Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information National Report Nagano Prefecture--Suzaka Mayor Masao Miki apologized on March 18 for the city passing off grapes produced in Yamagata Prefecture as being grown locally to reward donors to its hometown tax program Miki said at a news conference that the city had continued to accept donations even after officials learned that there had been falsification of the fruit's origin and the agricultural ministry had launched an investigation “I was thinking of taking action after waiting for the national investigation to be completed but I regret that my awareness was not appropriate enough,” he said The municipal government had been sending Shine Muscat grapes produced in Yamagata Prefecture as thank-you gifts for donations to its “furusato nozei” hometown tax program a food company based in Wakayama Prefecture had sent grapes harvested in Yamagata Prefecture to donors falsely claiming they were produced in Suzaka The mayor said one of the suppliers of Nihon Gourmet Ichiba had apparently thought that as long as the grapes were of the Shine Muscat variety it didn’t matter where they originated from A city official explained at the news conference that Nihon Gourmet Ichiba reported the mixing of grapes from Yamagata to city officials in December last year The issue was reported to Miki and other senior city officials in the same month considering that the agriculture ministry was investigating the falsification and that the company also reported that it would change how it operated the program the city continued to accept donations until the end of February this year the municipal government researched other incidents of false origins in thank-you gifts in the hometown tax program that have occurred in other municipalities The city then realized that urgent response to the incident was needed The city voluntarily suspended accepting donations for the hometown tax program on March 10 Suzaka is one of the major fruit-producing areas in the prefecture Ninety-five percent of the municipality’s thank-you gifts are fruits with Shine Muscat grapes being the most popular choice “I’m sorry for damaging the city’s brand image,” Miki said at the news conference The city government plans to establish a third-party committee of legal and distribution experts to investigate the cause of the mishap and take measures to prevent a recurrence Shine Muscat threatening Kyoho’s spot as No Surging demand for gift eels leads to falsely labeled Chinese products City wins suit against central government over tax donation row Tomato juice at $57 a bottle a surprise hit this winter Tax program puts 27% of local governments in the red: study 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 Six-hundred hina dolls appear together on a 30-tiered showcase that stands about 6 meters high at The World Folk Doll Museum in Suzaka The spectacle is the highlight of the museum’s event for the annual Doll Festival 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 The Doll Festival is a tradition celebrating the healthy growth of girls The museum began its Doll Festival event in 2007 with this year’s edition including about 1,000 hina dolls in all “There are a wide variety of hina dolls from those produced in the Edo period to ones from the Heisei era,” said curator Daiki Gomi “People in wide generations from children to adults can enjoy looking at them.” Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun Metrics details Perinatal mental health problems such as mood disorders are common We propose a new multidisciplinary health service intervention program providing continuous support to women and their children from the start of pregnancy till after childbirth The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the program with respect to making women’s mental health better in the postpartum period and improving the state of care for women and their children in the perinatal period We performed a controlled study to investigate the effectiveness of the program in Suzaka City The women’s mental health status was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) 3 months postpartum 210 were allocated to the intervention group and 139 to the control group the number of the pregnant women who were followed-up by the multidisciplinary meeting in the intervention and control groups were 60 and 4 the number of the pregnant women who were identified as requiring intensive care were 21 and 2 which was the primary outcome of the present study differed significantly between the intervention and control groups (Mean [SD] = 2.74 (2.89) and 4.58 [2.62] The number of the women receiving counseling from a public health nurse (5.3% in intervention group attending maternal seminars (attendant ratio: 46% whereas 16% and receiving home visits by public health nurses (home visit ratio: 93.8% whereas 82.6% p < 0.001) was significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group The present study indicates that continuum support provided by integrated mental health care through a multidisciplinary maternal and child health service in the community can make women's mental health better in the postpartum period and help women and their children receive more health services from public health nurses Name of registry: Research for the effectiveness of a multi-professional health service intervention program of continuum supports for mother and child which starts for pregnancy periods to enhance maternal mental health