Starting from September 21st, “Hāng-á Niau” can be seen at YUNIKA VISION in front of Seibu-Shinjuku Station in Tokyo as the finale of the Tainan 400 promo campaign. (Photo: Business Wire)
TAINAN,Taiwan, Sept 26 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — With the Tainan 400 promotion campaign coming to an end, a commercial featuring Tainan’s adorable mascot “Hāng-á Niau” (Taiwanese for “Alley Cat”) is played on the lively streets of Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan. From September 21st (Sat.) to 27th (Fri.), the cute mascot can be seen in the promotional video “Hāng-á Niau Invites You to Tainan” at YUNIKA VISION in front of Seibu-Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, one of the busiest station in Japan with a daily traffic of 770,000 passengers on average.
The mascot “Hāng-á Niau” takes after the legendary creature qilin, with a lightning pattern on its tail to symbolize good luck. The design is inspired by the rat-catching cats kept on trading ships during the Age of Discovery. The origin not only echoes the historical significance of Tainan 400, but also highlights the cultural inclusiveness of that time. In addition, the patterns on “Hāng-á Niau” also incorporate Tainan’s unique architectural characteristics and historical contexts.
Earlier from August 13th to 18th, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Tainan City Government had the “Tainan 400” promo video broadcast in the center of Paris (France), Times Square in New York City (USA), and New Balance Gangnam in Seoul (South Korea). This time, the mascot “Hāng-á Niau” takes center stage in Japan and will surely attract more international tourists to Tainan and experience its profound culture.
CHINA, Sept 19 (Bernama) — On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on September 17 this year, the Information Office and the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Yunnan Province held the Reception Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China & the “Blooming Flowers and Full Moon” China-Vietnam Mid-Autumn Festival Gala in Ho Chi Minh City and the Chinese Consulate-General in Ho Chi Minh City.
A couple of days ago, Super Typhoon Yagi wreaked havoc in northern Vietnam, causing significant property damage and heavy casualties. The typhoon also unleashed destruction across multiple provinces in southern China. Before the artistic performances started, a dozen Chinese-funded business associations in Vietnam including the China Business Association Ho Chi Minh City Branch donated VND3.8 billion (equivalent to RMB1.1 million) to the Vietnam Fatherland Front in Ho Chi Minh City.
The gala opened with the dance performance “Beauty in Harmony.” Themed “Blooming Flowers and Full Moon,” the gala consisted of four parts: “Flowers” (Blossoms in Abundance), “Prosperity” (A Year of Good Fortune and Prosperity), “Moon” (Full Moon during Mid-Autumn Festival), and “Reunion” (Celebrating Together). Chinese and Vietnamese artists and art troupes together celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival and the China-Vietnam friendship with wonderful song and dance performances.
In Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival is an important occasion for family reunions and fun for the kids. The gala featured an interactive program “Blessings from Chang’e,” which was specifically designed for Vietnamese children. Dressed as Chang’e, the Chinese Goddess of the Moon, the dancers moved through the audience, distributing Mid-Autumn Festival themed cultural and creative products such as drawstring pouches, little rabbit figurines, and lanterns.
“I have been to Kunming, Dali, and Shangri-La in Yunnan. Yunnan is an amazing and beautiful place, and the Chinese people are very friendly and hospitable to us,” said Lam Quang Duc from Vietnam, who works as a Vietnamese-Chinese translator. He praised the fantastic performances by Vietnamese and Chinese artists at the gala, noting that they celebrated the deep friendship between the two countries.
“This is a gala featuring the interaction and merging between the traditional cultures of China and Vietnam,” said Miao Peng from Yunnan, China. He added that artists from both countries conveyed their best wishes for the future with song and dance performances, hoping to further expand people-to-people exchanges and promote mutual understanding and people-to-people bond between the two countries.
The gala is part of the 2024 “Blooming Flowers and Full Moon” Mid-Autumn Festival Cultural Exchange. The five-day event also features the “Sharing the Same Moon” Mid-Autumn Festival Cultural Salon and the “Harmony under the Same Moon” Photo Exhibition on A Many-Splendored Life in Yunnan.
The rice enters harvest season in Jiabang Township, Congjiang County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province.
GUIYANG, China, Sept. 19, 2024 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/–
Congjiang County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, home to many ethnic groups, inherits an ancient and charming traditional Chinese agriculture — vast expanses of mountain slopes carved into rice paddies where rice, fish and ducks flourish in co-existence.
The agricultural feat of growing one season of rice, keeping a batch of fish and raising a batch of ducks in the same rice paddy has been inherited for thousands of years in Congjiang.
The rice-fish-duck ecosystem in the county was listed as a pilot project for the protection of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2011, and became the first batch of important agricultural cultural heritages in China in 2013.
With the start of China’s traditional solar term Grain Rain, or Guyu, agricultural activities will kick into high gear on the terraced fields. Farmers put rice seedlings into the rice fields, and meanwhile, put some fish fry. When the fish fry grow to two to three fingers wide, the newly-hatched ducklings will also be put into the fields.
The rice fields provide natural food for fish and ducks, and the fish and ducks remove pests and weeds from the fields, greatly reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides. Fish and duck dung provides natural organic fertilizer for rice. Rice, fish and ducks are harvested from one rice field at the same time.
The county has made full use of the rice-fish-duck ecosystem, protecting the agricultural cultural heritage and helping local people get rid of poverty and achieve rural revitalization at the same time.
During the 15th conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity held in Canada in December 2022, the rice-fish-duck ecosystem in Congjiang County demonstrated to the world the ancestral wisdom of farming and biodiversity conservation experiences of local people for thousands of years.
In 2023, the rice-fish-duck ecosystem in Congjiang was collected and recognized for its excellence during the fourth call of the Global Solicitation on Best Poverty Reduction Practices.
