Focus on Japan received an offering of fried chicken during a service on March 6 at the Nakatsu Daijingu shrine NAKATSU >> A memorial service for chickens was held recently in Nakatsu a city that promotes itself as the “holy land of fried chicken.” The service was an expression of gratitude to the animals A group of 16 fried chicken shops in the city holds the ritual annually at the Nakatsu Daijingu shrine About 20 people took part in the ceremony on March 6 After an offering of about 240 pieces of fried chicken — prepared by the 16 member shops — a priest performed a prayer of thanksgiving The shop owners offered tamagushi (branches from a sacred tree) and prayed for the chickens it made more than 1,600 kilograms (more than 3,527 pounds) of fried chicken in a single day and was recognized by Guinness World Records for the feat “We are all having a hard time due to the rising price of oil and other raw materials,” said Masahiko Inoue “But we will do our best to make Nakatsu’s fried chicken more popular.” 500 Ala Moana Blvd. #2-200Honolulu, HI 96813(808) 529-4747 Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb Oita — A memorial service for chickens was held recently in Nakatsu which promotes itself as the “holy land of fried chicken,” to express gratitude to the animals being consumed 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 After around eight kilograms (about 240 pieces) of fried chicken brought by the all 16 member shops was offered to the gods the priest performed a prayer of thanksgiving expressing their gratitude for their daily sacrifice called Seichi Nakatsu Karaage no Kai and established in 2010 it made more than 1,600 kilograms of fried chicken in a single day and was recognized by Guinness World Records for the feat “We are all having a hard time due to the rising price of oil and other raw materials,” said Masahiko Inoue “But we will do our best to make Nakatsu’s fried chicken more popular.”  Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun is a delicate and intricate version of fried chicken that is a staple across the country This delightfully crunchy treat is so beloved that every year hundreds of thousands of people vote in a country-wide competition to determine which karaage shop serves the best ones While shops from massive metropolises like Tokyo Kyoto and Osaka should be dominating any large-scale contest located in the Oita prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu The Karaage Grand Prix is the annual competition in Japan whose winner gets to boast that they have the crispiest this contest was based entirely on popularity with common denizens getting to vote on their favourite places and the true crown for the best karaage will ultimately be rewarded And why is this small town of Nakatsu considered to have the best fried chicken in Japan With the added scrutiny and official tasters coming into play Nakatsu City karaage shops have more to lose and more to prove than your average shop across the country The city's entire reputation as the karaage capital of Japan is now on the line and hundreds of years of cultural culinary history is at stake a definition of karaage (pronounced like "karate" except you substitute a hard "g" for the "t"): it's a type of fried chicken that's famous in Japan for both its simplicity of execution and complexity of flavours that crisply covers nugget-sized pieces of chicken thighs necks and wings that have been marinated in mixtures of soy sauce fruits and other highly secretive ingredients that gives off a taste explosion that dribbles down your chin with every bite But fundamentally, karaage is the final result of a multi-generational history that spans continents, the age of exploration, cross-cultural pollination, famine and world wars. It's a fried chicken unlike any other and it's considered the soul food of Nakatsu Eating chicken didn't come into the picture until tragedy struck the island nation. During the Kyōhō era (1716-1736), a widespread famine practically wiped out the rice crop on the island of Kyushu and killed tens of thousands of people. According to Livestock Production in Kyushu (in Japanese) farmers were encouraged to do more poultry farming to sell more eggs and eventually people began to eat chicken once their egg-laying birds had passed their prime The next major Japanese dietary jump began in 1868 when the new Emperor of Japan embarked on a drastic reformation of society adopting a cavalcade of Western ideas when it came to industrialisation military technology and even people's diets Emperor Meiji opened the country's borders and allowed more culinary influences from China and the West to permeate the culture – and that meant eating more meat But it wasn't until after World War Two that fried chicken The United States was responsible for importing food and brought in wheat which led to more noodle-based dishes (like ramen) which are chickens raised for their meat and were easier and faster to raise than cows or pigs The island of Kyushu had already become known as a poultry centre (today more than half of all broiler chickens come from Kyushu) and new methods of cooking meat quickly took off and helped nourish a starving country Karaage itself can trace its roots to a Chinese restaurant named Rairaiken in Nakatsu City's next-door neighbour It was here in the late 1950s that the establishment began serving deep-fried chicken karaage as part of a set menu it jumped across the street to a small izakaya (tavern) named Shosuke which learned the frying methods from Rairaiken The owner of Shosuke was originally buying chickens from local farmers and selling them to butchers while his wife served karaage and sake to eager customers But he had a problem: his karaage customers were primarily rice farmers who could only pay for his food and drinks when the rice harvest came in so he was constantly scrambling for money and barely surviving as a business bigger farms started industrialising broiler chickens and his chicken-peddling business was becoming less profitable "Shosuke quit the izakaya and started the first take-out restaurant serving only karaage He also switched his target to housewives who paid cash up front instead of husbands who paid late and drank [too much] sake," said Usa Karaage's US president This pivot to only serving karaage became a major hit as residents of Usa immediately embraced this cheap Usa boasts more than 40 karaage shops and is one of the hubs of this perfectly crisped fried delight But its move to neighbouring Nakatsu is what gave this fried chicken its national and subsequent international reputation Arata Hosokawa and Shoji Moriyama were both obsessed with karaage and both felt they could bring out more flavour from the fried food each man opened his own karaage shop in Nakatsu where they refined the marinating process and brining the bird for a longer period to bring out more flavour in the chicken itself The shops were instant hits and inspired a bevy of copycats that helped define Nakatsu as the heart and soul of karaage chefs in Nakatsu have taken their karaage to the next level A healthy competition between the nearly 50 shops has inspired chefs to tinker with everything from cooking times and batters to a variety of soy- and salt-based marinades Nearly every shop in Nakatsu has a secret ingredient that they're not willing to share and which separates their karaage from the rest Take Torishin a shop run by Nakatsu's resident karaage shokunin (master) Shinichi Sumi a five-time Grand Gold Award winner at the Karaage Grand Prix Sumi spent 15 years perfecting his karaage recipe he cooks every part of the chicken at separate temperatures and his karaage is consistently rated the best in Nakatsu start out in Usa at Tenkatori run by Yasuhiro Fukuda who is the son of the original owner of Rairaiken – the first karaage shop in Kyushu a woman-run shop helmed by Yoshimi Kanbara who has been making it out of her home for 43 years and only uses fresh oil head to Nakatsu and eat at Torishin for a foodie's version then check out Genkiya who specializes in chicken breasts and finally make your way to Kokko-ya for a uniquely marinated bird that might just be the best of all one of the rare female karaage shop owners whose spot is arguably the most unique in the city with her salt-rice-malt marinade and desire to do everything from scratch "What I can say with confidence is that I carefully remove the extra fat from the chicken I'm absolutely confident in how I prepare the meat," said Tateishi whose chicken has a softer texture and spicier flavour that fires up your mouth And then there's Kouji Moriyama, whose shop Moriyama was the first ever champion of the Karaage Grand Prix and is the nephew of Nakatsu karaage's founding father He makes a salt-based crispy karaage that erupts with juices from every bite and has a mix of undisclosed fruits that infuses his chicken with exceptional flavours Of those 40-plus shops in Nakatsu, everyone in the city has their personal favourite. It reminds them of their childhood. It's a food that rose out of poverty, fed a starving island and became a savoury symbol that can now be found at weddings, birthdays and major celebrations including Christmas when millions of Japanese eat fried chicken And the Karaage Grand Prix is their way to prove that this lineage makes their city the beating heart of fried chicken in Japan The Karaage Grand Prix started in Tokyo in 2010 as a national competition to rank karaage and promote the tasty treat around the country. Up until 2022, voting was entirely online and the most popular karaage shops typically won all the awards. According to Kouichiro Yagi of the Japan Karaage Association "[in 2023] a taste test by the judges will be included to further improve the value of the awards." The judges will base their decisions on the frying colour the harmony between the meat and the batter the cost effectiveness (how much you get for the price) and the temperature level (too much heat can cause burns) When you talk to the shop owners in Nakatsu they're borderline dismissive of the past competitions But you could tell they all felt that this year was different I want the challenge and I'm going to try to win." It's like a seal of approval that it comes from Nakatsu." and it's a reminder of how Japan overcame adversity it's the soul food that simply feels like home BBC.com's World's Table "smashes the kitchen ceiling" by changing the way the world thinks about food Join more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "The Essential List". 