UMIN Clinical Trials Registry number: UMIN000032424 The current paper proposes a new integrated multidisciplinary health service intervention program aimed to provide mental health care to the mother and child throughout pregnancy and childbirth which was that the program would make women’s mental health better in the postpartum period and improve the state of care for the women and their children was tested using a controlled study that investigated the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary health service intervention program that provided continuous support to women and their children in Suzaka City This study was a controlled trial comparing a new multidisciplinary health service intervention program providing continuous support to the mother and child from the start of pregnancy (Suzaka Program: the intervention) to the usual care protocol (used prior to the start of the Suzaka Program: the control) The effectiveness of the program was assessed by measuring the women’s mental health condition using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) 3 months postpartum Both groups received home visits from public health nurses during the postnatal periods and were asked to continue with their usual daily lives throughout the pregnancy and postnatal periods Only the women in the intervention group received interviews at the time of submitting their pregnancy notification sheets to the Suzaka City Office they also received follow-up visits from the public health nurses if necessary Shema of Suzaka Program’s continuum and multidisciplinary maternal and child health service Footnote: PHN - public health nurse; EPDS - Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale We assessed mother’s mental health when the infant was 3–4-months-old through medical examinations at public health centers (T2) using the EPDS with the women of the control group Information on the persons they lived with history of smoking before and after pregnancy history of drinking before and after pregnancy and history of psychiatric and physical illness treatment were also collected The primary outcome of this study was the EPDS total score during the 3–4 months postpartum period The secondary outcomes were the number of women who were followed up by the multidisciplinary meetings counseling for child care at a public health center Two sample t-tests were used to examine differences in the women’s ages between the intervention and control groups while the effectiveness of the program was examined by comparing the outcomes of the two groups using the Student’s t-tests Data were reported as “the mean (standard deviation)” Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 and all data analyses were performed using SPSS version 22.0 J for Windows (SPSS Inc. The number of pregnant women followed up by the multidisciplinary meetings and were identified as requiring intensive cares Footnotes: Year 1 indicates the Japanese fiscal year from April 2014 to March 2015; Year 2 indicates the Japanese fiscal year from April 2013 to March 2014 The results of the sub-analysis are shown in Table 3 This intervention program had significant effects on the EPDS total score at 3–4 months postpartum in both primiparas and multiparas The results also showed that the intervention program had significant effects on women who did not have a history of psychiatric treatment but not on women who had a history of psychiatric treatment The study demonstrated the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary health service intervention program which aimed to provide continuous support to the women and their children from the start of pregnancy to childbirth in making women’s mental health better in the 3–4 months postpartum period It also showed an increase in the number of women and children who were identified as being at risk of psychosocial problems the public health nurses played part as such We think the present program can show one of the model of the care model which public health nurses played a central role in the multidisciplinary support network Because the multidisciplinary support meetings involve various professionals related to maternal and child health services it is easy to obtain support for mother and child health care through their referrals In case of the women with mental health problems because the multidisciplinary meeting involves specialists of mental health services the care plans derived from the multidisciplinary support meeting are made considering the viewpoints of specialists and thus appropriate referrals can be obtained when needed Our intervention program supports those problems and concerns In cases in which a woman has psychological stress or does not have self-efficacy as a mother related professionals such as public health nurses and midwives can support her including home help services and childcare services will be proposed to her when the related professional notices a lack of social support These characteristics of our program may be effective for both primipara and multipara women the intervention program may be expected to have some effects in women with or without a history of psychiatric treatment Further research should be performed to investigate the effects of the intervention program on women with a history of psychiatric treatment and their association with the effects of other coexisting interventions there may be other confounding factors affecting the intervention program Further studies should be