Congjiang County boasts Kam Rice of China, a special kind of rice that has been domesticated for thousands of years by the local Dong people in Guizhou. With ethnic groups accounting for 90 percent of its population, the county is home to rich and colorful ethnic cultures and reputed as the national ecological cultural gene park.
Entering the mountainous villages in the county, traditional residences, drum towers and ancient barns are scattered. During the harvest season in autumn, rows of golden rice hang in the villages, reshaping a beautiful landscape.
Source: Guizhou Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Environmentally Friendly Materials Used for Exterior Walls
Food from Around the World to Be Served
OSAKA, Japan, Sept 13 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — Kura Sushi Inc. (Headquarters: Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture), one of the world’s most popular revolving sushi chains, announced on September 12 that it will open a revolving sushi restaurant with 338 seats, the largest number of seats in the world for a company outlet, at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, which will open on April 13, 2025, at Yumeshima, Osaka.
Perspective view (*This perspective view is for illustrative purposes only and is subject to change.) (Graphic: Business Wire)
The restaurant will be located in the Future Society Showcase Zone on the west side of the Expo site. In addition to having the world’s largest number of seats, the restaurant will also have the world’s longest conveyor belt, at about 135 meters long, and deliver sushi and other food right to the customer’s seat.
The exterior walls of the restaurant will be constructed with the SDGs in mind, using plaster made from about 336,000 discarded ark clam shells. The walls are designed to be instantly recognizable as Kura Sushi, with a picture of tuna sushi in an “antibacterial sushi cover,” one of Kura Sushi’s unique features.
The interior is designed in a modern Japanese style with a white wood base, and the design of the Kura Sushi plates on the ceiling and the model of the antibacterial sushi cover in the waiting area are eye-catching to customers. The restaurant will also be equipped with the following state-of-the-art, proprietary Kura Sushi system, which is standard at all Kura Sushi restaurants in Japan.
· “Smart Kura” eliminates the need for customers to be in contact with an employee from the time they enter to the time they leave the restaurant. · A new AI camera system constantly monitors the lanes to prevent unwanted behavior. · A “production control system” that assists in adjusting the amount of sushi to be placed in the lanes according to customer conditions in the restaurant. · A “water collection system” that automatically carries finished plates back to the kitchen on a stream of water
Of course, customers can also enjoy “Bikkura Pon,” a game in which five plates are worth one game and the winner gets an original prize, which is a key to Kura Sushi’s popularity. The capsules that contain the “Bikkura Pon” prizes are usually made of plastic, but the Expo store plans to use environmentally friendly materials.
Hiroyuki Okamoto, Director and General Manager of the Public Relations, Advertising and Investor Relations Division of the company, said, “At the Expo, our stores will be operated under the concept of ‘Revolving conveyor belt unites the world.’ Under this concept, the customers will be able to enjoy representative dishes from each of the countries participating in the Expo, along with popular sushi and side dishes from our restaurants. Despite the many challenges that exist in today’s world, we hope that visitors from all over the world will smile as they enjoy not only sushi but also dishes from around the world from our revolving conveyor belt, which has no beginning and no end. As the revolving sushi restaurant spread throughout Japan in the wake of the 1970s Osaka Expo, I would like to use next year’s Osaka-Kansai Expo as an opportunity to promote the revolving sushi restaurant even more widely throughout the world.”
As of September 6, Kura Sushi operates about 550 restaurants in Japan, 65 in the United States, 57 in Taiwan, and 3 in Shanghai.
Asia Pacific home to 3 of Top 5 Global Megahubs – KUL 2nd, HND 3rd, and ICN 5th.
Kuala Lumpur #1 most connected for low-cost flights.
Connectivity growth in Asia spreads with 17/50 Global Megahubs in the region.
Tokyo Narita up 45 places to 15th ranked globally, from 60th in 2023.
SINGAPORE, Sept 11 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — OAG, the leading data platform for the global travel industry, today released Megahubs 2024, the market’s definitive ranking of the Top 50 most internationally connected airports in the world.
OAG Megahubs analyses not only the total number of destinations served, but also the number of scheduled connections to and from international destinations, including rankings by global regions and for low-cost carriers.
Asia Pacific is home to 3 of the Top 5 Megahubs, Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Tokyo Haneda (HND), and Seoul Incheon (ICN), providing reassurance these markets are back and pursuing growth.
Connectivity growth in Asia is spread widely with an additional 4 Megahubs in South East Asia making the list (CGK, BKK, MNL and SIN), and 7 in North East Asia (NRT, PVG, HKG, FUK, CAN, TPE and PEK). Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) makes a huge leap year on year, from 60th ranked in 2023 to 15th in 2024.
For low-cost connections Asia Pacific airports dominate, making up 64% of the Top 25 LCC Megahubs. Kuala Lumpur (KUL) ranks first, offering 14,583 possible low-cost connections across 137 destinations. AirAsia is the dominant carrier there with 35% share of total flights and 48% of all LCC capacity.
Manila (MNL) moves up into 2nd place on the Low-Cost Megahubs list this year, overtaking Incheon (ICN), with a high ratio of connectivity to 97 destinations.
“As Asia Pacific continues its rise in the global rankings, OAG Megahubs reflects the growing recovery of international air travel and strong demand for low-cost travel in the Asia Pacific region.” said Mayur Patel, Head of ASPAC at OAG.
For more insights and the full methodology, view the analysis here.
About OAG
OAG is the leading data platform for the global travel industry, powering the growth and innovation of the air travel ecosystem. It has the world’s largest network of flight information.
In July 2023, OAG acquired Infare, the leading provider of competitor air travel data. Together, OAG and Infare now form part of the most trusted data platform for aviation.
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