Rice rebranded with ‘moe’

September 19, 2008 at 11:35 am · Filed under food, Art, Sustenance, Marketing, Akita

Bad news for rice in Japan — the recent tainted rice scandal has dulled the public’s appetite for the staple, and kids these days are consuming less than ever. In an attempt to revive interest in the grain, agricultural cooperative JA Ugo (based in Ugo, Akita prefecture) is enlisting the help of a sweet, doe-eyed anime rice farmer girl.
Designed by eroge illustrator Aoi Nishimata, the original moe character will appear on 10,000 bags of locally grown “Akitakomachi” rice, which will go on sale September 22. Some Tokyo department stores have reportedly said the bags are unsuitable for their shelves, but JA Ugo believes young people will embrace the design. The moe rice will undoubtedly sell well, provided it’s free from mold and pesticide.
In recent weeks, consumers have been shocked to learn that moldy rice tainted with the pesticide methamidophos was served to thousands of people at schools, day-care […]

Original post by Edo

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Japan’s crying Virgin Mary statue

March 3, 2008 at 11:30 am · Filed under Anomaly, Relic, Attraction, Akita

This 1979 photograph shows the teary-eyed Our Lady of Akita statue at the Seitai Hoshikai (The Institute of the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist) convent in Akita prefecture. In January 1975, 12 years after a local sculptor carved the statue from the wood of a Japanese Judas tree, it began to cry. Over the next 6 years, around 2,000 witnesses reported seeing the statue weep 101 times. The quantity and frequency of the tears varied each time — sometimes the statue cried a few times per day, and sometimes it went months, and even years, without crying. The statue, which is still housed at the Akita convent, shed its final tears in September 1981.

(116 words, 1 image)

Original post by Edo

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