performed to investigate the effects of the intervention program on women in the perinatal period who have other confounding factors besides parity and a history of psychiatric treatment the study sample may not be representative of the entire Japanese population as Suzaka is a small rural city and has only one public health center and one hospital development of a multidisciplinary network was easier in Suzaka City than that in a big city with many public health centers and hospitals Implementation of the present intervention program in a big city or in other country would require modifications in order to fit the local resources available for mother and child health services we believe help from multidisciplinary collaborating network between hospitals and public health services during pregnancy periods will be applicable in a community with different settings With regard to the policy and clinical implications establishment of a structure to support women with psychosocial problems from the start of pregnancy to after childbirth is beneficial The current study proposed a multidisciplinary health service intervention program providing continuous support to women and their children from the start of pregnancy till after childbirth and demonstrated its effectiveness in making women's mental health better in the postnatal period and help women and their children receive more services from public health nurses Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries Maternal depression and child psychopathology: a meta-analytic review Impact of antenatal and postpartum maternal mental illness: how are the children Postpartum depression prevalence and impact on infant health and sleep in low-income and ethnic minority women and infants Committee GEA: The beyondblue clinical practice guidelines for depression and related disorders—anxiety bipolar disorder and puerperal psychosis—in the perinatal period A guideline for primary care health professionals providing care in the perinatal period Melbourne: beyondblue: the national depression initiative 2011 343: psychosocial risk factors: perinatal screening and intervention National Collaborating Centre for Mental H National Institute for health and clinical excellence: guidance In: Antenatal and Postnatal Mental Health: Clinical Management and Service Guidance: Updated edition Marcé international society position statement on psychosocial assessment and depression screening in perinatal women (SIGN) SIGN: Management of perinatal mood disorders (SIGN 127). Available from: https://www.sign.ac.uk/assets/sign127_update.pdf Antenatal mental health referrals: review of local clinical practice and pregnant women′ s experiences in England Principles and practice of screening for disease Dowswell T: Psychosocial and psychological interventions for preventing postpartum depression The Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013(2):Cd001134 Dowswell T: Interventions (other than pharmacological psychosocial or psychological) for treating antenatal depression The Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013(7):Cd006795 Development of the 10-item Edinburgh postnatal depression scale Kitamura T: Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale Archives of Psychiatric Diagnostics and Clinical Evaluation 1996 Antenatal risk factors of postpartum depression at 20 weeks gestation in a Japanese sample: psychosocial perspectives from a cohort study in Tokyo National_Collaborating_Centre_for_Mental_Health National institute for health and clinical excellence: guidance Shikada K.: Research report on the promotion for networks cooperating with hospitals and welfare to support women with depression in the perinatal periods The Health and Labor Science Research Grant on Psychiatry and Neurological Disease and Mental Health Labor and welfare of Japan 2014 (in Japanese) 2014 Developing networks of mother and child health service practioners: a handbook for supporting mothers with mental health problems (in Japanese) Posaner R: Managing across diverse networks of care: lessons from other sectors Report to the NHS SDO R&D Programme Birmingham: Health Services Management Centre Kubo T: Risk factors for child abuse during pregancy: perspectives from community-based cohort study in Tokyo The proceeding of the 111th annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (in Japanese) 2015 Psychological interventions for postnatal depression: cluster randomised trial and economic evaluation controlled trial of nurse home visiting to vulnerable families with newborns maternal mood and child health in a vulnerable population: a randomized controlled trial Home visiting intervention for vulnerable families with newborns: follow-up results of a randomized controlled trial A preventive intervention for pregnant women on public assistance at risk for postpartum depression Evaluation of an interpersonal-psychotherapy-oriented childbirth education programme for Chinese first-time childbearing women: a randomised controlled trial Effects of an interpersonal-psychotherapy-oriented childbirth education programme for Chinese first-time childbearing women at 3-month follow up: randomised controlled trial A randomized controlled trial of culturally relevant brief interpersonal psychotherapy for perinatal depression Reducing postpartum depressive symptoms among black and Latina mothers: a randomized controlled trial An intervention to reduce postpartum depressive symptoms: a randomized controlled trial Recruitment