Just when I thought Japan couldn’t surprise me any more, came these.

As tabacco companies are huge consumers of cotton, this is very cool idea.

KUSATSU, Shiga Prefecture–A group of students has found a way to recycle cigarette butts as T-shirts and persuaded local pachinko parlors and gas stations to donate the contents of their ashtrays to their enterprise.

via Students create fabric from cigarette butts – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun.

A group of 200 old people in Japan, organized by 72-year old Yasuteru Yamada, are volunteering to work at the Fukushima power plant.

Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.

Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends via e-mail and even messages on Twitter. “I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live,” he says.

“Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer.”

In a video of the interview, the BBC reporter asks: “Are you kamikaze pensioners?” to which they reply “We are not kamikaze. The kamikaze were something strange, no risk management there.”

From TOKYOMANGO

The crowds were out in force in the small country town of Akizuki, famous for its castle ruins and, of course, flowers. We were lucky to have a second weekend in which to enjoy them.

In time for it, I bought a Nikon D7000. Though it was overcast, which isn’t my ideal for photographing them, I took a few shots of my father-in-law’s cherry tree.