Latest news with #Sugimoto
West Australian
5 days ago
- Sport
- West Australian
Japanese star keen for success at Golden Open
Japanese squash professional Risa Sugimoto is hopeful of going one better against a crack field at this weekend's annual Northern Star Golden Open. Kalgoorlie-Boulder's premier squash tournament this year features players from nine different countries who are chasing $6000 prizemoney in each of the women's and men's divisions. Sugimoto is fresh off an epic final of the South Australian Open in Adelaide, when the 30-year-old was beaten in five games by Hong Kong's Toby Tse (9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8). This week Sugimoto has focused on her recovery before her opening round on Friday, when she will have to win two games to make it through to the semifinals. 'In last week's tournament, I was lucky enough to perform better than I previously had been, making it through to the finals,' Sugimoto said. 'This week, I want to work through my fatigue and try to perform through my fatigue to allow me to perform at my best on the first day of the tournament, which is hard with two matches to win.' Sugimoto is hoping to use the Goldfields event to boost her ranking which will assist her chances in getting a call-up for the 2026 Asian Games. 'I am aiming to get my PSA ranking inside the world top-100,' she said. 'Next year I want to qualify for the Asian Games with the target of winning a medal.' The No.4 seed, Sugimoto will take on Ka Huen Leung from Hong Kong in her first round. Sugimoto is enjoying the contrast between Kalgoorlie-Boulder and her hometown Kyoto. 'It's very relaxed, very quiet (in Kalgoorlie-Boulder) and good for recovery,' she said. 'In Kyoto there is so much traffic and people everywhere.' The top-three women's seeds are Helen Tang (China), Akari Midorikawa (Japan), and Wong Po Yui Kirstie (China). Among a strong men's field, Sri Lanka's Ravindu Laksiri is the No.1 seed from Pakistan's Hamza Khan, and the Chinese duo of Wailok To and Ming Hong Tan. Queenslander Brendan MacDonald is the highest-seeded Australian at No.11. The Northern Star Golden Open gets under way on Friday from 10am at Ray Finlayson Sporting Complex and continues on Saturday and Sunday.
Tokyo Reported
06-05-2025
- Tokyo Reported
Osaka bar owner fatally stabbed by customer in apparent dispute over unpaid tab
OSAKA (TR) – In a video posted by Mainichi Broadasting System (Apr. 30), a man stands on a street in Toyonaka City holding a bloody knife in his left hand as he yells at a police car. 'Come on! Someone's going to die!' he shouts. 'I'm going to be the murderer.' The time is just before 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday. A bar owner, aged in his 20s, had just been stabbed to death outside a nearby apartment complex in Shibaharacho, the result of an apparent dispute over an unpaid bar tab. The man with the knife is 52-year-old Takahiro Sugimoto. Police arrested him on suspicion of violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law. Upon his arrest, Sugimoto's clothes were covered in blood. He made a statement to the effect that he had 'stabbed someone at home.' Takahiro Sugimoto (X) 'Payment for meals and drinks' Sugimoto lives in the apartment complex. At around 12:30 a.m., the bar owner and a male colleague, aged in his 40s, visited the residence. According to the colleague, the suspect emerged from the residence and slashed the bar owner in the face. Emergency personnel arriving at the scene found the bar owner collapsed and bleeding. He was later confirmed dead, police said. The colleague explained to police that he worked for the deceased man at the bar in Osaka City. He said, 'I came to Sugimoto's house to ask for payment for meals and drinks.' Police are currently investigating the circumstances that led to the incident.
Japan Times
05-05-2025
- General
- Japan Times
In a national first, Fukuoka school obtains organic lunch certificate
Linden Hall School, an elementary and secondary school based in the cities of Dazaifu and Chikushino in Fukuoka Prefecture, has become the first in Japan to obtain the Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) certification to serve school lunches using organic food ingredients that are produced without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. While it was a challenge to obtain such certification for school lunches, whose menu changes daily, the school managed to find a way to secure organic food items throughout the year by cooperating with local farms. The school aims to strengthen food and environmental education through the initiative. Linden Hall School opened an elementary school in 2004 and a secondary school in 2010 featuring bilingual education in Japanese and English. It has been working on providing low-waste school lunches and reducing environmental burdens through measures such as composting leftover scraps into organic fertilizers and using them on the school's vegetable garden. The school says it began partially adopting organic vegetables for school lunches in 2019 after learning that interest in organic food is high overseas. As it gradually increased the proportion of organic food in school lunches, it began aiming for the goal of obtaining the JAS certification. The school obtained a certification regarding organic food identification standards for restaurants that require meal providers to serve organic dishes, whose composition percentage of organic ingredients in terms of weight is at least 80%, at least five days a month. The school says it meets the requirements, and even on days when the composition percentage does not exceed 80% the dishes contain around 50% organic ingredients. Unlike in restaurants where the menu is basically set, it is difficult to maintain the composition percentage of organic ingredients in school lunches as the menu needs to be frequently changed. 'Usually, registered dietitians decide the menu for school lunches and order ingredients, but here, we plan the menu based on organic food items that are available each time,' said Kota Sugimoto, the school's head chef. A school lunch containing organic food items served at Linden Hall School in Fukuoka Prefecture | Nishinippon Shimbun To constantly and stably acquire organic vegetables, the school cooperates with Organic Papa Unity, an organization that runs a farm in Chikushino to offer continuous employment support for people with disabilities. When planned purchases are affected by bad weather or other factors, the school procures items from organic farms outside the prefecture or changes the menu according to food items that are available. The menu basically comprises Japanese food dishes that are cooked with simple seasonings to bring out the natural flavors in the ingredients. 'All the organic vegetables we use are seasonal foods,' Sugimoto said. 'We spare no effort in preparing the meals, as we believe that lunches students eat during the 12 years of school provide them with the best way to develop their sense of taste.' The school teaches children that organic farming has lower environmental impacts and, depending mainly on local farm produce, leads to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions caused by transportation. This section features topics and issues from the Kyushu region covered by the Nishinippon Shimbun, the largest daily newspaper in Kyushu. The original article was published April 10.