of black and Latina women to a randomized controlled trial Effect of peer support on prevention of postnatal depression among high risk women: multisite randomised controlled trial Craig T: The Newpin Antenatal and Postnatal Project: a randomised controlled trial of an intervention for Perinatal Depression Cognitive behaviour therapy-based intervention by community health workers for mothers with depression and their infants in rural Pakistan: a cluster-randomised controlled trial controlled trial of efficacy of midwife-managed care Impact of midwife-managed care in the postnatal period: an exploration of psychosocial outcomes Satisfaction with midwife-managed care in different time periods: a randomised controlled trial of 1299 women Effects of redesigned community postnatal care on womens' health 4 months after birth: a cluster randomised controlled trial Effectiveness of a counseling intervention after a traumatic childbirth: a randomized controlled trial Group prenatal care and perinatal outcomes: a randomized controlled trial Efficacy of different strategies of aftercare for patients who have attempted suicide The management of non-compliance with referral to out-patient after-care among attempted suicide patients: a controlled intervention study Assertive case management versus enhanced usual care for people with mental health problems who had attempted suicide and were admitted to hospital emergency departments in Japan (ACTION-J): a multicentre and child health: from slogan to service delivery A qualitative study of the experience of CenteringPregnancy group prenatal care for physicians Getting more than they realized they needed: a qualitative study of women's experience of group prenatal care NICE guideline for antenatal and postnatal mental health: the health visitor role Rates and risk of postpartum depression—a meta-analysis Download references and staff at the Nagano Prefectural Suzaka Hospital who were involved in this study This study was supported by the Health and Labour Science Research Grant on Children Youth and Families (H25–Seishin–Wakate–013 H28–Sukoyaka–Ippan–005) provided by the Japanese Ministry of Health as well as the Research Grant of the Project for Baby and Infant in Research of Health and Development to Adolescent and Young adult - BIRTHDAY (30AMED–6024) provided by the Japanese Agency for Medical Research and Development The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to Suzaka City’s privacy policy Division of Infant and Toddler Mental Health National Center for Child Health and Development Nagano Prefectural Public Health Center for Mental Health Research Center for Overwork-Related Disorders National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Japan Organization of Occupational Health and Safety and TA conceived and designed the experiments; YT and SS performed the intervention program as public health nurses YT analyzed the data and wrote the draft; EI and HI supported the development of this study design; HI performed critical review and gave commentary for the manuscript The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the National Center for Child Health and Development All participants provided written informed consent The authors declare that they have no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Title and description of data: Characteristics of the multidisciplinary team of the Suzaka Program Title and description of data: An example of case management provided by the multidisciplinary continuous support network Title and description of data: Self-administered questionnaire for pregnant women when they turned in their pregnancy notification form in Suzaka City (English translation) Title and description of data: Self-administered questionnaire for women 3 and 4 months after delivery in Suzaka City (English translation) Title and description of data: The results of the psychosocial questionnaire of the intervention group’s participants at T1 Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-019-2179-9 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article 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 Another attraction is kuro oden—skewered eggs and other items stewed in a dark-colored broth—that many people enjoy while strolling around the park Sakura 100: Japan’s Best Blossoms Banner photo © Suzaka Tourist Association.) 4Space🚀Scientists aboard a plane with 26 cameras chase burning satellite and film its fiery fall Chris Young17 hours ago 8Military🚀China deploys 5,000-ton torpedo frigate to hunt US nuclear submarines in open seas Kapil Kajal18 hours ago 9Military🚀UK gets drone wingmen to make F-35 fighters invisible to even the smartest radars Jijo Malayil19 hours ago 4Culture🌟Trump’s secure messaging app hacked, deportation airline also hit by cyberattack Aamir Khollam10 hours ago 5Energy🌟US scientists end 70-year fusion struggle, paving way for better reactors Aamir Khollam11 hours ago 7Science🌟In a first, protons in biological system seen following quantum rules: Study Mrigakshi Dixit12 hours ago 9Space🌟US orders NASA to build first lunar time zone to guide astronauts on the Moon Aamir Khollam13 hours ago Ameya Paleja Orca Ai/ YouTube As it completed its nearly 500-mile journey from Tokyo Bay to Ise Bay, Suzaka, a 749 Gross Ton vessel became the world’s first commercial cargo ship to be navigated entirely by artificial intelligence (A.I), Electrek reported As the world moves towards transportation automation, vessels at sea are not being left behind. Earlier this year, we reported a large ferry in Japan being navigated autonomously and now a commercial cargo ship has also achieved the same feat The latter has been possible through maritime navigational software developed by an Israeli startup Founded by a pair of naval experts in 2018, Orca AI aims to automate cargo transport by combining onboard safety systems with a host of sensors. Last year, we reported Orca AI’s collaboration with the Japanese shipping company NYK Line which boasts a fleet of over 800 vessels Orca AI installed its Automatic Ship Target Recognition System on Suzaka as part of a research trial last year The data collected during the ship’s previous voyages was used to train the A.I Also participating in the trials was Designing the Future of Full Autonomous Ships (DFFAS) a consortium of some 30 Japanese companies and the Nippon Foundation working toward automating maritime transport Orca’s safety navigation system consisting of the 18 onboard cameras was set up on Suzaka to serve as a watchkeeper and provide real-time data detection and 360-degree views during the day at night A fleet operations center in Tokyo kept a tab on all the data coming in from the ship and completed a 491-mile (790 km) journey to Tsumatsusaka in the Ise Bay in 40 hours the navigational software onboard the cargo ship made 107 collision avoidance maneuvers without any help from a human and avoided anywhere between 400-500 vessels during this single trip alone “The world’s first commercial autonomous voyage is a significant milestone,” said Yarden Gross “We expect to see big shipping companies implementing advanced AI and computer vision technologies to materialize the autonomous shipping vision.” Last year, we reported an autonomous electric ship completing its first voyage and the distance traveled was a mere 8.7 miles (14 km) 0COMMENTABOUT THE AUTHORAmeya Paleja Ameya is a science writer based in Hyderabad he traded the micropipette to write about science during the pandemic and does not want to go back By clicking sign up, you confirm that you accept this site's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Premium 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 ANKARA The 17th race of the Grand Prix in the 2019 Formula 1 World Championship will take place in Japan's Suzaka city on Sunday Formula 1 decided to postpone tomorrow's qualifying round to Sunday due to threat of heavy rains and strong winds The qualifying round will start at 0100GMT with the race beginning at 0510GMT on Sunday The Japan Grand Prix will be held in the Suzaka circuit in 53 laps on the track of 5.807 kilometers (3.608 miles) The first Grand Prix in the Suzaka circuit was held in 1986 while Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was the latest winner with 1:27:17 in 2018 Mercedes is dominating this season in Formula 1 Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton won nine races (Bahrain while his Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas came first twice in Australia and Azerbaijan in the 2019 Formula 1 World Championship Ferrari drivers improved their performances recently as Sebastian Vettel came first in Singapore in last three races This season's top five drivers and constructors are as follows: Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain): 322 points fending off both the McLarens to a fourth successive victory in Japan Verstappen took an early lead and held the position before almost giving it up after the first pitstop when Norris and himself pitted at the same time Ferrei’s Leclerc and George Russell round up the top five in the Japanese GP Drama started early on when Verstappen pitted at the same time as Norris went for the gap at the pit exit while Verstappen managed to fend him off Both the drivers communicated the incident over the radio race officials have decided not to investigate the issue The battle between the McLarens was intense for second place as Norris almost lost his spot in the finishing laps birthday man Piastri had to settle for third The top 10 places in the race remained the same throughout the race with Hamilton finishing seventh and rookie Isack Hadjar earning his first points There was an intense battle further back for P11 between Alonso and Gasly with Alonso muscling his way to finish ahead of the Alpine driver the race saw the first ten positions being taken by Verstappen The two McLarens were pushing me very hard and it was a lot of fun out there Not easy of course to manage the tyres but I’m incredibly happy It started off quite tough this weekend but we didn’t give up we kept improving the car and today it was in its best form starting on pole really made it possible to win this race.” It’s pretty clear that “Demon Slayer: Infinity Train” has been a massive success. Anything that’s related to the franchise is selling like crazy, and the manga will have over 120 million copies in circulation when its final volume ships it seems Mother Nature will also have some benefit which resembles the one Tanjiro cut in the Demon Slayer anime fans want to pose in front of it for cool pictures You can also check out the scene from the anime to compare According to The Mainichi: “The dragon’s split boulder or “Ryu no wariishi” as the rock in Suzaka is called in Japanese It is said that a thirsty dragon unintentionally broke the rock with its claw when it tried to drink the water that springs up from under the rock.”They also say that the rainwater that has soaked into the rock gets frozen as it gets colder So the cracks have expanded as time went by An official encourages people to visit the site. However, he also warns about the ongoing pandemic: “If you are interested, please come and visit, but be careful about the novel coronavirus.”Besides the real life boulder, Demon Slayer fans also have a real life Infinity Train to visit in Japan I bet many of us can’t wait to be able to travel again and visit Source: The MainichiCopyright THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS All rights reserved.