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Japan enters Golden Week vacation period, survey shows one in three plan to ride it out at home

Japan’s all-for-fun spring holiday season is a little tarnished these days.Japan has three major vacation periods, but two of them come with social obligations. For both Oshogatsu (the New Year’s holiday period) and Obon (which takes place in early August), tradition holds that you’re supposed to go back to your hometown and spend a week or so reconnecting with parents, grandparents, and other extended family members.That leaves Golden Week, the string of spring holidays that straddles the end o

Studio Ghibli releases new anime keychains that are like miniature figurines

Special collection includes the Spirited Away train that lights up at the push of a button.In Japan, keychains are hardly ever dull and boring, and right now Studio Ghibli is showing us just how good they can be, with a brand new release through Donguri Kyowakoku, the studio’s specialty retail chain.There are three new keychains to choose from, covering three of the studio’s most popular films. Making them even more special is the fact that each one has a cute interactive element, so

Japan’s new Pokémon jackets give you the look and powers of the Kanto starter trio

Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle jackets won’t be available in stores, though.Over the years, there’s been quite a lot of Pokémon fashion for fans to wear. But while most Poké-pparel is only concerned with the aesthetics of popular Pocket Monster species, a new line of jackets looks to give you a taste of their powers too.These creative designs are part of a collaboration between Pokémon and beverage maker Suntory’s Boss canned coffee. Boss has been giving away branded jackets as part of its

War in Iran threatening Japan’s pudding production

If you don’t end the war, you can’t have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don’t end the war?!There are few desserts as beloved in Japan as pudding, though I always have to go through the long-winded discussion that this “pudding” is actually purin. It’s a type of firm custard served with a caramel topping and similar to a creme caramel or flan in other countries.Its soft texture and gentle sweetness make it a treat that people of all ages can enjoy, and it has earned a long-stand

Tokyo store makes you to pass a quiz in order to buy Pokémon cards as part of anti-scalper policy

As new shipment of Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion packs comes in, Bic Camera makes a new rule.In a perfect world, the launch of a new Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion would be a time of unmitigated joy. New cards give veterans additional strategies and gameplay wrinkles to ponder and experiment with, and also give new players an occasion to jump into the game, which should lead to a healthy, robust fanbase.And yet, the modern world being what it is, new Pokémon cards also attract scalper

Dorayaki from 89-year-old Japanese confectionery shop is one of the best sweets hidden in Tokyo

Filled with a special “phantom butter” from Calpis, you won’t find a treat like this anywhere else in Japan. If there’s one thing we love as much as the bright lights and modern convenience of Tokyo, it’s the old retro finds you can discover in between. In these little hideaway areas you can get a feel, and a taste, of Japan the way it used to be, and one place that retains that old-school charm is a confectionery store called Sennari Monaka.Established in 1937, thi

An interview with Evangelion’s composer, Shiro Sagisu

Our anime-loving musician reporter sits down for a talk with an anime music legend.Two of our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa’s favorite things in life are music and anime. So when he checked his email inbox and saw that he’d gotten an invitation to Back to Neon Genesis, an Evangelion musical retrospective held in Osaka held at the end of March, there was no way he was going to say no…even though he felt a little nervous about the trip.See, Seiji wasn’t just going to be attending

Make-them-yourself Pokémon frappes arrive at Japanese convenience stores, can be mixed at home too

Family Mart’s Pokémon Pokopia dessert drinks are supposed to be mixed in-store, but there’s an alternative.Japanese convenience store Family Mart gave us not just one, but two reasons to stop by on April 28, with the release of a pair of Pokémon-themed dessert drinks. Additions to the chain’s Famima Frappe line, these two new beverages are tie-ins with Pokémon Pokopia, the town-building Pokémon spinoff in which you play as a community-minded Ditto, and both the Strawberry and Ramune Soda Famima

Finnish design brand Iittala partners with Pokémon for a golden first collaborative tableware set

The brand’s Origo line of bold-patterned tableware makes for a shockingly good partner with the world’s favorite Pokémon.Finnish design brand Iittala, originally founded as a glassware company in 1881, is bringing its design A game to Pokémon’s 30th anniversary party this year.Three collaborative products are being released under the brand’s series of Origo tableware in Japan, which is beloved for its bold, striped patterns and functional designs that blend in effortlessl

Second-generation sumo burger coming to Burger King Japan with return of Baby Body Burger

New collaboration with Japan Sumo Association is even more deacdent than the last.Sumo is a cultural tradition with centuries of history of ceremony, and also a deep, complex sport with dozens of power, footwork, and strategic techniques compressed into every bout. And yet, it’s almost impossible to watch a sumo match and not be thinking, at least a little bit, about food.That’s an unavoidable side effect of a sport in which sheer mass is a prerequisite for reaching the highest levels of competi

This Mother’s Day, why not give the gift of a single, really expensive, never-picked mango?

