Pigs prepped to battle bugs

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Pig-shaped mosquito coil holders are arranged in orderly fashion at a manufacturer of Banko ware pottery in Komono, Mie Prefecture, where production of the items is at its peak. Employees at Matsuo Ceramics Inc. are busy making the summertime specialties by applying ceramic glaze and firing the pottery pigs in a kiln to finish them. The firm expects to ship 3,000 to 4,000 of them by early July.