©吾峠呼世晴／集英社・アニプレックス・ufotable Today's print edition Home Delivery Japan is trying to hold down the number of bedridden elderly people kept alive The government is planning to cut payouts on insertions in new patients and encourage home care About 260,000 elderly live on feeding tubes nationwide the government is trying to curtail growth of a ¥38.5 trillion annual health bill by releasing patients from hospitals sooner.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Labor and Welfare Ministry also plans to boost reimbursements to institutions that check swallowing ability and encourage rehabilitation to help the bedridden eat naturally mark the first time Japan has cut government reimbursements for the practice 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. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division Nagano Prefecture--An old piano sat forgotten and abandoned under the stairs of the first floor of the city-run Azuma Junior High School here for decades The aged instrument had fallen into a sad state of disrepair with some of its strings broken and the ivory strips covering the keys flaking away But that all changed after last winter when Principal Hiroyuki Shimada learned about the pedigree of the piano while he was sorting through documents in his office The principal discovered that it was manufactured about 100 years ago by Pleyel a distinguished piano manufacturer founded in France in the early 19th century Pleyel pianos are fabled for their scarcity and are believed to have been cherished by the famed Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) students are working on a project to restore the piano raising funds and engaging in promotional efforts They are even helping on the repair work with their own hands a late industrialist who hailed from the city It had apparently been placed in the school's music hall which was also built with financial support from Yamagishi But when the school building underwent repairs in or around 1995 After Shimada found out about the piano's history he suggested that students conduct research on Yamagishi and the piano as part of their winter break assignments the students said they wanted to give a new life to the aged instrument According to a piano tuner working at the school Pleyel pianos are rarely available in the pre-owned market and bring high prices if one can be found But this piano was in a particularly dilapidated condition There are only a few technicians with the knowledge to work on the instrument "It could cost 5 million yen ($36,000) to restore it completely," the tuner said students discussed ways to restore the piano and make it playable again as part of the "integrated studies" for the 140-student school They launched a project to repair the piano and divided students into three teams each assigned with the task of "planning events," "raising funds" and "spreading information." they set a goal of raising 500,000 yen for repair costs Then they decided to ask a pianist to perform a gig with the piano after its restoration during the school's cultural festival scheduled for Oct The restoration project kicked off in late June with all of the students taking apart the instrument and cleaning each part under the tutelage of the tuner They decided to remake the music stand parts "I'm excited to breathe life into the piano," said Momoko Tanaka a third-year student who leads the event planning team Members of the fund-raising team discussed ideas including seeking cooperation from companies as they promote the project and selling placemats as well as herbs and flowers they have grown at the school "We want to raise a lot of money," said third-year student Sogo Matsumoto Members of the team tasked with spreading information shot videos of the students taking apart the piano and cleaning the parts to promote their efforts Having already shot footage of a student playing Chopin's "Nocturne" with the piano before its restoration they also plan to make a video to show how the piano sounded before and after the repair "We want to devise ways to make (the difference) easily noticeable," said second-year student Ami Ueda Their preparations continued to go smoothly It was decided that classical pianist Takashi Yamamoto who came in fourth at the prestigious International Chopin Competition would be asked to play the piano at the cultural festival When the students asked Yamamoto's agency in July if he would be available to perform The students also continued their efforts during their summer vacation they sold herbs and flowers to parents and guardians and raised about 400,000 yen to repair the piano The upcoming festival is feeding growing expectations among the students eager to hear how the restored piano sounds in the hands of a Chopin master like Yamamoto INTERVIEW: Pianist Sumino seeks balance with his YouTube influencer Cateen Kyohei Sorita places 2nd at prestigious Chopin Piano Competition Rare 1960s bus