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Ken Kagami of SEPARATE BATH & TOILET and Goro Nakatsugawa of MIN-NANO It seems that these two well-known names in Huinam have collaborated in some way they are holding a pop-up at "Dover Street Market Ginza" from March 1 (Sat.) to 7 (Fri.) let's take a look at Kagami-san and Goro-san's Zagin Rare Road Trip Oita — The 250th anniversary of the death of 18th-century Buddhist priest Zenkai was observed in late August near a tunnel he had dug with hammer and chisel in Nakatsu Zenkai traveled around Japan and found Nakatsu posed an obstacle for travelers crossing Mt Having learned many people and their horses had lost their lives falling from the mountain he decided to dig the tunnel for safe passage and spent the next 30 or so years digging together with them The resulting tunnel called Ao-no-domon (the blue cave) is about 343 meters long attracting about 1 million visitors every year a local youth taiko drum group used their instruments to recreate the sound of hammers and chisels Another group hosted a walk on the mountain where participants could pay respects to Zenkai’s great achievement The whole event was organized by a local group of volunteer tour guides “I hope people will walk through the tunnel to trace Zenkai’s steps and enjoy the great view of Mt 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 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 The 'Counting On' alum and his wife tied the knot in April 2021 and welcomed son Truett Oliver Duggar on May 2 KQED Live EventsPRX Podcast Garage EventsEvents Around the Bay AreaMember Benefits with KQED LiveVideos from KQED LiveWatch recordings of recent KQED Live events FeaturedThat's My WordAn ongoing exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history See Senior Director of TV Programming Meredith Speight’s recommendations from this month’s KQED 9 Watch recordings of recent KQED Live events Support KQED by using your donor-advised fund to make a charitable gift education advocates scored a major win in the California state Assembly Legislation passed requiring all California State University students to take courses in ethnic studies Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill later this summer Bay Curious received a question about ethnic studies from 23-year-old Michael Viray: “I’ve heard from one of my professors of ethnic studies at UC Davis that there was actually a revolution in the Bay Area for an ethnic studies field fascinated by coursework that revealed the history and contributions of Filipino Americans “It’s not being taught in classrooms,” he said “I didn’t know my own history.” Ethnic studies was born from a revolution that began at San Francisco State in 1968 The United States was 13 years into the Vietnam War had been assassinated and the Black Panther Party was demanding systemic change for Black communities plagued by poverty and police brutality “There were members of the Black Student Union who were also members of the Black Panther Party,” said Nesbit Crutchfield who started his studies at San Francisco State as a business school student in 1967 Crutchfield — who considered himself an “aspiring revolutionary” — soon joined San Francisco State’s Black Student Union “I felt very privileged to be a member of the Black Student Union,” Crutchfield said “It was clear to me that the Black Student Union represented a very progressive energy and thought among Black students in the Bay Area.” just a small percentage of Black students attended San Francisco State Enrollment rates for minority students had dwindled down to just 4% even though 70% of students in the San Francisco Unified School District were from minority backgrounds Black students were just a fraction of that 4% Crutchfield remembers it as a time when “white supremacy was the norm of the day.” “It was very unusual to see Black people in any positive positions,” Crutchfield said you expected to be one of the very few Black people in any classroom [The campus] was overwhelmingly white.” Black students were hungry to study their own history The Black Student Union had been pushing the university to create a Black studies department for nearly three years “Even though ethnic studies was not validated by the university, it doesn’t mean that that study wasn’t taking place,” said Jason Ferreira a professor in the Department of Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State’s College of Ethnic Studies Ferreira has spent years collecting oral histories on the student strike students had to create their own spaces to learn about their history “There was something called the Experimental College which was a student-run initiative for them to teach their own classes,” Ferreira said “The Black Student Union had its own classes But students didn’t just learn untold histories they connected them to the ongoing struggle against systemic issues plaguing their communities police brutality and lack of affordable housing “It was an era of young people asking questions and wanting to transform their communities,” Ferreira explained that hunger to transform one’s community is actually what forms the basis of ethnic studies.” Penny Nakatsu — originally from San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood — was grappling with her own questions about race and identity she pursued a self-directed degree in Asian American studies “We weren’t ‘Asian Americans’ then we were ‘Orientals,’ ” Nakatsu said “ ‘Oriental’ is a term that was imposed on us by the larger society Starting to use the term ‘Asian American’ was a way of taking back our own destiny.” At San Francisco State, Nakatsu found herself gravitating toward people with like-minded values and who were involved in the anti-war movement. She became a member of a student organization called the Asian American Political Alliance, which was one of many ethnic student organizations on campus. In early Fall of 1968, these organizations banded together and formed a coalition called the Third World Liberation Front. ‘Third World’ referred to the nonaligned countries or cultures in Asia Africa and Latin America,” Nakatsu explained Though students in the Third World Liberation Front came from different cultures they believed they were united in their shared history of colonial and imperial oppression The students saw parallels between their tension with the school and what they viewed as the oppression of the Vietnamese by the United States military One of San Francisco State’s most influential anti-Vietnam War organizers was a popular English instructor named George Mason Murray. He also happened to be the minister of education for the Black Panther Party but his outspoken politics were not tolerated by San Francisco State administrators “The war in Vietnam is racist,” Murray said in a televised press conference “It is the war that crackers like Johnson are using Black soldiers and poor white soldiers and Mexican soldiers as dupes and fools to fight against people of color in Vietnam.” The board of trustees forced San Francisco State’s president the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front joined together and went on strike Murray’s suspension was like setting fire to kindling Student strikers wanted the right to define their own educational experience. Together they drafted 15 demands, including a school of Third World studies and other people of color did not feel that it was reasonable to know more about themselves,” Crutchfield explained He and the other strikers felt it was vital “We knew that geniuses were falling by the wayside,” he said “I’m talking about geniuses in education The strikers also wanted to raise admission rates for students of color a special admissions program intended to prioritize marginalized students continued to allocate spots to white students the United States military was disproportionately drafting Black and brown men to fight in the Vietnam War They weren’t eligible for student exemption if they weren’t in school which meant that their right to an education was a matter of life or death Strikers vowed to boycott all classes until the school met their demands “We wanted to find out and be educated about ourselves,” Crutchfield said then nobody could get an education.” strikers engaged in acts of disruption known as the “War of the Flea,” a campaign to disrupt the normal operations of the school Students put cherry bombs in toilets and checked out huge quantities of books to overwhelm the school’s library system dressed in full riot gear and armed with five-foot batons Students responded by throwing rocks and yelling obscenities at police and administrators By this time, Crutchfield had become a leader of the strike, often speaking to huge crowds of protesters He said his involvement put a target on his back “I’m quite sure they wouldn’t have cared if some of us had died They definitely wanted some of us to go to prison police surrounded the Black Student Union office Crutchfield said police were looking to arrest its members “I volunteered to leave the Black Student Union first,” Crutchfield said I got beat up with nightsticks and boots and fists.” The police arrested Crutchfield and escorted him off campus resisting arrest and intent to injure and maim now a mental health administrator in Richmond said he is still dealing with the trauma of that time “I don’t think you can talk to anyone who was at S.F who ran from the police and can say that they’re the same person,” he said great grandson of Africans who were made slaves,” he said “I realized the things I got arrested for were really important to me.” followed the lead of strike leaders like Crutchfield they themselves had been denied a proper education Their support intensified as the strike dragged on and the violence continued President Smith shut down the school indefinitely Ronald Reagan and the California State University Board of Trustees demanded he reopen the campus In his place, the board appointed S.I. Hayakawa Hayakawa was popular with conservatives in Sacramento Their confrontations were heated and frequent Hayakawa famously climbed aboard a sound truck and yanked the wires from a loud speaker during a student protest Hayakawa declared an end to student gatherings on campus In a press conference he said he believed in the right to free speech but that “freedom of speech does not mean freedom to incite riot.” Strikers ignored Hayakawa’s ban on gatherings 1969 in what many call “the mass bust.” “Two lines of police came up,” Nakatsu said “They surrounded over 500 people who were there for the rally and trapped all of the individuals who were caught within a human net.” Nakatsu said it was one of the bloodiest and most frightening days of the entire strike “The power of the state was trying to literally beat down the strike and strikers,” she said backing up San Francisco’s court system for months faculty and members of the community were affected Virtually all of the individuals who were arrested had to spend some jail time University lecturers or teachers lost their jobs There were real consequences to having participated in that event,” she said Hayakawa and strikers negotiated a deal on March 20 The school agreed to accept virtually all nonwhite applicants for the fall 1969 semester with classes geared towards communities of color Hayakawa gave Nakatsu and her peers the job of designing a curriculum from scratch in a matter of months “I have a feeling that one of the reasons why the administration agreed to that was I don’t think they thought we could pull it off,” Nakatsu said The College of Ethnic Studies was ready by fall of 1969 Nakatsu is a civil rights lawyer in San Francisco and believes in the importance of ethnic studies as much as ever “Ethnic studies is a way of embracing all of the cultures