#257【English】Morning Talk Gunma

Good morning everyone, it's Tuesday, January 12th and it's time for amber's morning English talk. At the beginning of the new year, I decided that I would try to talk about a different theme for each week in order to make a slightly more coherent series of morning talks. This week my theme is going to be Gunma prefecture. The reason for this is because on Sunday, I decided to pay a visit to Gunma prefecture so that I could buy a Daruma for this year. I'm not sure why, but I felt like having a daruma on my desk would help me to focus on the things that I want to make happen this year.

So, for my first talk of the week, I'd like to give 10 quick facts about Gunma prefecture for those that may have not visited before.

1. Gunma prefecture is one of eight prefectures in japan that is land-locked.
2. Gunma is famous for quite a few different things, but hot springs are by far the most famous. There is, Kusatasu, Shibukawa, Ikaho, Manza, Minakami, Shima, Isobe, Oigami, Takaragawa, Shiriyaki, Sarugakyo, and Hoshi
3. The symbol of Gunma has three mountains surrounding the old kanji for ‘gun’ or ‘group’. These mountains are Haruna-san, Myogi-san, and Akagi-san.
4. Gunma prefecture is shaped like a tsuru, or crane.
5. Gunma is famous for being Japan's largest producer of Konyaku, producing 90% of the Konyaku in japan.
6. Another famous agricultural product from Gunma is cabbage, with more than half of the farms in the town of Tsumagoi being cabbage farms.
7. The prefecture is represented by the character Gunma-chan, a cute horse character that has won Yuru-character competitions in the past.
8. Takasaki is purported to be the origin of the daruma doll, and a majority of these dolls are crafted by artisans in Takasaki
9. Gunma is the setting of the popular game, manga, and anime Initial D, which is about street racing and drifting
10. Tomioka in Gunma was the location of the first modern silk factory in Japan.