Elementary school student wins Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award for devising a method to extract silk from wild silkworms without killing them. Shinnosuke Yanami, a fourth-year student at Nagachi Elementary School in Okaya City, won the highest award in the science and upper grade division of the National Children's Talent Development Contest.
After removing the larva from the hole, Yanami boiled the cocoon in water spiked with chemicals, and was able to obtain a thread about 2 meters long.