out of his rut His goal in putting together a track team is still a selfish one but Run with the Wind is able to deftly communicate a more layered and nuanced relationship being built between these two men and almost entirely through the use of visuals and sound The rest of the script is fine; the other eight men living in Chikusei-so are all likable and share decent chemistry with each other Withholding the reveal of Haji's true intentions from the entire cast for so long makes an otherwise typical introductory plot that much more interesting and the visual and aural flourishes tossed in throughout elevate dialogue that is mostly about communicating the other guys' easy-to-distinguish character traits if it weren't for this episode's incredible aesthetics the story itself here probably wouldn't be so impressive but this episode is nothing if not a textbook example of how much execution matters in a project like this I had no expectations of Run with the Wind before today but I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this series this fall Run with the Wind gets off to a pretty laid-back start There is a non-zero amount of running in this episode nor is there any heated declaration of rivalry this premiere feels more like a slice of life comedy about an apartment building full of quirky tenants Without that initial rush of athletic competition it's hard to make a case for this show as a sports drama but it does have a few things working in its favor though the necessity of introducing a ten-person team in twenty minutes leaves little room for anything beyond a single defining personality trait for each character While that makes it hard to remember the supporting cast without resorting to titles like “quiz show guy” or “guy who smokes,” the information overload actually feels appropriate in the context of the story Since Kakeru is tossed into this apartment building without any advance notice the viewer) would be overwhelmed by the rapid-fire introductions I like the general atmosphere of the building; it has the rowdy chaotic vibe of a bunch of college-age dudes trying to live together in a cramped space If you've ever lived in a college dorm or an overcrowded apartment The only characters we spend any quality time with are ostensible protagonists Haiji and Kakeru and unfortunately neither of them make much of a first impression I'm a little curious about why Haiji is so determined to run in this particular marathon but the way he springs it on the rest of the group feels kind of underhanded for a guy who's supposed to be the team captain Kakeru is even tougher to get a read on at the moment; I'm not sure how seriously we're supposed to take his explanation of why he's been reduced to shoplifting from convenience stores and this episode is needlessly cryptic about his running history Either one of these guys could develop into a strong main character with a little work but for now I'm feeling kind of apathetic about both of them Run with the Wind needs to answer two big questions in the next week or two The first is whether or not it can make long-distance running feel exciting enough to succeed as a sports series Without any direct competition in this first episode this show's action credentials remain unproven The other question is whether or not Run with the Wind can find time to develop its ensemble cast beyond their defining quirks Assuming it can sort both of these areas out the leisurely pace leaves too many question marks to merit a stronger recommendation but one thing that I can appreciate about the genre is that it exposes viewers to actual sports and sports events that they might not have even been aware existed Such is the case with this series and relay marathons which I'd never heard of before watching the first episode They have apparently been around for a long time; the Hakone Ekiden has been run almost every year since 1920 so it's certainly a prestigious enough event to be worthy of fodder for a story The need for ten team members comes from the race's 218 km course being broken into ten stages over two days The novelty of the goal helps offset the lack of anything excitingly different or special about the cast. The obligatory foreigner is Tanzanian, which is definitely unusual, but otherwise the personality distribution seems standard for a motley array of characters coming together as an athletic team: there's a serious one (Kakeru), an otaku Most are formally but only barely introduced so learning about them will take time and presumably the first major part of the series will be convincing a bunch of young guys to actually go ahead with Haiji's proposal So far only Haiji's story looks potentially interesting; he has a scar on one leg suggestive of major knee surgery The dynamics of the running scenes don't offer anything too special If the series has one thing special going for it, it's the use of sound effects to support the series' title. The sound of blowing wind – whether it's rattling a window pane, blowing into a room, or just in the background – is a recurring and well-used audio theme. The artistic style heavily favors a standard shojo look with all of the cast members being long and lanky; granted this is also a common feature of dedicated runners As an additional enticement for female audiences the first episode goes out