Get your mother the mother of all mangoes.Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and some of you might be in a bit of a panic, trying to think of the perfect present. You’re probably already given her some novelty fishing lures or a backpack shaped like a steak, and wonder what original gift could there possibly be left.Well, we have just the solution for what to give the mother who has everything: a mango!This is hardly your average mango, however. It is a Miyazaki Ripe Mango (Miyazaki Kanjuku

Sanrio amusement park in Tokyo to host Psycho Game horror event this summer[Video]

After Hello Kitty goes home for the day, some decidedly less cute characters will be taking over Sanrio Puroland.June is the rainy season in Japan, so if you’re going to be traveling in the Tokyo area around that time, it’s probably best to have a few indoor ideas as part of your itinerary. For example, Sanrio Puroland is a Tokyo theme park dedicated to Hello Kitty and company, and it’s entirely indoors, meaning you can enjoy it to your heart’s content regardless of how wet or humid the weather

Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth finds happiness in a canned cocktail[Video]

Hero-turned-villain enters the celebrity endorser stage of his character arc.Over the course of Final Fantasy VII and its associated spinoffs, Sephiroth goes on one of video gaming’s most iconic hero-to-villain arcs. He starts off as the most powerful and accomplished member of the organization Soldier, dispatched to cull dangerous monsters and idolized by the common people as a symbol of strength and protection, but descends into madness and becomes a self-fashioned would-be cleanser of the pla

Nagasaki high school students collab with sweets veteran to release carrot nama dorayaki

Students let a local agricultural product shine by partnering with a 215-year-old sweets maker for a new take on a classic Japanese treat.Hiyori Matsuo, Rine Yamaguchi, and Yuira Yamaguchi were students at Nagasaki Prefecture’s Isahaya Commercial High School when they dreamed up a sweet new idea for their business internship course in early summer 2025. Wanting to create something novel using local products famous to the area, they landed on partnering with Sugitani Honpo, a traditional Ja

What are the worst things about living in the Japanese countryside?[Survey]

The slow life isn’t always the easy life.There’s an undeniable appeal to the idea of living in the Japanese countryside, to the slow-life rhythm of sipping tea while sitting on the tatami reed floor of your traditionally styled house, walking through rice paddies and bamboo groves on your way to visit the local shrine, and exchanging warm greetings and freshly harvested mandarin oranges or sweet potatoes with your neighbors.However, the reality of living in the Japanese countryside doesn’t alway

Japanese sweets souvenirs don’t get more beautiful than this

Traditional details make this a gift to remember.One of the real pleasures of travelling around Japan is buying local gourmet foods as souvenirs. Enjoying them once you’ve returned home, and reminiscing about your travels, adds another layer of joy to the purchase, and we were reminded of that on a trip to Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture recently, where we picked up a new kind of local confectionery that straddles the worlds of Japanese and Western sweets.What first attracted us to the pro

Brand-new Square Enix Cafe to open in Tokyo…and in Los Angeles too!

Both sides of the Pacific are getting new themed cafes with attached merch shops from the video game developer of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.In October of 2016, video game developer Square Enix, makers of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises, opened the Square Enix Cafe in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. A space for themed food and merch celebrating both new and classic games, the Square Enix Cafe moved to a different location within the neighborhood in 2020, but sadly closed in the spr

Japanese film studio Toei announces first three video games from newly created Toei Games

Toei or not Toei? That is the question.Earlier this week, long-established film producer Toei, the company behind classic films such as The Street Fighter, Black Rain, Battle Royale, and Tora! Tora! Tora!, made a surprise announcement that they were launching Toei Games, a new division specializing in video game production.▼ The Toei logo is a classic on par with the MGM lion.Part of the reason many were surprised was that, in addition to feature films, Toei also has very popular youth programmi

Hello Kitty is now a transforming truck robot[Photos]

Optimus kawaii.Takara Tomy is the maker of the Tomica, Japan’s favorite brand of toy cars, basically the country’s version of Hot Wheels. However, while Tomica’s bread and butter is detailed recreations of real-world vehicles, they also indulge in the occasional side dish of whimsical fantasy transportation through their Dream Tomica line, which has taken inspiration from the anime of Studio Ghibli and Dragon Ball.So it’s not a huge shock to see that Takara Tomy’s newest toy truck has a Sanrio t

Japanese convenience store brings rice balls back to 100 yen – Is this deal worth it?[Taste test]

As onigiri prices continue to rise everywhere else, Lawson Store 100 stays true to its name.There’s perhaps no better example of the frustrating inflation that’s taking place in Japan than what’s happened to convenience store onigiri (rice balls). It wasn’t all that long ago that you could get simple varieties for not all that much more than 100 yen (US$0.65), but they’ve become pretty much impossible to find at that price point. Even at Lawson Store 100, the budget-friendly sub-brand of the Law