Featured

Akashi

Akashiyaki: A regional dumpling with a fascinating backstory

Osaka might be famous for takoyaki, but Akashi is the place where octopus balls first started.

Read More

Hyogo man arrested for creating biohazard zone with “own” pee

Suspect was 42 years old. His pee was at least five.

Read More

Shoplifter drags drug store clerk 130 meters by car in Hyogo Prefecture

Tenacious clerk simply refused to let some vitamin-deficient bandits get away.

Read More

This autumn’s “Sunset Panda” endangered by cloud cover, still pulls in the crowds 【Video】

Two days each year, once in the autumn and again in spring, the setting sun passes behind an NTT antenna tower in the Taruyamachi area of Akashi City, Hyogo. Due to the arrangement of dishes and other receivers, as the sun moves behind them, for the briefest of moments the face of a giant cartoon panda appears, like some benevolent forest god looking down on the town below.

This autumn, on 12 October at 5:28pm, people all over Akashi City gathered to witness the biannual moment of celestial cuteness—an event which has come to be known as the Sunset Panda. However, with cloudy skies and light drizzle it became unclear whether the roly-poly sun bear would come out to play this time…

Read More