of its way to work in shots of ripped naked man-flesh Also watch for a sharply-colored sunrise scene near the end of the episode I am clearly not in the target audience for this series and nothing in the first episode convinces me to ignore that and watch more if a sports-themed series full of hunky guys rings your bell then this one might be worth checking out Starting stories with some variation of in medias res is a tricky proposition In no small part this is because it perfectly captures the way that our protagonist Kakeru feels – he's running away after having stolen a sandwich when this crazy guy on a bike asks him if he likes running Kakeru's been moved into a run-down dorm with nine other college students and is sitting down to a thrown-together welcome party He spends most of the first half of the episode with a look of confused stupefaction on his face and since that's how I felt up to the eye-catch it does a good job of throwing us into his character from the start the issue remains that we don't truly know what's going on until the point of view switches to Haiji the young man on the bicycle who strong-armed Kakeru into the dorm in the first place especially since we can feel Kakeru's confused anxiety for most of the first half But by this point most of us have seen enough sports anime to know where this is heading – Haiji is clearly collecting runners for some sort of cross-country team and when he saw Kakeru running from the convenience story clerk he knew he'd found his last runner…even if he didn't bother to tell Kakeru why he was being so accommodating of a sandwich thief Although this is clearly an introductory episode it crams in far too many named characters in a short space of time Run with the Wind feels like it could be off to a good start especially with the details of running on the balls of the feet and the smoothness of little movements which is especially important with so many of them – they all have not only different hair styles facial expressions are nicely mobile – they are exaggerated to more fully convey the emotions of the characters but not to the point where they appear ridiculous which feels like is suits the more serious tone this episode seems to be going for And it does feel serious – apart from the goofiness of the literature major with the (perfectly respectable) enormous book collection or the litigious law student it seems like both Kakeru and Haiji have issues in their backgrounds that are likely to inform their characters and the story going forward That Kakeru has been reduced to theft after losing his apartment deposit playing mahjong could be a warning bell and Haiji's clearly had a major operation on his knee which may prove more difficult to overcome than he's making it out to be This definitely feels like a show worth keeping an eye on not just if you like attractive guys playing sports (and taking baths) but because it looks like it could have more going for it than just that Just because a show is a small-stakes character drama with an emphasis on precisely capturing lived moments doesn't mean I'm guaranteed to love it It also has to actually be good at those things Its characters have to be convincing people worth caring about its chosen moments must genuinely illustrate something fundamental to the human experience and its aesthetic sensibilities must possess a grace of execution and unity of purpose that elevate its drama from the mundane to the sublime therefore illustrating that the mundane contains the sublime And all of this preamble is basically to say that Run with the Wind absolutely gets there - not only is it a perfectly Me production but it is a largely stunning example of the form offering the strongest premiere yet of the fall season Run with the Wind demonstrates its grace and overall coherence of execution right from its first moments opening with a night dash where our lack of context actually draws us even further into the spirit of the moment Most shows are hesitant to let their night scenes be truly dark the utter blackness of our protagonists' surroundings amplifies the sense of both intimacy and confusion thief!” in the background only amplify the disorientation of the moment and then we jump directly to one of our leads introducing the other to a full dorm house smartly harnessing our sense of dislocation to emotionally situate us with newcomer Kakeru Kurahara Those dorm introductions occupy a great part of this premiere's run time and consistently demonstrate Run with the Wind's effortless efficiency of characterization and wonderfully expressive character animation By the time Kakeru's dorm tour culminated in a group housewarming party I already felt like I knew all ten of the college students who lived there It's no surprise to me that Run with the Wind is based on an actual novel; the confidence of this show's writing and scene-to-scene narrative pacing is one of its greatest assets and aligns perfectly with the show's tendency to illustrate characters more through incidental shared moments and tonal context than overt exposition This episode builds up its characters so well that by the time we reach the ending Kakeru's new companion Haiji simply declaring that “I'm going to win over all the guys” felt like a thrilling hook all by itself There are other things I could gush about in