being restored for active service in Hokkaido Pianist Sorita leads orchestra with machine tool maker misty Fudō Falls on the right and thundering Gongen Falls on the left They have vertical drops of 85 meters and 80 meters The pair is among Japan’s top 100 waterfalls and is also a government-designated scenic spot Cascading down the face of a huge cliff in the midst of a deep forest these two falls are truly a spectacular sight visitors must walk for about 30 minutes from the parking lot along a mountain trail that includes some steep slopes This trail to the falls is part of a hiking course that loops the area and takes from one and a half to two hours to complete when the brilliant autumn foliage is at its peak private vehicles are not allowed on the road to the site carrying passengers as far as the parking lot; taxis are also an option Japanese version While the average age of atomic bomb survivors is 85-plus members of younger generations are sharing their wishes and are taking action The student group "Know Nukes Tokyo" kicked off an augmented reality (AR) project on Aug The "Know Nukes" experience turns users' smartphones into a digital window where a nuclear bomb falls on the Tokyo district “We want to visualize the threat of nuclear weapons This is an issue for those of us living today,” said Suzuka Nakamura who founded the group with friends after starting university This is not her first experience with activism Nakamura is a third-generation hibakusha whose family is from Nagasaki she served as a peace ambassador to the United Nations' European headquarters where she delivered signatures calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons Nakamura admits the Know Nukes project is also a partial result of her frustration After telling them about her peace-related efforts but she was disappointed they did not feel a call to action The group is not Nakamura's only anti-nuclear project She also founded the free magazine "Ripples," which launched in April This was born from taking part in a program for cultivating entrepreneurs where her presentation garnered financial interest from business owners in their 30s and 40s Nakamura hopes to start a business of her own after graduation themed around peace we may be able to create an ‘ecosystem’ for a sustainable peace movement,” she said The magazine's debut was accompanied by a pop-up event at a cafe in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa district The inaugural issue is split into two parts that were put together by Nakamura and Waseda University student Nonoka Koga who also plans on taking part in peace-themed efforts after graduating "What to eat in Nagasaki" makes up the lighthearted first half The sightseeing guide is followed by more solemn articles that include the story of a woman who survived the atomic bombing Nakamura said she hopes she will act as a drop of water that creates a large ripple effect on society remain proud of "the atomic bomb that ended the war." The city's Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production facility that was part of the U.S government's Manhattan Project and produced plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki "Home of the Bombers!" is splashed across the homepage of the school's website and its mascot is a mushroom cloud rising behind a capital "r." This happens to be the school Koga attended for a study-abroad program when she was in high school she said she wore a hoodie with the emblem because she wanted to be part of the school But she stopped after she was saddened to learn that the school did not even teach about the damage caused by the atomic bombing "Should we have pride in killing innocent people?" The story was picked up by the Tri-City Herald and Japanese media also interviewed her One atomic bomb survivor in Hiroshima was moved by Koga’s action was a first-year student at a national school when he was caught in the blast in a hallway He said he was surprised that “a Japanese high school student would criticize the atomic bombing in the place where the U.S atomic bombs were manufactured,” after reading an article about Koga “You made a very brave statement,” he wrote in a letter to her Koga would visit Goto three years later as a university student to produce a documentary on his life A screening was held in July at a cafe in Hiroshima with both in attendance Goto began to share testimonies about his experience “It makes me want to do my best for the world.” I would like to live a long life and testify as much as possible that war is wrong and nuclear weapons should not be used.” Koga has been researching about the Hanford Site making it a subject of her graduation thesis but she revealed at the event that she did not talk about her graduation thesis with friends while writing it She said she hesitated to discuss it because there is an image that only a few people are committed to the nuclear issue and bringing it up would be seen as “political.” despite seeing people call nuclear abolition unrealistic and making fun of it Koga said she is determined to press on and work as a freelance journalist to tell the world about atomic bomb survivors she hopes these stories will change the tides of perception and empathize with these issues Boston native forges career in Hiroshima as peace activist urged to work for nuclear abolition at symposium Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor vows to share her story No reproduction or republication without written permission.