Japan World Heritage Sites - Nara - Japan's Ancient Capital

Nara, capital of Japan 1300 years ago, is a tranquil city of parks and majestic old wooden temples. In 1998 it was named a World Heritage Site in recognition of the cultural legacy of its wooden architecture and the surrounding primeval old-grown forests Nara is also home to the world's largest bronze statue, the Great Buddha, and its many summer festivals make this a delightful place to visit.

Flower Dolls

Shows featuring period dolls wearing intricate costumes created entirely from flowers are a popular autumn event throughout Japan. One of the biggest of these shows is held at Nihonmatsu City in Fukushima prefecture. The bamboo framed dolls decorated with many varieties and colors of chrysanthemums attract over 300,000 visitors each year.

Cutting Waste with Lasers

A Tokyo firm is developing a laser machine that can peel the skin from fruits and vegetables by evaporating a microscopically thin surface layer in a process that creates virtually no waste. It is hoped that this provide a solution to one of the food processing industry's greatest environmental problems - the enormous amounts of waste generated by preparing agricultural produce.

Wildlife Rescue Volunteers

Wildlife birds and animals are often diseased, injured or orphaned. Now, a growing band of wildlife rescue volunteers is working to care for these creatures until they recover and can be returned safely to the wild. To complement its facility for providing first aid treatment, Tochigi prefecture has 90 volunteers who take the animals into their homes for rehabilitation.