Japan Times
25-03-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Fukui's governor allows three aging reactors to continue operations
Fukui Gov. Tatsuji Sugimoto on Monday effectively gave the green light for the continued operations of three aging nuclear reactors in the prefecture from next fiscal year. Sugimoto approved Kansai Electric Power's revised roadmap for shipping spent nuclear fuel from the No. 3 reactor at the Mihama nuclear plant and the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Takahama plant. The plant operator had said it would halt reactor operations if it failed to gain the prefecture's understanding for the roadmap by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends this month. All three reactors have been in operation for more than 40 years. On Monday, the Fukui governor spoke with industry minister Yoji Muto online after meeting with Kansai Electric President Nozomu Mori at the prefectural office earlier in the day. Sugimoto urged Mori and Muto to steadily implement the roadmap and promote regional development in the municipalities where the nuclear reactors are located. "It is my duty to steadily transport (spent nuclear fuel) out (of the nuclear plants) and reduce the amount stored" at the plants, Mori said. "I will continue to do all I can." The Kansai Electric president also mentioned plans for a new framework to continue providing funds for regional development. "The government will also work on this with responsibility," Muto said. Sugimoto then expressed his support for the roadmap, saying it is "effective." Kansai Electric presented Fukui Prefecture with the revised roadmap on Feb. 13, after Japan Nuclear Fuel delayed the completion of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant under construction in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. Under the roadmap, about 400 tons of spent fuel will be shipped to a French company for use in research, while 198 tons will be transported to the reprocessing plant, which is expected to be completed in fiscal 2026. The Fukui government heard the opinions of three towns hosting nuclear plants in the prefecture and the prefectural assembly before deciding to approve the roadmap. The mayors of the towns — Mihama, Oi and Takahama — expressed understanding for it, while the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest group in the assembly, left the decision to the governor. In the prefecture, however, there are persistent concerns that the roadmap could be derailed by another delay in the construction of the reprocessing plant, as its completion has been postponed 27 times so far.
Miami Herald
05-03-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
13-year-old discovers new translucent species with dozens of ‘petal-like' lips in Japan
In 2018, using only a mesh net, a 13-year-old student standing on the docks of Tanabe Bay in eastern Japan captured dozens of tiny creatures no bigger than a pen tip floating just below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Ryoya Sugimoto, a student at the University of Tokyo and jellyfish enthusiast, raised the specimens in his home, according to a March 3 news release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As they grew into an unfamiliar shape, Sugimoto enlisted the help of Dr. Allen Collins, director of the National Systematics Laboratory and 'one of the world's leading jellyfish experts,' NOAA officials said. Nearly seven years later, Sugimoto, Collins, and Dr. Takato Izumi of Fukuyama University have confirmed that Sugimoto's specimens were a new species of hydrozoan, an animal closely related to jellyfish, according to a Feb. 28 study published in the journal Plankton and Benthos Research. Orchistoma integrale, or the integral jellyfish, earned its name from its elongated S-shaped gonads that resemble the mathematical integral symbol, according to the study. Several features of the fully matured integral jellyfish helped experts distinguish it as a new species, including its rounded shape, 'curled gonads,' 'very long' tentacles, and a mouth with many lips that are 'frilled' and 'petal-like,' according to the study. The integral jellyfish is part of a genus that has been recorded in waters around the world, including off the coast of Florida, Italy and Papua New Guinea, but none have ever been found in the northwest Pacific, according to the study. Sugimoto was also able to successfully raise the species from the polyp stage, an early phase of development, marking the first time that stage had been identified for the entire Orchistoma genus, according to the NOAA. Tanabe Bay is in Japan's Wakayama Prefecture about a 115-mile drive south from Kyoto.