that make up the world,” she said “If we don’t understand each other Ethnic studies is something that’s important not just for people of color so we know about our histories and cultures and destinies Ferreira believes ethnic studies should be required in K-12 schools “The demand for ethnic studies is as important today as it ever was “The inability of this country to come to terms with the ongoing practices of racism and white supremacy speaks to the demands of the Third World Liberation Front and the Black Student Union for an education that was relevant and transformative To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy. Jed Duggar revealed that the couple welcomed their son Eleven new champions were named at the 52nd Youth Sailing World Championships on December 11-15 in Armação dos Buzios, Brazil. The Nations’ Trophy, awarded to the top-scoring national team, was won by Italy followed by France and Great Britain USA and Canada finished 10th and 22nd respectively Leading for the USA was the Nacra 15 team of Cody Roe and Brooke Mertz which scored a silver finishing two points behind gold medalists Daniel and Nora Garcia de la Casa of Spain and three points ahead of bronze medalists Marie Mazuay and Clément Guignard of Switzerland The USA team had five top-ten finishes across the 10 disciplines they participated in opting not to send a representative in the Female Formula Kite event “I am super proud of Cody and myself for all of the hard work we put into this event and the months leading up to it,” said Mertz of Parkland “I am so thankful and honored to be given this opportunity to represent the US at my first Youth Worlds Annie Balasubramanian and Sullivan Nakatsu recorded their nation’s best performances in more than a decade in the Female and Male ILCA 6 events respectively finished in 11th and 12th place posted the best Canadian result in the history of the event since Isabella Bertold placed 4th in 2009 “I had a rough start to my week with a penalty (BFD) in the first race I feel confident that I raced well and gave it everything I could!” noted Balasubramanian “It is hard to keep the consistency in your scores when your first race is your drop but I feel confident that I made as little mistakes as possible to stay consistent,” she continued including two pretty windy days to finish things off I am happy with how I sailed nonetheless.” This was Nakatsu’s third appearance at the Worlds having the finished in 16th and 17th positions in 2017 and 2019 “I felt I sailed really well and I didn’t leave anything on the table after the last race,” said Nakatsu “I had food poisoning on the fourth and fifth days which really took a toll on my mental and physical strength I gave it everything I had and emptied the tank it was a really great event and I’m proud of how I represented Canada.” Event informationRace detailsResults Tags: , Launched in 1997, Scuttlebutt provides sailing news with a North American focus. Look for the latest information to be posted on the website, with the highlights distributed in the e-Newsletter What is the e-Newsletter Subscribe Today © 2024 Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Inbox Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.made by VSSL Agency Just a few weeks after 18-year-old Justin Duggar wed 20-year-old Claire Spivey, another member of the Counting On clan has tied the knot.  Jedidiah Duggar and Katey Nakatsu, both 22, wed Saturday in front of family and friends in an outdoor ceremony in Arkansas. In a very un-Duggar move, Jed chose to keep his courtship and engagement a secret from his family’s fans. Instead, he only announced his relationship with Katey after the pair said “I do!”  Jed’s parents Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar acknowledged the couple’s private relationship in a post congratulating them on their wedding day. “We are overjoyed about adding another daughter-in-love to our family!” they shared. “Jed and Katey have enjoyed a quiet, low-key relationship that has allowed them to prepare for a beautiful life together. The groom shared about his wedding on Instagram. A post shared by Jedidiah 🤍 Katey Duggar (@jed_duggar) “For a long time I have prayed for my future spouse not knowing who that person would be,” he wrote “God answered my prayers far beyond what I could have ever imagined in Katey We have enjoyed quietly developing our relationship over the past year and every moment together has been amazing “I’m so grateful God brought Katey into my life and excited to share with you all that today she became my wife the thought of sharing the rest of my life with you makes me the happiest man in the world The newlyweds didn’t let the COVID-19 pandemic prevent them from having what Hello! called a “crowded ceremony.” In screenshots shared on Reddit from the live stream of the ceremony wedding guests appeared to be maskless.  While details of the wedding are scarce, a rep for the Duggars told People that the couple “was married in a private ceremony Saturday with family and close friends in attendance.” The wedding was (poorly) livestreamed and held outdoors (which is unusual for a Duggar wedding Jed’s best man was his twin brother (and former twin-bed-roomie) Jeremiah Duggar and Katey’s sister served as the maid-of-honor Jed’s niece Felicity Vuolo (daughter of Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo) was the flowergirl the couple vowed (as most of the Duggar kids have done before them) to stay pure and avoid physical contact or unchaperoned time together until they were married Jed and Katey chose to make like his sister Jessa and her husband Ben Seewald on their wedding day and not have their first kiss at the altar Katey raised eyebrows when she vowed to “submit” to Jed’s authority “[God] instructs me as the one who will be your wife and to submit to your authority as you submit to God…I vow to submit to your leadership The couple also treated their wedding guests to a song midway through their ceremony Members of the Duggar family took to social media to congratulate the wannabe-politician and his new bride, including Duggar parents Jim Bob and Michelle.  A post shared by The Duggar Family (@duggarfam) “Congrats to this wonderful couple on their wedding day We are excited to see how their story continues to unfold in the future we are so pleased with the man you’ve become we are absolutely delighted that you have joined the family!” Jed’s parents wrote on the official Duggar Instagram account Jed’s sister Joy Forsyth shared the last picture she took with Jed before the wedding in her Instagram Stories along with some well wishes for the couple “I remember many times talking with you about when you would find ‘the one’ And today you married her,” Joy wrote “Since Katey has come into your life and you just have an extra skip in your step I love you and Katey very much.”  Jed’s sisters Jessa Seewald and Jill Dillard also shared well wishes on Instagram You can watch some of Jed and Katey’s wedding ceremony in the video below (The quality is poor due it being livestreamed RELATED STORY: Odd Engagement Video of Jedidiah Duggar & Katey Nakatsu Sparks Rumors Among ‘Counting On’ Fans (Photos: Instagram; TLC; The Nakatsu Family Blog; YouTube)  that’s another Duggar son (they all look the same For me personally I think if I went from never being alone or having a Truly private conversation with a male to getting married having my first kiss and the “wedding night” all in one day I’d be traumatized What in the-….can ANY of the Duggar boys marry someone who doesn’t look exactly like their sisters? They only stick to one race and one religion so I wouldn’t be surprised if they where long lost cousins and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Derick Dillard is taking some time off from lawyering ‘Counting On’ star Jill Duggar confirmed that her husband is no longer an Assistant District Attorney and is on “sabbatical” from being a lawyer Lisa Vanderpump recently threw some shade at Scheana Shay after the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ star was informed that Scheana planned to spill a lot of tea about LVP in her upcoming memoir News and snark about your favorite guilty pleasure reality TV shows Buy the Ashley’s Book: Inside AGT Buy The Ashley’s Teen Mom Secrets & Scandals Book Privacy Policy  Get your reality TV news and gossip sent right to your email inbox! Volume 10 - 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00996 This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Ecology in Reservoirs and Lakes View all 22 articles Restoration of degraded aquatic habitats is critical to preserve and maintain ecosystem processes and economic viability Effective restoration requires contaminant sources identification Microbial communities are increasingly used to characterize fecal contamination sources The objective was to determine whether nearshore and adjacent beach bacterial contamination originated from the Grand Calumet River and to determine if there were correlations between pathogens/feces associated bacteria in any of the samples to counts of the pathogen indicator species Escherichia coli Water samples were collected from the river and offshore sites along southern Lake Michigan Comparisons among communities were made using beta diversity distances (weighted and unweighted Unifrac and Bray Curtis) and Principal Coordinate Analysis of 16S rRNA gene Illumina sequence data that indicated river bacterial communities differed significantly from the river mouth These differences were further supported using Source Tracker software that indicated nearshore lake communities differed significantly from river and offshore samples there was separation by sampling date that was associated with environmental factors (e.g. Although about half the genera (48.1%) were common to all sampling sites linear discriminant analysis effect size indicated there were several taxa that differed significantly among sites; there were significant positive correlations of feces-associated genera with E Results collectively highlight that understanding microbial communities rather than relying solely on select fecal indicators with uncertain origin are more useful for developing strategies to restore degraded aquatic habitats Aquatic microbial contamination by pollutants derived from anthropogenic sources is a problem across the United States and worldwide; control of this contamination and restoration of degraded habitats can cost millions of dollars and considerable on-the-ground effort by water and land managers (Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, 2016; Steinman et al., 2017) such as Escherichia coli and/or enterococci contamination of recreational waters (U.S. EPA, 1986). Often, these bacteria are not adequate to identify contamination sources because they can originate from a variety of warm-blooded animals and from environmental sources (Byappanahalli and Ishii, 2011). This lack of specificity has led to the development of other methods, such as detection of source-host bacterial indicators (see Field and Samadpour, 2007) Through federal programs (e.g., The Beach Act of 2000; Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, 