this episode like its phenomenal sound design/soundtrack or its willingness to center itself on a character as messy as Kakeru but those are basically all just more expressions of its fundamentally stellar writing and mastery of tone I feel a little hesitant throwing out a five this early into the preview guide but I frankly didn't have any complaints about this premiere and am already eagerly awaiting the next episode I'm very happy to start the season with a show this strong The official website for Run with the Wind, the television anime of Shion Miura's Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (Feel the Wind) novel unveiled four voice cast members and the designs for five characters on Saturday Kengo Kawanishi as Kōsuke Sakaki Satoshi Hino as Kazuma Fujioka Koutarou Nakamura as Genichirō Tazaki the landlord of the Chikusei-sō dormitory and manager The website also showed the designs for Tazaki's dog Nira: The novel centers on the Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race or "Hakone Ekiden," one of the biggest university marathon relay races in Japan The race is held every year on January 2-3 and goes between Tokyo and Hakone and back for a total run of 217.9 km (about 135.4 miles) The previously announced cast members are: Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Haiji Kiyose Miyu Irino as Akane Kashiwasaki Junya Enoki as Jōta Kizuki Yūto Uemura as Jōji Kizuki Kazuyuki Okitsu as Yukihiko Iwakura Hideaki Kabumoto as Musa Kamala Riki Kitazawa as Yōhei Sakaguchi Takanori Hoshino as Akihiro Hirata The 23-episode anime will premiere on NTV, BS-NTV, YTV, and other channels in October. Ōtsuka, Toyonaga, Okitsu, and Kabumoto will appear at an advance screening of the first two episodes on September 23 at Tokyo's TOHO CINEMAS Hibiya A stage play adaptation also ran in January through February 2009. A six volume manga adaptation by Sorata Unno debuted in 2007 in Weekly Young Jump then moved to Monthly Young Jump in 2008 and ran there until 2009 Miura's The Great Passage (Fune wo Amu) novel inspired an award-winning live-action film directed by Yuya Ishii that opened in Japan in 2013. The film won the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year in 2013. The book also inspired a television anime series that premiered in October 2016 Source: Run with the Wind anime's official website, Comic Natalie Juri Kimura as Hanako Katsuta the daughter of the neighborhood grocery shop's owner Sources: Run with the Wind anime's website, Comic Natalie A moderate magnitude 4.4 earthquake hit 11.6 km (7 mi) away from Chikusei, Ibaraki,  Japan The quake had a moderate depth of 71 km (44 mi) and was felt by many near the epicenter Chikusei has a very high level of seismic activity Based on data from the past 25 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900 there are about 3,800 quakes on average per year in or near Chikusei Chikusei has had at least 23 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900 which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently probably on average approximately every 5 to 10 years The quake was too small to be felt by people There were also 30 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people don't normally feel The quake had a very shallow depth of 34 km (21 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so) I tried using "Wi-Fi Millre" which digitizes Wi-Fi electric waves in real time and can grasp the dead space with a heat map Fast forward looking at how to create an overwhelming realistic transcendental image using Photoshop Dec 28, 2016 21:58:00 in Note The best public toilets in the world include those with see-through walls Norwegian amenities with magnificient fjord views and strange-looking toilets on the Wellington waterfront where the toilets have long necks and tails with amazing architecture… Top of the heap are amenities with a view to die for on the edge of a cliff overlooking one of Norway’s largest fjords Designer Olivier Rambert from Oloom included a safety feature to raise the alarm if the person inside the toilet doesn’t move for 10 minutes the door opens and the walls become transparent again When combined with hay bails they turn to compost within six months Retractable urinals in London and Amsterdam These urinals only pop up when you need them and sink out of sight during day time In the middle of a newly landscaped and pedestrianised area in Wembley the Gort Scott-designed facility is more than 5 metres tall above head height the structure is a filigree maintaining privacy but allowing in light and ventilation The Tokinokura lavatories in Chikusei city Japan have toilets slotted between two buildings of historic value north of Tokyo The beams support a roof with a steep gradient as triangular windows allow light to flood in Urinals inspired by the Rolling Stones lips and tongue logo are seen in a bar in Paris A one-way mirror is seen above the urinal at Streeter’s Tavern in Chicago Customers using the the bathroom can see into the main area of the bar but cannot be seen by the people at the bar On the other end of the spectrum there are countries around the world that lack adequate toilets South Sudan in particular has a sanitation crisis as 93% of the population lacks access to adequate latrines Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr