The vice speaker of a city assembly in central Japan handed in his resignation to the assembly office on Friday after allegedly sexually harassing the daughter of an Australian mayor at a party last month Norio Nagata of the Minokamo city assembly in Gifu Prefecture decided to quit the post after the city's mayor Hiroto Fujii sent an apology email to its sister-city Dubbo in New South Wales late last month visited the Japanese city with his family and city officials in April and attended a welcome reception on April 3 was singing karaoke in a bar when he held the microphone close to the lower body of the mayor's daughter Nagata said earlier this week that he wanted to set the mood for the party and had no intention of doing anything wrong but regrets his actions The Minokamo city took his action as inappropriate yet Nagata will not resign as an assembly member "My daughter was surprised at the time and the three of us (including his wife) exchanged glances at what was an inappropriate gesture," Dickerson said in an email sent to Kyodo News but the issue was not of a serious enough nature to warrant any further action." The Dubbo mayor said he "would like to formally acknowledge and accept the apology" from the mayor of Minokamo To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible Today's print edition Home Delivery As Japan commemorated the 30th anniversary of the sarin gas attack by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo in Matsumoto a doctor who dealt with the crisis reflected on the critical importance of passing down knowledge and experience to future generations the gas attack in a residential area in Matsumoto claimed eight lives and injured over 140 who treated victims at Shinshu University Hospital in the city has spent three decades ensuring the lessons from the tragic incident are not forgotten.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); who now practices at the Central Japan International Medical Center in Minokamo vividly remembers the moment he learned of the attack alerting him to the disaster unfolding near his home In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. 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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 Gifu Prefecture—To solve a labor shortage and improve communication with its diverse patients has focused on hiring local residents with international backgrounds Foreign residents make up more than 10 percent of Minokamo’s population one of the highest ratios of foreign residents in Japan This also means there are many foreign patients at the local hospital the Central Japan International Medical Center and personnel from abroad have become indispensable Based on statistics on foreign residents as of June 2023 and prefectural population estimates Minokamo has the highest percentage of foreign residents in the prefecture at more than 10 percent of the total population Filipinos and Brazilians account for 80 percent of these foreign residents The percentage of permanent residents who have no restrictions on length of stay or field of employment is also high at 47 percent is a Japanese-Brazilian who works as a nursing assistant at the medical center She now lives with her husband and two daughters in the city She was hired by the medical center in October 2023 she became a regular employee in April this year Kuniwaki helps hospitalized patients use the restroom and perform other tasks “I thought the only option for Brazilians was a factory job I never thought that I could work in a hospital,” she said The center started hiring nursing assistants when COVID-19 vaccinations started being offered the center staff discussed how to promote vaccinations for foreign residents That connected the staff with local nonprofit organizations that support foreign residents the possibility of hiring additional staff became a topic of conversation Nursing assistants do not require a license but it had been difficult for the center to find workers for these positions Recruiting foreign-born local residents turned out to be a win-win situation said that some of the new hires have children attending local schools or are well-established in the local community and can communicate well with other staff members “I hope they will take root and become the ones to train the next generation of staff,” she said The center has been actively recruiting personnel with international backgrounds such as medical interpreters and Filipino nurses who came to Japan under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) system About 18,000 foreign outpatients visit the center each year for childbirth or illness The center currently employs 21 people from five countries These staff members can communicate with patients in their native languages Their presence also helps bridge cultural differences has been working at the center as a medical interpreter She used to work for an organization that supports Chinese residents in Japan Yamada became interested in becoming a medical interpreter after seeing many people who couldn’t explain their symptoms well or didn’t understand what kind of treatment they were receiving “Interpreters are not only mediators of language but also of medical culture,” she said there are many cases where the patient is not notified.” Yamada can explain this background information to doctors in the process of medical examinations and other procedures The center has become the only medical institution in the prefecture to be certified under the Japan Medical Service Accreditation for International Patients (JMIP) offered through the Japan Medical Education Foundation This certification recognizes the center's efforts and serving as a role model for other medical institutions A person in charge of the center’s human resources division said “Staff who can understand patients’ backgrounds and lives are valuable We hope to further expand our recruitment in the future.” Nurse shortages raise concerns in quake-hit Noto Peninsula area Local officials alarmed as virus leads to shortage of hospital beds 1,000 nursing home residents moved from quake-hit Noto New Vietnamese nurse dreams of bridging medical gap in homeland Stay home policy to curb COVID-19 cited for making dementia worse 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 Gifu Prefecture--The city government here has apologized for the sexually harassing behavior of the Minokamo municipal assembly’s vice speaker toward the daughter of an Australian mayor at a party last month Minokamo Mayor Hiroto Fujii has sent an apology email to Mathew Dickerson mayor of sister-city Dubbo in Australia’s New South Wales acknowledging the inappropriate actions of Vice Speaker Norio Nagata Minokamo officials held a welcome party on April 3 for Dickerson and his delegation according to Nagata and the city assembly secretariat Nagata positioned the microphone inappropriately close to the lower body of Dickerson’s daughter while she was seated on a sofa Mayor Fujii was present at the afterparty but absent when Nagata’s questionable actions occurred “Who asked him to do something like that?” Fujii said at a news conference on May 8 Fujii added that he has shown a video of the scene to a lawyer who also concluded that it was an “inappropriate act.” Nagata told The Asahi Shimbun on the same day: “I had absolutely no intention (of causing offense) I was just trying to lift the mood with my singing I apologize if my actions caused any misunderstanding.” he said he has no intention of resigning as an assembly member “It is my duty to promote international exchanges,” Nagata said but I believe it is my mission to fulfill my duty.” Nagata was first elected to the city assembly in 2018 and is currently serving his second term City in Kyoto Prefecture elects youngest female mayor in Japan Mayor with disc hernia caught out for setting up sauna in office Osaka Ishin no Kai sees Japan’s youngest city mayor elected Taiwan indicts 2 communist party members accused of colluding with China to influence elections Struggling Japanese tech giant Sony has detailed restructuring plans for its Japan-based business as it seeks to slim down operations by closing a lens factory and shedding 2,000 jobs via an early-retirement scheme The company is not detailing precisely what will kept just yet though The early-retirement plan is set to have the greatest impact on the gaming giant’s head office where it says that 20 percent of the workforce will have departed by the end of the year – thanks to a series of streamlining initiatives which has consolidated the firm and cut excess services and divisions have also prompted it to establish Sony Corporate Services (Japan) Corp which it says will provide ‘horizontal’ operations support for its businesses in Japan European tech superstars: Hear from Datasnipper investors and innovation champions at TNW Conference on June 19 & 20 The restructuring hasn’t just been about slashing budgets and the firm ploughed $644 million into Olympus in a move that will consolidate the two firm’s camera technologies and focus on opportunities in the medical imaging industry The first streamlining measure that impacted its home market came when it announce in August that it would cut 1,000 global jobs from its handset division The PlayStation-maker is haemorrhaging cash and its most recent financial results, published in August saw income before tax plummet 59 percent to hit $118.5 million (9.4 billion yen) Net losses for the three-month period grew to $310 million (24.6 billion yen) up from $195.3 million (15.5 billion yen) a year previous Sony sold its chemical products business for $730 million in June Image Credit: Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Japanese version Gifu Prefecture--A nursing home here is using technology tailored for the industry to recruit and retain foreign workers clear the language barrier and reduce its staff’s workload Software with voice input that was introduced in January is proving to be a big help at the nonprofit assisted living complex Sawayaka Nursing Villa Armed with a headset and the app on their smartphones all a staff member needs to do is say “Hey Wiz” for the voice recognition program to kick in 70 percent,” she says in Japanese after checking in on a resident This verbal shorthand means they finished half of their main dish and 70 percent of their side dish Caregivers maintain daily logs for each of the facility’s 160 or so elderly residents including those who stay for only a short period functional training and other activities to assess each of their charge’s overall well-being Favoring audio over written accounts is part of the nursing home’s effort for smoother communication among its caregivers Many international workers at the facility have N2 certification the second-highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) a nationwide exam to measure and certify Japanese language skills since none of the JLPT’s levels have a writing section many with N2 certification still find it a challenge to write in Japanese “There are many international workers who struggle with writing Japanese although they have little problem with speaking in Japanese,” said Naoki Sakai who heads Sawayaka Nursing Villa’s administration division “The voice input is helpful and has reduced their work burden.” “The speech input has made my daily tasks easier,” said the 31-year-old The nursing home is also using the technology to show when residents are “asleep,” “lying in bed but awake” or “out of bed” through sensor-embedded beds introduced five years ago the individual’s status appears as a corresponding graphic on a screen displaying all residents’ beds The screen acts as a quick visual overview and swiftly alerts caregivers of any sudden changes in movement This allows them to make fewer check-in rounds the medical corporation that runs Sawayaka Nursing Villa complex began hiring overseas talent and incorporating more technology into a variety of tasks three years ago around 5 percent of its workforce is from overseas Its 34 international caregivers are from countries that include Myanmar Foreign staff seeking to improve their language skills or gain a new job license can also receive official corporate support Jikeiki partially covers expenses for Japanese language courses and offers training to prepare workers planning to take the certified care worker exam These efforts are designed to help retain them Japanese and international staff share the same working conditions something that is not always the case at many facilities in the industry Some of the foreign caregivers joined Sawayaka Nursing Villa after learning about its work environment and pay leaving their previous employers in the Tohoku who worked at a nursing home in Saitama Prefecture until two years ago “I was not offered a bonus and not allowed to do a night shift when I worked there,” she said “I want to work at this facility as long as I can.” She plans to acquire a permanent residency visa.Jikeikai intends to continue hiring more staff from overseas and recruit in the countries of prospective hires “We are hoping to attract talented individuals by further simplifying daily responsibilities through digitization and creating a better work environment,” Sakai said Sompo Care opens caregiving training center in India Abuse at senior home shines light on pressures facing staff Schools training caregivers hope to attract more foreign students females account for majority of COVID-19 cases Fukui in charm drive to attract foreign elderly care workers Japanese version A former child actor who hit tough times as a young adult became known for fearlessness and a propensity for violence These traits led to a job offer to deal with a Tokyo couple whose burned corpses were found last month Tokyo and Tochigi prefectural police on May 21 rearrested Kirato Wakayama and Kang Gwang-gi on suspicion of murdering Ryutaro Takarajima The suspects were initially arrested over the burnt remains of the couple discovered in Nasu who acted as an intermediary in arranging the crime explained why he hired Wakayama and Kang for the job and they give the impression that they fear nothing,” Hirayama was quoted as saying When he was asked about the job over the phone But after Hirayama demanded an immediate decision and started working as a child actor when he was around 8 years old He appeared in a historical drama series titled “Gunshi Kanbei” by Japan Broadcasting Corp He performed the childhood role of the main character Wakayama also served as an ambassador of Minokamo city He transferred to a junior high school in Tokyo’s Kita Ward and later entered a high school that had a performing arts course Although Wakayama was a member of an entertainment agency until 2020 there was hardly any actual activity recorded after 2018 He recently had been living on the few tens of thousands of yen a month he earned from an irregular part-time job as well as money sent from his parents Hirayama handed Kang 5 million yen ($32,000) in cash for the job Kang told investigators he gave 2.5 million yen of the amount to Wakayama “I only received about 1.5 million yen,” according to sources Kang and Wakayama later went on a trip to Osaka with their friends where they posted on social media an image of them and their friends wearing sunglasses and making a “peace” sign police were able to track down the two and found them hiding in Osaka Prefecture They had apparently spent much of the money they received from Hirayama at the nightclub and on buying luxury brand bags and necklaces When they were arrested two weeks after the bodies were found Kang had about 120,000 yen and Wakayama had about 10,000 yen Police: 4 suspects unfamiliar with each other 2 more arrested in connection with bodies of Tokyo couple First arrest for murder in grisly case of charred bodies in Tochigi New details emerge in case of charred bodies found in Tochigi Police: Partner of slain couple’s daughter likely ‘mastermind’ Sources: Widow contacted drug dealer before husband’s death Japanese version Copyright THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. and CEO Michael McMahon with the bronze sculpture gifted to Minokamo The people of Dubbo have given Minokamo in Japan a bronze sculpture of kangaroos to mark the 30th anniversary of a special bond between the two cities All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueDubbo Regional Council reports it engaged local artist Brett Garling, well-known for bronze sculptures to create a suitable gift for its sister city "The investment was approximately $50,000 which helps reciprocate the work of Minokamo in the Dubbo Region," council acting CEO Natasha Comber told the Daily Liberal Minokamo has been generous in funding the construction of our Shoyoen Japanese Gardens as well as ongoing maintenance of the popular site." The sculpture of a family of eastern grey kangaroos was unveiled at Minokamo's River Port Park on Saturday by Dubbo mayor Ben Shields and Minokamo mayor Seiichi Ito at a ceremony At the same time it was revealed Minokamo was naming a pathway through River Port Park 'Dubbo Road' Dubbo Regional Council CEO Michael McMahon Mayor Ben Shields and councillors Greg Mohr and Dayne Gumley with the sign for Dubbo Road Photo contributed.Cr Shields said there was a deep respect and friendship between the two cities "Minokamo have been very generous to Dubbo throughout the sister city partnership providing us with the Shoyoen Gardens and sending someone from Japan every year to tend to it," he said "We wanted to do something special for our friends and they had been very clear about how much they loved our kangaroos "We felt this sculpture would be a great gift and it was very well received by Mayor Ito and the people of Minokamo featuring Japanese and English descriptions of the work and marking the 30th anniversary." The two mayors also signed a new declaration vowing to further strengthen the sister city relationship through the areas of education and youth exchange tourism and health and wellbeing into the future Minokamo and Dubbo formally became sister cities in 1989 and since then countless delegations which also included Dubbo Regional Council CEO Michael McMahon and councillors Greg Mohr and Dayne Gumley also took part in the annual Onsai Festival The Minokamo trip was self-funded by delegates Dubbo Regional Council will return the hospitality when it hosts a delegation from Minokamo led by Mayor Ito on November 20-24 Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community Today's top stories curated by our news team Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert Your digital replica of Today's Paper Test your skills with interactive crosswords An official delegation of representatives from the Dubbo Community It is the first time in six years an official delegation has been to Dubbo’s sister city Minokamo in Japan and the first time ever they have ever visited Cheongju-city in South Korea Councillors Shibli Chowdhury and Matt Wright members of the Sister City Advisory Committee and community members “Having already hosted members of the Cheongju Community we are currently in talks with them around further potential sister-city relations so we are keen to visit and see where Dubbo and Cheongju can join together and unite,” Mayor Dickerson said “There is growing interest in our region from Korean companies particularly around critical minerals This is an opportunity to see Cheongju and potentially build a long term and productive sister city relationship such as the one between Dubbo and Minokamo.” Japan to recognise the sister-city relationship which started 35 years ago in June This year also marks the 70th anniversary of Minokamo becoming a city after an amalgamation between the towns and villages of Ota “Some delegates will be with the trip for both the South Korean and Japanese legs of the trip while others will be with us just for the Japanese component of the tour In Japan we will have four days of official events around Minokamo,” Mayor Dickerson said “I am thrilled to be able to travel to Minokamo to celebrate this wonderful milestone “We have a strong relationship with Minokamo that has been developed through friendship over the past 35 years and I look forward to seeing what the next 35 years hold.” The last official delegation to the city was in 2018 although Councillors and community members will be representing Dubbo on this delegation this is a self-funded trip with Councillors and community members paying for their own travel and accommodation costs,” the Mayor said is also part of the delegation and is the only person that will incur any costs to Council Information and Events for Local Councils throughout Australia Contact us: newsdesk@insidelocalgovernment.com.au Japanese version Company follows Japanese industry trend of outsourcing production overseas intense price competition and wafer-thin profit margins are behind Hitachi's decision to stop TV manufacturing in Japan and outsource production to overseas contract manufacturing taken after 55 years of in-house TV production could open the door for other Japanese manufacturers to follow the same route faced as they are with losses in their TV divisions Hitachi plans to be out of TV manufacturing by March next year in Japan's Gifu Prefecture and the shift overseas of production of Hitachi-branded sets It's thought the decision has been a tough one for the company since TVs have been a central part of its business since it started making them in 1956 just three years after TV transmissions started in Japan and in 1960 the company sold its first colour TV: it sold for Y520,000 which would be £4000 at today's exchange rates And therein lies the problem for Japanese TV manufacturers: price-slashing by retailers worldwide has seen manufacturer profit margins shaved wafer-thin and according to market analysts worse – at least for manufacturers – is yet to come US market research company Display Search says that by the last quarter of 2015 the average price of an LCD TV in the States will be around £200 Hitachi has tried a variety of strategies to attract consumers to its TV but despite the 'Wooo' name under which they're sold in Japan its products have failed to excite consumers enough to return improved profitability It's a problem afflicting the whole Japanese TV industry: while 3D was much-heralded as a means for companies to stave off price-erosion and sell some premium-priced TVs and features such as internet connectivity are also failing to do the business simply because consumers have so many other ways of accessing internet content As one Japanese industry executive told the Nikkei business news 'high-performance TVs that have been launched recently and no maker has found a successful formula for next-generation television yet.' even premium features become commoditised in very short order Good for consumers after a bargain; bad for manufacturers hoping to turn a profit and that it's working on a plan to re-invent its TV operations Neither company is ruling out a complete shift of production from Japan to lower-cost countries where more than 50% of Sony and Toshiba sets are already made and intense price-competition: looks like a serious shake-out of the Japanese TV manufacturing business is inevitable Follow whathifi.com on Twitter Join whathifi.com on Facebook Andrew has written about audio and video products for the past 20+ years and been a consumer journalist for more than 30 years Andrew has contributed to titles including What Hi-Fi? Gramophone, Jazzwise and Hi-Fi Critic, Hi-Fi News & Record Review and Hi-Fi Choice I’ve also written for a number of non-specialist and overseas magazines A poster from the sightseeing association in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture came under fire and was subsequently pulled when complaints were lodged at the character Kochō Yoshida depicted in a sensual pose The sightseeing committee replaced the poster with one showing the anime's official key art instead The collaboration launched on November 7 with the original posters and will continue January 31 The city's sightseeing association was collaborating with the anime to run a stamp rally in hopes of drawing fans: the model for the setting in the original light novel is Minokamo's Kamonōrin High School. Last year Minokamo enjoyed an influx of tourists after using a different No-Rin character on a poster to advertise a stamp rally [Via Yara-On!] Loss-making Japanese electronics giant Sony is taking additional steps to accelerate structural reforms of its headquarters and electronics business operations in Japan The company is consolidating manufacturing operations and expediting measures to reduce its headcount Sony said the combination of these structural reforms and a business portfolio realignment would reduce group-wide staff numbers by some 10,000 worldwide by March 2013 Among the measures undertaken to date are integration and consolidation of sales offices and resource optimisation in sales and marketing organisations As the proportion of Sony’s finished products being produced at its overseas manufacturing sites and by external ODM/OEM vendors continues to increase Sony has been consolidating sites at home to better reflect the current scale of production In order to enhance the efficiency of Sony’s manufacturing operations relating to its digital imaging business the manufacture of interchangeable lenses and lens blocks currently being conducted at Sony EMCS Minokamo site in Gifu Prefecture will be absorbed by EMCS Kohda site in Aichi Prefecture As Sony concentrates its mobile phone business on smartphones the operations currently being carried out at the Minokamo site relating to mobile phones will be partially discontinued and partially transferred to Sony EMCS Kisarazu site the Minokamo site is scheduled to close at the end of March 2013.  By continuing, you agree to Octomedia Terms And Conditions and Privacy Policy Beleaguered electronics maker Sony will cut 2,000 more jobs at its Tokyo headquarters by March 2013 as the firm continues to restructure its operations to remain competitive in the market.  Sony is investing in an early retirement scheme that will see around 20 percent of the firm's headcount -- around 2,000 jobs -- at its Tokyo headquarters reduced by the end of the fiscal year in the coming April.  which produces camera and mobile phone lenses and also offers customer services for the firm's Sony Mobile division The firm said 840 employees will lose their jobs at the plant Sony will transfer some activities out of the Minokamo site but skipped on much of the detail.  Sony said in a statement that the efforts stem back to April when the struggling firm announced it would kickstart its 'revival' plan by cutting 10,000 workers across its global business The restructuring efforts would cost Sony $926 million during this financial year; a small price to pay for a shot at economic certainty in the near future The electronics giant said the restructuring will save the company about $378 million annually from the next fiscal year this coming April but will likely have a minimal effect on the firm's annual earnings results.  As the firm continues to bleed cash from its very pores Sony is refocusing its product line efforts on three key areas: gaming consoles The mobile division, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corp., gained 133 percent year-on-year in the firm's first-quarter earnings earlier this year, but largely due to the fact that the mobile unit did not actually exist a year ago.   Updated at 8:30 a.m. ET: Sony will save, not lose, about $378 million in restructuring. Richard Johnson and (front) Eliza Smidt-Geering and Jessica Hyland with their Minokamo hosts Photo: contributedIt was back in 1989 that then-Mayor of Dubbo Tom Slattery signed a sister city agreement with Minokamo in Japan This year we celebrate 30 years of a fantastic relationship that has seen 400 students from Dubbo and 500 students from Minokamo experience school exchanges employment opportunities have been forged and we even have had a sister city marriage that have resulted in a couple of children All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueSome have asked me why Dubbo and Minokamo are formally "sisters" Well back in the 1980s the worldwide sister city movement was gaining momentum It was recognised that both Dubbo and Minokamo had some similarities both are located in the centre of their state (Gifu prefecture in Japan) and both were a major junction of highways and railways Since that time the relationship has flourished The most monumental time was the opening of Shoyoen at Elizabeth Park The name Shoyoen is named after Tsubouchi Shy and En is the Japanese word for park or garden Shoyo was the first person to translate Shakespeare to Japanese and was largely responsible for making the printed novel popular in Japan The citizens of Minokamo are immensely proud of the fact that Shoyo was born in their city Shoyoen was funded and built by Minokamo and each and every year they send a traditional gardener over from Minokamo to guide our staff in the traditional methods of Japanese gardens I put to Council my idea to name the road between the gardens and the new adventure playground 'Minokamo Way' Last weekend we unveiled the new road signs to the Minokamo delegation who visited The idea was to surprise them with this gesture our Japanese friends had other things in mind They accidentally found out Dubbo's secret plans by looking at the Council minutes and also seeing the official naming come through on the government gazette They quickly arranged for 'Dubbo Road' to be named in Minokamo and to be opened for my visit last month they gazumped us and named the road after us before we unveiled ours In all seriousness though it is becoming a common talking point that the Dubbo-Minokamo sister city relationship is one of the best sister city relationships in the world Ratepayers don't fund Councillors or the Mayor to go on official trips However we do sponsor our young students in getting over to Minokamo This relationship is getting stronger each and every year I signed a formal agreement with Mayor Ito last month were the two cities will work together in medical cooperation and exchange as well The benefits of our sister city agreement should not be underestimated It has taught both our peoples a great deal employment opportunities and had equipped our young people for the modern world ahead Here is to the next 30 years of our partnership Mitsubishi Motors Corp.’s announcement on Monday of the closure of a factory that manufactures its Pajero SUV came as a shock to the town of Sakahogi There is growing concern over the impact of the closure of the factory — which hires around 1,200 workers making it the largest local employer — on the town’s economy employment and finances.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); “I was shocked because it was so sudden,” said Sakahogi Mayor Yoshiya Shibayama at a news conference the same day Shibayama was told about the plan from Mitsubishi Motors executives on July 22 central Japan receives countless requests from across Japan to repair damaged clothes is a technique for repairing holes or tears in fabric The shop is run by a father-and-daughter team: Kataoka Tesshu with 40 years of experience as a craftsman The pair research weaving patterns in fabrics and are able to use a needle to accurately weave threads into gaps as small as 0.1 millimeter The program follows them as they restore the cherished garments they receive Japanese version A controversial flyer featuring an anime character with accentuated breasts has landed a small city tourism agency in hot water with calls it is tantamount to sexual harassment At the center of the furor is the flyer put out by the tourism office in the Gifu city of Minokamo depicting Kocho Yoshida a fictional teenage girl with a buxom figure.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); which caused a ruckus on Twitter over the weekend is being used in a drive to attract anime fans from across the nation Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division.