2009-current; International Joint Commission, 2012) federal-state partnerships have been established to decrease contamination sources and the effects of contamination on these lake ecosystems; among these contamination concerns are beach closings due to high concentrations of indicator bacteria such as E The objective of this study was to determine if samples with elevated levels of E coli were correlated with potential pathogens or other fecal indicator bacteria in the microbial community A 16S rRNA gene targeted high throughput sequencing approach was used to determine microbial community structure and composition The objectives were (1) to determine the similarity of nearshore and offshore lake microbial communities to the adjacent riverine water source and (2) to determine the incidence and correlation of pathogens/feces associated species in the aquatic microbiome to the pathogen indicator species E The results will help to illuminate the association of shoreline and riverine bacterial communities and the potential contribution of bacteria originating from the Grand Calumet River in northern Indiana The outcome of this work will contribute to determining the critical role of microbial communities in these degraded ecosystems and to aid in developing and assessing effective strategies for management and restoration of these environments The study area is located in northern Indiana along the southern shore of Lake Michigan of the Laurentian Great Lakes The focal point of the area is the Grand Calumet River which has been highly urbanized during industrialization of the early 20th century The Grand Calumet River flows into Lake Michigan through the channelized Indiana Ship Canal and the entire river and associated shoreline is considered an “Area of Concern” by the International Joint Commission on boundary waters between the United States and Canada and therefore the focus of significant restoration efforts Sampling sites were located in the Grand Calumet River at Columbus Drive (GCR), at the mouth of the river (GCM), at offshore locations north (GCN) and east (GCE) of the peninsula that lies between the river mouth and Jeorse Park, and at three nearshore locations: Jeorse Park (JP), East Chicago, IN; Whihala Beach (WH), Whiting, IN; and 63rd Street Beach (63rd), Chicago, IL (Figure 1; Byappanahalli and Nevers, 2019) Sampling locations along the southern shore of Lake Michigan Latitude and longitude for the study locations are as follows: 63rd Water samples (∼1.5 L) were collected in triplicate during three independent events in the summer of 2015 Two dates were during dry weather conditions (8/12 9/1) and one date was after a rainfall event (9/21) The seven locations represented four sources: river (9 samples) Water from GCR was collected by tossing a sterile collection bucket from the bridge crossing at Columbus Drive; offshore surface water samples (GCM GCE) were collected from a boat by dipping a sterile 1-L collection bottle below the surface; and nearshore samples (JP 63rd) were collected by dipping a 1-L collection bottle below the surface in 45-cm deep water All samples were stored on ice directly after collection for return to the laboratory for processing within 6 h of collection Upon return to the laboratory samples were concentrated by vacuum filtration first through a 5.0 μm nitrocellulose (Millipore) then 0.2 μm nitrocellulose filter (Millipore) then stored at −80°C until DNA extraction Total genomic DNA from each 0.2 μm filter was extracted using the MoBio PowerWater kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions 260/280 ratio) was measured with a Nanodrop 1000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific DNA concentrations for all samples were measured by fluorometric quantitation using a Qubit® instrument and High Sensitivity dsDNA HS Assay kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific United States); and purified DNA extracts were stored at −80°C until used The SourceTracker (Knights et al., 2011) plugin in QIIME 1.9.1 was used to predict if river samples were significant contributors of OTUs to offshore or nearshore sites Default conditions of the program were used after filtering out OTUs that were present in less than 1% of samples This method used relative proportion of genera present to estimate the probability that the river was a significant source of microbes into the lake Water samples were analyzed for E. coli using the IDEXX Colilert-18 and Quanti-Tray 2000 method (IDEXX Laboratories, Westbrook, Maine), a defined substrate technology (Edberg et al., 1991). Generally, 100 ml of water was analyzed; excessively turbid samples were diluted as needed before analysis. Results are calculated as most probable number (MPN)/100 mL (Byappanahalli and Nevers, 2019) Hydrologic data, including water temperature (°C), specific conductance (μs/cm), pH, DO (mg/L), and turbidity (FNU) at East Chicago, IN (Jeorse Park, 04092788) and Jackson Park, IL (63rd, 04092440) were extracted from the United States Geological Survey National Water Information System (2018) database for use in the analysis (United States Geological Survey, 2018) hydrometeorological data were collected from a multi-parameter weather station (Vaisala WXT520) installed on a light post (30’) at the beach and a data buoy (NexSens CB-100) installed in the swimming area (∼1.5 m depth) Data obtained from the weather station included measurements of wind direction and speed (m/s) Data obtained from the buoy included turbidity (NTU wave height (m) and wave period (seconds) (NexSens Accustage pressure transducer; OEM LEfSE is a three-step process in which non-parametric Krustal Wallis is performed to first identify taxa that differed significantly among sources pairwise Wilcoxon rank-sum test is performed and finally linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is used to estimate the effect size and biological consistency within groups being tested Data output are taxa with LDA greater than 2.0 at any taxonomic level that is discriminating Differences were considered significant if p ≤ 0.05 with multiple comparisons using 999 permutations Early efforts in source tracking have identified shorebirds and human fecal contamination at these beaches Unknown are the relative inputs of point (river) and other non-point (shoreline) sources Illumina sequencing results produced an abundant number of reads for bacterial communities across the sites The 63 water samples collected from seven locations on three dates produced a total of 5,136,926 paired-end reads after quality filtering and merging There was an average of 81,538 ± 63,981 reads per sample The sample with the lowest read (a river sample from the first sampling date) was excluded from community analyses and the remaining 62 samples were rarified to 24,890 reads per sample with a Goods coverage of 0.96 (±0.01 SD) and (c) interactions between nearshore and offshore communities Boxplots of means and SD (standard deviations) of within sample (alpha) diversity indices (A) Shannon (richness and evenness) and (B) PD whole tree (Faith’s Diversity phylogenetic richness) of samples from different water sources Non-parametric two sample t-test with 999 permutations with significant differences p < 0.02 illustrated by different letters above bars This indicates that mitigation strategies for this shoreline will likely differ from those initiated for other riverine habitats in the Grand Calumet River corridor Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of Bray Curtis dissimilarity metrics of samples labeled according to the (A) water sources and by (B) sampling date Differences among microbial communities are significant PERMANOVA and ANOSIM P = 0.001 and meets the assumption of dispersion homogeneity because PERMDISP is not significant but the volume of water released was likely insufficient to impact the shoreline microbial communities The similarity of community composition in the river between sampling dates and dissimilarity with the shoreline communities may result from a combination of frequent combined sewage overflows and low river flow those representing >0.1% included the Chloroflexi (0.9 ± 0.9%) and Verrucomicrobia (0.7 ± 0.6%); 0.9 ± 0.4% was not assigned to a phylum 25 represent currently tentative phyla likely lacking in cultivated isolates needed for classification Dominance of a few taxa was found at all taxonomic levels of classification there was a total of 786 genera assignments of which 23 (∼3% of total genera) had a mean relative proportion >1% (mean of all samples) and accounted for 85.6 ± 4.0% of the community could not be assigned to a genus or is currently listed as a candidate genus One of the major advantages of using targeted metagenomic techniques, such as the 16S rRNA gene sequencing, is that they are culture-independent and can theoretically recover almost all bacterial taxa in any habitat. However, despite rapid advancements in this area, most bacterial species in communities remain to be identified (Locey and Lennon, 2016) A general lack of cultured organisms with sequencing information (in NCBI and other databases) essentially limits taxonomic identification from the sequenced data Venn diagram illustrating shared and unique genera among (A) water sources Sampling sites in (A,B) represented by nearshore locations Jeorse Park (JP) Calculations and illustrations were determined using the Venny program (Oliveros Estimation of Grand Calumet River as a potential source† of bacterial populations (mean percentages ± standard error of mean) on three sampling dates for (A) Lake communities as sink‡ or (B) Specific nearshore communities as sink§ Linear Discriminate Analysis Effect Size (LEfSE) analysis of microbial communities from the various (A) water sources and (B) nearshore collection sites and river mouth Only taxa that differed significantly (p < 0.05) with LDA effect sizes greater than 4.0 in (A) and 3.0 in (B) are illustrated in the histograms Taxa names include phylum followed by lowest taxonomic assignment available Nearshore beaches include Jeorse Park (JP) This indicates that targeted metagenomic analysis can provide additional data of fecal contamination Notable is the positive correlation with several genera in the phylum Firmicutes that are associated with fecal contamination and Selenomonas as well as Bacteroides from the phylum Bacteroidetes This suggests that both shoreline sources (e.g. nearshore sand-water interactions) and large-scale processes (e.g. are likely to influence changes in community along the shoreline The relative impact of these factors could have inter-annual variation Integration of physical modeling and multiple years of data could help resolve some of these interactions Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of relative abundance of bacterial genera Escherichia coli most probable number (ECMPN) and the environmental variables water temperature (WaterT_C) dissolved oxygen in mgL– 1 (DOmgLt) and sampling date (time) (A) CCA1 and 2 explain 64.3 and 14.4% and (B) CCA3 and CCA4 explain 11.8 and 6.6% of the total constrained variation would likely have a greater impact on eliminating beach closures into water quality monitoring programs will be helpful to study long-term changes and underlaying factors that influence these changes which are difficult to elucidate with traditional monitoring programs To summarize using a targeted 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach to analyze aquatic microbial communities demonstrated it is possible (1) to identify sources of contamination using a consortium of microbes as an index of pollutant sources rather than using one or two traditional indicators (e.g. enterococci) often used in monitoring programs we were able to show that the Grand Calumet River had minimal influence on shoreline water quality at the study sites indicating that the sources contributing to high E Cladophora) with an intermittent contamination from GCR (2) The data gathered from this research will be useful to management agencies EPA and Indiana Department of Environmental Management for addressing water quality restoration efforts currently under implementation at the study locations An example will be delisting shorelines as impaired for beneficial use such as recreation This can begin the process to modify acceptable approaches by government agencies to identify microbially contaminated locations to implement effective mitigation All authors wrote and approved the final version of the manuscript Funding was provided to the USGS through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and USGS agreement G15AC00427 and to Purdue University from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch grant IND010825 The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest Purdue University for the collection of samples and for help during sample processing The Purdue Genomics Core Facility at Purdue University performed sequencing and the Purdue Bioinformatics Core kindly provided servers to run the bioinformatics analyses The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00996/full#supplementary-material FIGURE S1 | Rarefaction curves of alpha diversity measures (A) Shannon Diversity and (B) PD whole tree (Faith’s Phylogenetic Diversity) TABLE S1 | Relative proportion of phyla represented in Lake Michigan water sample TABLE S2 | LEfSe results of a comparison of different Lake Michigan water sources taxa at all levels with LDA > 2.0 are listed TABLE S3 | LEfSe results of a comparison of Lake Michigan sampling sites taxa at all levels with LDA > 2.0 are listed GCR TABLE S4 | LEfSe results of a comparison of only the nearshore Lake Michigan sampling sites TABLE S5 | Environmental 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Available at: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis Naive Bayesian classifier for rapid assignment of rRNA sequences into the new bacterial taxonomy Potential of Enterococcus faecalis as a human fecal indicator for microbial source tracking Evidence for free-living Bacteroides in cladophora along the shores of the Great Lakes Google Scholar Microbes in beach sands: integrating environment The epiphytic microbiota of the globally widespread macroalga Cladophora glomerata (Chlorophyta Byappanahalli MN and Nevers MB (2019) Bacterial Community 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing Characterizes Riverine Microbial Impact on Lake Michigan Copyright © 2019 Nakatsu, Byappanahalli and Nevers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Cindy H. Nakatsu, Y25ha2F0c3VAcHVyZHVlLmVkdQ== orcid.org/0000-0003-0663-180Xorcid.org/0000-0001-5376-597Xorcid.org/0000-0001-6963-6734 Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Jedidiah Duggar is officially off-the-market After nearly one year of courtship, the 22-year-old Counting On star married Katey Nakatsu in a surprise wedding ceremony The 10th child of Michelle Duggar and Jim Bob Duggar shared the exciting marriage news on Easter Sunday on Instagram "For a long time I have prayed for my future spouse, not knowing who that person would be," Jed began his caption on April 4 "God answered my prayers far beyond what I could have ever imagined in Katey!" "We have enjoyed quietly developing our relationship over the past year and every moment together has been amazing!" he continued "I'm so grateful God brought Katey into my life and excited to share with you all that today she became my wife the official Duggar family Instagram expressed their excitement for the newly married couple "We are overjoyed about adding another daughter-in-love to our family!!" a message read low-key relationship that has allowed them to prepare for a beautiful life together Congrats to this wonderful couple on their wedding day we are so pleased with the man you've become we are absolutely delighted that you have joined the family!" At this time, the family is keeping details of the wedding ceremony under wraps. Hello magazine reported the pair tied the knot in an outdoor venue in Arkansas on Saturday The publication noted Jed's twin brother Jeremiah was the best man while Katey's sister was her maid of honor While the Duggar family didn't publicly confirm Jed's courtship or their engagement Hello pointed out that pictures of their proposal began circulating online around Christmas last year Counting On fans speculated they began their courtship in early 2020 Although the 22-year-old star's life is in the spotlight So even though it's unclear when Jed and Katey's romance started to blossom one thing is clear: They are officially husband and wife Find out what the rest of the Duggar family is up to in the gallery below: The parents of 19 and grandparents of over three dozen little ones started out as high school sweethearts Michelle has recalled being "saved" at 15 Jim Bob was making home outreach visits on behalf of his Baptist church and he ended up knocking on the Ruark family's door after his friend told him that "this girl from school that just got saved and is a cheerleader" lived there They invited Michelle to Sunday school at their church and he prayed to god that they could be each other's spiritual leaders—though apparently their first meeting wasn't as memorable for Michelle she applied for a job at the frozen yogurt shop owned by Jim Bob's parents "You came to the counter where I was standing by the cash register and introduced yourself," Michelle remembered in a letter posted on the family blog in 2017 for Jim Bob's birthday and their 33rd wedding anniversary I really don't remember much about that conversation except that you finally mustered up the courage to ask me if I would go to your junior-senior banquet with you!" She attended the dinner with him at Shiloh Christian but it was when they hung out afterward discussing the Bible for hours at her parents' house that she knew."From there we believe our hearts were knit together," Michelle has said "We graduated high school in May of 1984 and were married in July The couple dedicated themselves to God and each other for the long run having served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for the sixth district from 1999 until 2002 during which he was vice chair of the House of Corrections and Criminal Law Subcommittee as did a bid in 2006 to become the Republican nominee for Arkansas State Senate District 35 have been active in conservative causes—an aspect of their lifestyle that won them and 19 Kids and Counting (which premiered in 2008 as 17 Kids and Counting) both proud supporters and fierce critics they were grandparents of 33 with three on the way Eldest Duggar child Josh Duggar was born March 3 campaigning for the Family Research Council Jessa defended her brother in a sit-down with Fox News that June insisting that the worst names people were calling Josh were "so overboard and a lie I mean people get mad at me for saying that but I can say this because I was one of the victims." His wife Anna Duggar—whom he married in a Sept. 26, 2008, ceremony featured on 19 Kids and Counting—also stuck by him, including after he admitted to being unfaithful When he checked into a treatment center in 2016 his parents called it "a crucial first step in recovering and healing." In a federal indictment filed in April 2021, Josh was charged with a count apiece of receipt and possession of child pornography. He pleaded not guilty on both counts Josh was found guilty of both (but the possession charge was vacated by the judge) and sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison While she and Jim Bob were still grieving that loss and praying for guidance "We felt it was a double blessing," she told Love to Know I have a baby and then eight months later I'm expecting Just another unusual thing the Lord has seen fit to do with our situation." John David Duggar and his twin sister Jana Duggar were born on Jan After a whirlwind courtship (they did know of each other for several years, before meeting at a church event in Abbie's home state of Oklahoma) and a short engagement, John David and Abbie-Grace Burnett got married on Nov They welcomed daughter Grace Annette Duggar on Jan 2020 and son Charlie Duggar in September 2022 On their 30th birthday in January 2020, Jana wrote in a sweet message "Ever since John and I were little we've been asked if we have that 'twin thing' the thing where you feel what the other one is feeling or know what the other one is thinking...Well I've always answered that with a no—but now I can honestly say that the day little Gracie was born I felt every bit of happiness that you did "It's so sweet watching you & Abbie as parents And the same qualities that have made you a wonderful brother will also make you an amazing dad." she maintained it was all part of God's plan "I haven't always understood what the bigger picture is, but I know that God knows what is best for all of us. And so for me, it's getting married later," Jana told People in August 2024, shortly before her wedding "Each of our stories will be written differently In a love story reminiscent of her parents' Jill first met Derick (who grew up about 45 minutes away) on Christmas 2011 when he stopped by the Duggar family abode while out caroling with his church group In April 2024, Jill shared that she had suffered a pregnancy loss while expecting her and Derick's first baby girl Jill and Derick reflected on the controversies and religious beliefs surrounding her family in the Amazon Prime Video documentary Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets Jessa met Ben through church and he began courting her in 2013—the old-fashioned approach to romance coming as a brand-new notion to a lot of viewers. The kids never talked about their romances pre-engagement, so Jim Bob explained to People "Courting is getting to know each other in a group setting both families spending time together and the couple setting goals together to determine if they are meant to marry a couple will often pair off alone and that sometimes leads to a more physical relationship." Ben asked for Jessa's hand and then proposed in August 2014—sealing the deal by holding her hand for the first time Jessa was pregnant with their first child when 19 Kids and Counting was canceled and TLC subsequently aired a special about sexual abuse The sisters would end up the stars of their own show that winter; the show then evolved to become Counting On Jinger and Jeremy met doing ministry work in Laredo 2016 (the bride's nephew Spurgeon's birthday—but you just try not overlapping milestones when you're one of 19) and were promptly the subject of pregnancy rumors "Where we see ourselves in a year is probably just settled down we can," Jinger said on a June 2017 episode of Counting On Their daughter Felicity was born July 19, 2018. In May of that year, they revealed that Jinger was pregnant again—and that she had suffered a miscarriage the previous fall Son Finnegan Charles was born March 29 Joseph proposed to Kendra (whom he met through church) at his sister Joy-Anna's wedding in May 2017 after just a few months of courting "I was definitely nervous going into it, but I wasn't afraid that she was going to say no, because she has said, 'I'm just waiting on you!'" Joseph told People after popping the question They've since announced the births of son Garrett Just a few months after his courtship with Lauren went public, the couple announced their engagement in March 2018 "The place where I proposed to Lauren is the exact spot where her parents were engaged," he said in a statement "There's a lot of family history on this property making it a special place for Lauren." Her future mother-in-law, Michelle, said in a video posted on the family's blog, "We love Lauren, she is such a precious girl." Jessa and Ben also offered congratulations and chocolate shaped like x's and o's "Pretty sure that y'all want to save your first kiss for your wedding day but if you come over here we'll give you..." She held up the sweet consolation prize A previous courtship with Marjorie Jackson didn't work out and they went their separate ways in the summer of 2015. "Marjorie and I had a good time together," Josiah recalled to People in March 2016 "We were just trying to follow God's lead on everything She didn't feel that it was the right timing then He and Lauren tied the knot June 30, 2018, telling People their wedding day was "absolutely perfect." They welcomed daughter Bella Milagro on Nov 2019—the name translating to "miracle baby," after the couple revealed Lauren had suffered a miscarriage in October 2018 Ninth sibling Joy-Anna Duggar was born Oct She knew Austin Forsyth for 15 years as a friend before he started courting her—after which they didn't waste any time He proposed in February 2017 and they married on May 26 (the wedding where Joseph proposed to Kendra!) Joy-Anna and Austin welcomed son Gideon Martin Forsyth on Feb. 23, 2018, daughter Evelyn Mae Forsyth on Aug Jim Bob and Michelle's second set of twins Jed married Katey Nakatsu after one year of courting in April 2021 Jed and Katey announced in July 2024 that they had twin girls on the way, and daughters Elsie Kate and Emma Kate were born Jan. 8, 2025 Jeremiah, a certified flight instructor, is married to Hannah Wissmann (Jana's husband Stephen's sister) and the two are parents to daughter Brynley, born December 2022, and Brielle They announced in Decemeber 2024 that their third daughter is on the way the Daily Mail reported that Jim Bob helped Jase buy a $33,000 fixer-upper in Prairie Grove about 30 minutes away from the Duggar family homestead and he ended up starting his own construction company He went Instagram official with girlfriend Maddie Grace in May 2024 and the two married the following October Not publicly courting a potential significant other yet he's a doting uncle to dozens of nieces and nephews "He is the 'funcle' (fun uncle!) and all the younger boys around here look up to him and want to be just like him!" mom Michelle wrote on his 19th birthday in 2019 "James is able to do just about anything he thinks up we would find James 'fixing' various household appliances He has always been one to take things apart and put them back together—with a few special modifications "This year James worked hard to get his CDL and he has become an expert at driving all the big trucks and heavy machinery We can't wait to see what God has in store for him in the future!" He went public with girlfriend Claire Spivey in September 2020. The two got engaged the following November and married on Feb. 26, 2021 Here with his big sister Jill, Jim Bob and Michelle's 15th child Jackson Duggar was born May 23 mom Michelle praised Jackson's sense of humor and noted that she knew he couldn't wait to get his driver's license hence the original family special called 16 Kids and Moving In "This girl is so fun and outgoing, and she loves making new friends," Michelle wrote on her 16th child's 15th birthday in 2020 "Her younger sisters absolutely adore her and think she hung the moon and I couldn't be more grateful to God for choosing me to be her Mom!" "Jennifer is dependable, loyal... and fun!" Michelle wrote when her little girl turned 13 "She is a favorite with the nieces and nephews and is usually carrying one of them around because they don't want her to put them down Jennifer also has a special love for animals and is very faithful to take care of her pets every day She recently helped raise a litter of 7 little bunnies!" In 2019, her mom called Jordyn-Grace an "outgoing girl who has never met a stranger," with a laugh that "is always one of the brightest spots in our day." No. 19 Josie Duggar, here holding niece Meredith 2009—three months premature and weighing only 1 pound and spent six months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) "Josie is a ball of energy," Michelle wrote on her baby's 11th birthday in 2020 "From the time she wakes up in the morning until her head hits the pillow at night an engineer was able to fix the problem after he was inspired by a kingfisher Producers: Jennifer Green & Anna Doble For more clips like this check out 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter. ShareSaveRome's most stunning optical illusions revealedFrom the Malta Knights keyhole to a set of vanishing columns, discover the Eternal City's visual secrets. Steven Isserlis: 'I want to be a voice in their heads'In an intimate portrait, acclaimed cellist Steven Isserlis opens up about why he loves teaching young musicians. Watch rare sperm found by AI in IVF labWe go inside a New York City lab developing new tech to increase IVF success rates for patients. 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Get ready for yet another Counting On wedding…  Weeks after his 18-year-old brother Justin Duggar wed Claire Spivey 22-year-old Jedidiah Duggar is set to walk down the aisle with a bride of his own – something many ‘Counting On’ fans doubted recently considering Jed shares a bedroom with his brother never dropped an official courting announcement Despite forgoing Duggar tradition, Jed, who last made headlines in November after losing his bid to become the Arkansas State Representative for District 89 in Springdale In an (awkward) engagement video featured on the Nakatsu Family blog – shared by the Duggar Family Fan Instagram page – things get a little confusing at one point when Jed and Katey can be heard reciting what sound like vows to one another.  A post shared by Duggar Family Fan🌺 6-10-16 (@the_duggarss) Fans on social media suspected the cold (literally and figuratively) proposal may have been fake or a re-enactment while others compared the vows recited by the couple to those of a contract This brings us to a particular post on the Nakatsu Family blog entitled “Biblical Betrothal.”  While the post is password protected, Brides explains betrothal ceremonies as something that originated in the early church that were “more rooted in the social and economic commitments of marriage between families.” Essentially betrothal ceremonies were contracts where families entered into an agreement with one another before God that couldn’t be broken.  The magazine goes on to state that unlike engagements a betrothal ceremony requires a couple to commit to marriage.  this has not been confirmed by the Duggars or the Nakatsu family with the former having yet to publicly acknowledge the couple’s engagement it isn’t the first time Jim Bob Duggar has been accused of having a hand in arranging his kids’ marriages.  “Jim Bob has never once arranged a marriage,” she wrote on social media “All of those kids have been equipped well for life They can handle lots of responsibility at a young age Despite all the secrecy and suspicion surrounding Jed and Katey’s engagement Jed’s bestie Tristan Miller revealed Monday that the two are planning to tie the knot in a couple of weeks.  “I can’t believe my bestfriend is getting married soon 2 weeks from now love you Jed,” Tristan wrote on Instagram.  He also confirmed that he’ll be part of the couple’s wedding party – along with about 71 Duggars RELATED STORY: Former ‘Counting On’ Stars Jill & Derick Dillard Reveal How Long It’s Been Since They’ve Been Inside the Duggar Mansion; Say the House Has “A Lot of Triggers” For Them (Photos: The Nakatsu Family Blog; Instagram; TLC)  I don’t think these people joke about marriage lol You’re right that these people dont like to joke about marriage but I RESPECTFULLY disagree in that I do think it may actually be a hoax mainly because they are so serious about marriage they’d have been talking about it since day 1 of courtship Jason and Maddie Grace Duggar aren’t the typical Duggar couple In a video posted to their YouTube channel yesterday Get your reality TV news and gossip sent right to your email inbox It is around eco-responsible values and precise sourcing that the two friends meet in particular concerning the poultry chosen for the restaurant's recipes: a bare-necked chicken with fine flesh from a local producer who raises his poultry for 120 days and produces their food on the spot The two friends have pushed thecareful sourcing of their quality products to the point of opting for a small potato producer in the Somme and local producers for vegetables and aromatic herbs; each of the ingredients being chosen in season which pushes Charles and Matthieu to adapt their recipes over the months At Nakatsu, the chicken karaage is revealed in two ways. On the one hand, in generous burgers (11€) with an airy potato bun spring onion and a choice of homemade and very convincing sauces - miso tartar sauce ginger mayonnaise sauce or delicately spiced chili sauce in donburi (13,50€) made in the rules of art the chicken karaage is lounging on a bed of Japanese rice alongside red onion pickles spring onion and seasonal vegetables (at the moment You may or may not add an ajitsuke egg (+2€) marinated and served runny and you cover the whole thing with a good dose of Japanese dressing made of yellow and green lemon juice just to put an end to the idea that eating fried chicken is a sign of junk food Vegetarians are not left out with a vegetarian burger option (11€) and a donburi (12,50€) in which a big fried portobello mushroom replaces the chicken But it would be a shame to miss out on these generous pieces of juicy chicken This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation Refer your establishment, click herePromote your event, click here JIM Bob and Michelle Duggar’s son Jed is following in his father’s footsteps as he has started a real estate company after his engagement to Katey Nakatsu The new career path comes as Jed is less than a week away from marrying Katey though the family has yet to confirm the engagement The Sun can exclusively reveal Jed launched his own real estate company called Ambassador Properties LLC bought .33 acres of land on December 12 as Jed will likely build a home or sell the property in the future for a profit The Sun previously reported Jed listed a three-bedroom, three-bathroom Springdale, Arkansas home as his address for the November 2020 business license Property records obtained by The Sun reveal the home that sits on over five acres of land is currently owned by his parents Jim Bob, 55, and Michelle the 2,180 sq-ft home boasts an open-floor plan The Counting On patriarch, who has a real estate empire worth millions is known for gifting his children homes when they tie the knot The new career path came just weeks after Jed lost his bid for State Representative of District 89 to Democrat incumbent Megan Godfrey Jed lost by almost 700 votes with the reality star getting 43 percent to Megan's 57 percent Jed’s campaign was controversial, as he was accused of "accepting illegal donations." He accepted $8,400 from a single donor in Louisiana which is triple the legal amount in Arkansas as the maximum a single donor can donate is $2,400 in Arkansas The Counting On star was also slammed for "name-calling" after he branded rival Megan a "liberal princess.” Jed had been dating and proposed to Katey as their engagement photos and invitation to their virtual wedding set for April 3 Last Fall, Jed confirmed that he “had a lady” and painted a pumpkin with the name “Katey” written on the front though their engagement still hasn’t been announced by the family The Sun previously reported Jed’s future in-laws sold their Arizona home for $840,000 on July 1, 2020 and relocated to Arkansas amid the engagement. Her parents, Kory and Kerry, bought a Springdale, Arkansas mansion for $594,900 on December 30, 2020.  The home has an open-floor plan on the first floor, and boasts four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The mansion has hardwood floors, high ceilings, and molding throughout the spacious living room, dining room and family room.  The family room features a cozy stone fireplace.  The kitchen features granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, a kitchen island and another island complete with bar stools.  The Sun previously reported Jed moved out of the home after his landslide loss in the Arkansas State Representative race as the home was listed for rent in December 2020 Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/ However, Bandai Namco recently released a video that had Tekken 7 developers Michael Murray Kouhei "Nakatsu" Ikeda and Jun "Mishimastar" Yasuda talking about DLC and offline tournaments Though nothing definitive was said about a potential Season 5 some interesting things were said about DLC that suggests that it could be a possibility "We are very grateful to be able to make this game for so long and it's important that we are able to take on many new challenges," said Nakatsu "The fact that more than 7 million people have played the game is because we've been able to work on it for such a long time." Tekken 7 has been played by players since 2015 Tekken 7 has received a lot of support from the developers since its release "It's great to see everyone's excitement every season and seeing players become more and more active," continued Nakatsu Nakatsu's words can be interpreted in a number of different ways but it sounds like he would like to continue working on Tekken 7 DLC after Season 4 it was actually planned that Tekken 7 DLC would only go as far as Season 2 but we decided to work on online improvements to improve the network code," said Mishimastar "Times like like right now (COVID) put more emphasis on online play we can ensure that people will be able to play for a long time." It was previously mentioned that Tekken 7's DLC model isn't intended to just be a money-making machine Paid DLC actually made it possible for the developers to release free content such as online improvements "I guess all I can say is I'll do my best," began Mishimastar again near the conclusion of the dev diary Although Season 5 hasn't been confirmed yet by the developers they also haven't outright stated that development for Tekken 7 is over — though something Katsuhiro Harada said a couple of months ago may have indicated this during his Harada's Bar program When asked about the future of Tekken 7 Harada's words does appear to give give some sense of finality to Tekken 7 but it's interesting how he isn't able to answer directly it's best not to get one's hopes up in case there really is nothing planned beyond Season 4 and his fiancee Katey Nakatsu got married on Saturday in Arkansas The couple’s packed outdoor ceremony comes just a few weeks after Jed’s brother Justin Jed’s twin brother, Jeremiah, was his best man, according to Hello while Katey had her sister as her maid of honor The role of flower girl went to Jed’s niece – Jinger Duggar and husband Jeremy Vuolo's daughter A wedding invitation from an attendee leaked last month revealing that Jed and Katey were set to wed on April 3 with many of their loved ones watching both in person and via livestream Both of Jed's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle as did Joy-Anna Duggar and her husband Austin Forsyth Katey wore a wedding gown made of lace with a tulle skirt Katey said during the ceremony: "I will submit to your authority as you submit to Christ." YouTube channel Without A Crystal Ball claimed that Jed had been “courting a woman” in secret for “quite some time.” Sources told the outlet: “Literally no one knew about this until they got the invitation “Family and friends were stunned that not only was Jed dating but that he was engaged and getting married in two weeks.” The Counting On couple registered for gifts on the wedding website who just started a new career as a real estate agent confirmed that he “had a lady” but did not publicly disclose any additional details He gave fans a hint at his future bride back in October when he painted a pumpkin with the word “Katey” written front and center News of Jedd's engagement comes as his brother Justin, 18, tied the knot with fiancee Claire Spivey, 20, in a secret ceremony in Texas last month with all of the family flying out for the big day The loved-up teens, who got engaged in November after a short courtship, said "I do" in an "indoor/outdoor ceremony" in Azle, a small city west of Fort Worth, according to a close source. Shockingly, the insider said despite the global pandemic nobody was forced to wear a mask at the wedding, featuring "hundreds" of guests, as they were free to mingle at the venue. The couple posted sweet wedding photos on Instagram after the ceremony, showing Claire in a gorgeous white lace dress and Justin in a dark gray suit and green tie. they said: "Today we have started a journey together that God crafted long before we ever knew it was meant to be "There is no greater joy than marrying your best friend." JED Duggar and secret girlfriend Katey Nakatsu are reportedly "ENGAGED" and currently planning a huge virtual wedding The 22-year-old Counting On star will marry his bride on April 3 2021 as many of their loved ones will be watching via livestream according to a leaked invitation from an attendee YouTube channel Without A Crystal Ball claims that Jed has been “courting a woman” in secret for “quite some time.” The account states his family did not know anything about her - other than she’s from Mesa Arizona - where her dad runs a flight school  While Katey - full name Katelyn’s - age is unknown she is allegedly in her late teens or “very early 20’s” as she “just graduated high school.” It’s not clear where the ceremony will be held - although it is assumed it would occur in either of their home states of Arizona or Arkansas - where Jed runs multiple business’ Many guests attending the nuptials will join via livestream due to Covid precautions Fans have also speculated this move is to allow cameras and crew into the event - hinting the wedding could be televised on TLC The couple is currently registered for gifts on the website the family have yet to formally announce a romance with Jed and Katey Jed confirmed that he “had a lady” but did not publicly disclose any additional details who had a disappointing 2020 after he attempted to follow in his father's footsteps by running for office in Arkansas State Representative District 89 Jim Bob did everything to make sure his son's campaign was a success, but their dream didn't go according to plan and he suffered a crushing blow in the political arena as he lost to Democrat incumbent Megan Godfrey. The Sun exclusively revealed a disappointed Jed moved out of the bachelor pad he was renting after his landslide loss and went back to his family home as the house was listed for rent in December 2020 Jed’s former neighbor told The Sun: "He moved out after he lost the election He was a quiet guy and not around here for very long He took $8,400 from a single donor in Louisiana as the maximum a single donor can donate is $2,400 He was also slammed for "name-calling" after he branded rival Megan a "liberal princess.” News of Jedd's engagement comes as his brother Justin, 18, tied the knot with fiancee Claire Spivey, 20, in a secret ceremony in Texas this month with all of the family flying out for the big day The Sun was the first to report on their wedding after they appeared to trick everyone into believing it was on April 16 the date listed on their official online registry Shockingly, the insider said despite the global pandemic nobody was forced to wear a mask at the wedding, featuring "hundreds" of guests, as they were free to mingle at the venue. The couple posted sweet wedding photos on Instagram after the ceremony, showing Claire in a gorgeous white lace dress and Justin in a dark gray suit and green tie. In a joint statement. they said: "Today we have started a journey together that God crafted long before we ever knew it was meant to be. "We are thankful for the prayers and support so many have shown us through our engagement and look forward to this new chapter of our lives together as husband and wife.” cameras rolled as Katey went to the hospital and was induced Fans were also treated to a sneak peek into baby True's nursery Back in September, Jed and Katey confirmed the pregnancy on Instagram with a COVID-19 joke that didn't sit well with some fans The couple revealed the sex of their baby four months later with the help of a baseball bat and blue powder. Jed and Katey married in April 2021. Unlike other family members, Jed kept much of his courtship with Katey private. In fact, he didn't announce his engagement and instead, shared wedding photos after they tied the knot At the time, Jed expressed how grateful he was to have found someone special in his life. "For a long time I have prayed for my future spouse, not knowing who that person would be," he wrote online "God answered my prayers far beyond what I could have ever imagined in Katey I'm so grateful God brought Katey into my life."  Jed Duggar and Katey Nakatsu tied the knot on April 3 in Arkansas The couple shared their daughter’s first photo after her birth In the Instagram collection, Jed first shared a snapshot of his baby girl sleeping and wrapped in a floral cover In the second adorable picture, Katey held her infant daughter as the little one slept in her mother's arms As the series continued, the Counting On alum took his turn and posed with Nora sat on the hospital bed and joined his parents for a family photo Nora's parents revealed in December 2022 that they were expecting another child together.  The pair welcomed their first child, a son, Truett, in May 2022. The fifth son of Jim Bob, 57, and Michelle Duggar They revealed the happy news during the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party held by the Duggar family Katey wore the announcement sweater at the event and filmed the reactions from the famous family He pointed the camera at Katey's sweatshirt which read on the front: "Joy to the world The footage then showed Jed on the beach with their son I got a surprise for you.' And so I was like The former TLC star continued: "She said: 'I'll tell you tonight,' and so I really didn't think too much about it." so I took this pregnancy test the day before and she said there was a faint line that came up He concluded: "And she said: 'I wasn't for sure In December 2022, Jed and Katey revealed how they picked Nora's moniker while showing off a crazy stunt to announce the sex of their second child. During the nearly 11-minute video started blaring as a pink car revved its engine The vehicle speeded down the hill as pink fireworks shot up to the night sky the TV personality told his loved ones that he had a girl's name already picked out The duo came up with the name before they had their first child and he wasn't," but "they saved the name."  The pair revealed the name of their daughter: "Nora Kate." COUNTING On star Jed Duggar’s new in-laws bought a massive home featuring an in-ground pool and outdoor kitchen as they relocated to Arkansas after his engagement to their daughter Katey Nakatsu Property records exclusively obtained by The Sun reveal Katey’s parents The home has an open-floor plan on the first floor and boasts four bedrooms and four bathrooms and molding throughout the spacious living room The family room features a cozy stone fireplace a kitchen island and another island complete with bar stools According to Realtor the master bedroom and bathroom have “wood ceiling detail soaking tub and beautifully tiled walk-in shower.” But the most stunning feature of the home is the backyard as it is complete with a huge in-ground pool and water fountain Reddit was the first to report on the new home and Kerry sold their Arizona home on July 1 property records obtained by The Sun reveal as it appears the couple could have began courting as early as 2020 They purchased the home in 2011 for $540,000 four-bathroom mansion was located in a gated community The “elegant” home boasted an outdoor patio and fire pit area as their engagement photos and invitation to their virtual wedding leaked online as the family typically announces courtships and then engagements YouTube channel Without A Crystal Ball reported Jed has been “courting a woman” in secret for “quite some time.” Katey is allegedly in her late teens or “very early 20’s” as she “just graduated high school.” A source claimed to the outlet: “Literally no one knew about this until they got the invitation “Family and friends were stunned that not only was Jed dating but that he was engaged and getting married in two weeks.” Many guests attending the nuptials will join via livestream due to Covid precautions Last Fall, Jed confirmed that he “had a lady” and painted a pumpkin with the name “Katey” written on the front The Sun previously reported Jed moved out of the home after his landslide loss in the Arkansas State Representative race It is unclear if Jeremiah also moved back to the family compound In November, Jed lost his bid for State Representative of District 89 to Democrat incumbent Megan Godfrey Jed lost by almost 700 votes Jed currently works as a real estate agent "We are so thankful for the love of Christ that has brought our lives together and teaches us what real love looks like Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled.Please check the site policy for more information Oita Prefecture--Three train cars operated by old Yabakei Railway to carry tourists since the early Showa Era (1926-1989) have been given a new life as guest rooms in the Kishapoppo Bettei hotel in the Manda district here Each car is housed in a building inspired by a railway station attracting not only rail buffs but also fans of unique hotels The three units include a KiHa 102 Kawasemi built in 1935 a 1937 KiHa 104 Sekirei and a 1956 KiHa 602 Shiokaze The cars retain the driver's cab and are also placed on railroad tracks The total cost for the project was about 155 million yen ($1.4 million) Each room was designed after a scenic site in the area is themed on the hand-dug Ao-no-Domon tunnel is modeled after a sleeper train parked at the now-defunct Morizane Onsen Station in the town of Yamakuni Its splendor interior was designed to conjure up a nostalgic feeling for the Showa Era covering 36 kilometers along the Yamakunigawa river between Nakatsu and Morizane Onsen stations before the company was shut down in 1975 The train cars were bought by Yoshihide Ito "I wanted to make use of the train cars that are full of memories of my parents," the hotel manager said groups of men and other customers from as far as the Kansai and Tokai regions Though due to the pandemic the hotel is not attracting the number of guests as it had expected who aims to make the hotel a sightseeing base in Nakatsu added that he hopes "it will be a place where people can learn about the Yabakei gorge and other areas and their backgrounds." An overnight stay for two in any of the rooms on weekdays costs 18,000 yen For more information, visit the official website at (https://kisyapoppo.com/bettei/#) 'Prince' of rails to start 'purple reign' in far north in May Fans ride the rails to collect all ‘Demon Slayer’ digital stamps Osaka hotel lays track to revive business with railway diorama Doraemon train running for 50th anniversary of beloved series JR Shikoku’s sightseeing train hits big ridership milestone Keihan Railway launches new luxury cars for express trains 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 Shiga Prefecture--Embattled Daihatsu Motor Co halted domestic vehicle assembly plants after admitting decades of fraudulent certification tests suppliers and workers that rely on the automaker as a lifeline Vehicle production stopped at Daihatsu plants in Ryuo The company’s vehicle assembly operations came to a screeching halt when its plant in Ikeda which together assembled about 930,000 vehicles in fiscal 2022 will remain idle at least until the end of January It has not been decided when they will restart operations Factory workers will be assigned to desk work cleaning and other duties during the daytime a town of a little more than 10,000 residents the Daihatsu plant employs about 4,000 full-time workers alone A company that supplies more than 90 percent of its products to Daihatsu has put more than half of its 1,000 or so employees on leave after it was notified on Dec 20 that the Daihatsu plant would be shut down amid the scandal “It is so difficult that we cannot see a path going forward,” a company official said “We trust that (Daihatsu) will take steps to deal with the situation.” 25 that the town will soon start a consultation service on employment and other issues the town started a program to loan a Daihatsu vehicle free of charge for three years to a family that gave birth to two or more children “We have to ask (residents) to wait until shipments and production return to normal,” Nishida said Daihatsu Motor Kyushu Co.’s plant in Nakatsu accounts for more than half of the Daihatsu group’s domestic vehicle production It receives about 20 percent of its corporate municipal tax revenues from automotive companies “The impact is substantial because (the company) has a broad base (of related industries),” a senior city official said “We hope (Daihatsu) will straighten itself out.” 25 started a consultation service for Daihatsu’s business partners and others affected According to credit researcher Teikoku Databank Ltd. 89 companies in the prefecture are directly or indirectly supplying parts and materials to Daihatsu Motor Kyushu and revenues from related businesses are estimated to total 480 billion yen ($3.37 billion) At a parts supplier whose transactions with the Daihatsu subsidiary accounts for 10-15 percent of its overall sales seven workers were manufacturing parts for the company “We can reassign four of them to work for a different client but the remaining three will become redundant,” a company official said “If (the plant shutdown) becomes prolonged we may have no choice but to ask them to take a leave of absence.” A twentysomething regular employee at Daihatsu Motor Kyushu’s plant said This is the first time I am going into a new year this way.” 25 that the company has reached an agreement with its labor union over compensation for employee salaries due to the shutdown The company will also purchase some of the parts that its 423 primary subcontractors were scheduled to deliver by the end of January as a form of compensation (This article was compiled from reports by Fuka Takei Toyota halts production line as workers contract COVID Daihatsu offices searched over falsified safety tests scandal Toyota to halt 12 plants in Japan due to Shanghai COVID lockdown Daihatsu halts all shipping after rigging safety tests of vehicles JED Duggar planted a romantic kiss on his new wife The couple got married earlier this month in a secret ceremony Jed shared two pictures from his honeymoon with his new wife Katey The sweet snaps show Jed and Katey in a tight embrace on the beach as well as him dipping and kissing his new bride on the sand The Counting On star captioned the pics: "No matter the view The newlyweds got married earlier this month in a packed outdoor ceremony in Arkansas Last week Jed shared a beautiful pic from the wedding captioned: "For a long time I have prayed for my future spouse "I’m so grateful God brought Katey into my life and excited to share with you all that today she became my wife Jed’s twin brother, Jeremiah, was his best man, according to Hello with many of their loved ones watching both in person and via live stream Both of Jed's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, attended the wedding, as did Joy-Anna Duggar and her husband Austin Forsyth. How many children and grandchildren do Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have? Eagle-eyed fans noticed Josiah, Lauren, and Bella front and center in a leaked family photo and suspected the young mom may be sporting a new baby bump. One wrote: "Took this screenshot from the Jedding photographers IG - possible Siren pregnancy?" Others agreed: "I call definitely."