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The breathtaking beauty and bathing luxury of Oita’s Gettouan【Photos】

Yufuin is often thought of as Oita’s “other” hot spring town, but this ryokan plays second fiddle to nowhere.Oita has more hot springs than any other prefecture in Japan, and no city in Oita has more hot springs than Beppu. However, some onsen (hot spring) enthusiasts will say that the best bathing in Oita is to be found in Yufuin (a district of the city of Yufu) which has a reputation not only for excellent water but also a refined, elegant atmosphere that differentiates it from the more mass-m

Street Fighter is coming to McDonald’s Japan

Guile, as usual, is waiting.As the cultural anthropologists who make up SoraNews24’s readership are well aware, autumn is tsukimi/moon-viewing burger season in Japan, when the nation’s hamburger providers serve up sandwiches topped with fried eggs that resemble a beautiful full moon.However, it’s specifically early autumn that’s moon-viewing season, coinciding with the timing for the moon-viewing parties which courtly nobles use to hold. That means, sadly, that it’ll soon be time to say goodbye

Get your cakes in about a minute with Tokyo Station’s unmanned Tokyo Banana shop

No fuss, no muss, no people.The banana cream-filled cakes made by Tokyo Banana are such a famous souvenir present that our writer Mr. Sato always takes some with him when he ventures out of the metropolis. That has kind of backfired though, as his friends and family have gotten so many Tokyo Banana cakes that they’re getting a little tired of them, and their thanks are usually preluded by “Oh… again?”And it just so happened that once again, Mr. Sato had plans to do some t

Flying witch fantasies come true at Japan’s cosplay zipline event

Witches can put their brooms to good use at this Halloween event an hour outside downtown Tokyo.Halloween is just around the corner, and so you’re probably going to be seeing a lot of people dressed as witches over the next few weeks. But while a lot of he witches you’ll encounter a parties and costume events will be carrying brooms, at one special place in Japan they’ll be flying on them.Okay, so technically the witches will be ziplining, but still, they’ll be gliding zipping around above the t

Opening Remarks by IMF Asia and Pacific Department Director Krishna Srinivasan at the Regional Economic Outlook Press Conference

Good morning to everyone here in Marrakech and good afternoon to everyone in Asia. Thank you very much for joining our Press Briefing for Asia and Pacific. Please allow me to make a few opening ...

Mr. Sato taste tests not only the original takoyaki, but its predecessor, radioyaki, in Osaka

Our ace reporter learns that the fried balls of octopus in Kansai are not quite what he expected.Many people associate the Kansai region of Japan with takoyaki, the quintessential savory street-food snack of Osaka. Balls of batter are filled with chunks of octopus and cooked on a special indented griddle. They’re then served pipping hot, often with a variety of toppings such as sauce and bonito flakes.Now, our Japanese-language reporter Mr. Sato grew up in Shimane Prefecture, which may see

Tokyo big walk – Walking from Tokyo Station to the Big Sight convention center on Tokyo Bay【Pics】

A unique way to see some very different Tokyo neighborhoods.Tokyo Big Sight is Tokyo’s premier convention center, and as such you might expect it to be located in the middle of downtown Tokyo. The reality, though, is that Big Sight is located out on an island in Tokyo Bay.It’s still within the Tokyo city limits, though, which had us wondering, how long would it take to walk from Tokyo Station, which is in the city center, to Tokyo Big Sight?Before we get started, we should clarify that Big Sight

23rd Forbes Global CEO Conference Opens In Jakarta

Prabowo Subianto, President of the Republic of Indonesia, leads a distinguished speaker line-up for the 23rd Forbes Global ...

Bessent Still Sees Xi-Trump Meeting, Says All Options Open

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he still expects Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will meet, while warning that ...

AI Spera to Participate in 'GovWare 2025'... Strengthening Global Market Expansion with ASM and CTI Technologies

AI Spera (CEO Kang Byungtak) announced on October 14 that it will participate in 'GovWare 2025,' Asia's largest security conference, to be held at Sand...

GABV Asia-Pacific Chapter meeting 2025 to be held in Colombo

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) will host its Asia-Pacific Chapter Meeting 2025 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from ...

JR Hokkaido train driver in trouble for reading book about trains on stopped train

Employee accused of not being devoted enough to his work.The punctuality of trains in Japan is famous all over the world, but that level of efficiency doesn’t just happen by chance. It’s the result of a lot of hard work under very strict conditions that some would consider unbearable.Case in point is the matter of a train driver for JR Hokkaido for “not devoting himself to his work,” as the railway put it. At about 5 p.m. on 7 October, a train was stopped at Otaru Station

Studio Ghibli releases new anime tea and mugs in Japan

 A beautiful way to add a calming sense of escapism to your day.Every animated film from Studio Ghibli will take you on a journey, but in the case of the 1989 movie Kiki’s Delivery Service, that journey begins right away, with young witch Kiki packing for a year of witch training. As she rushes around her room, picking out favourite items to pack, she reaches into her bookshelf to retrieve a red tin that’s been secreted away before stuffing it into her knapsack as one of her mus

Godzilla and King Ghidorah fight it out inside this Tokyo hotel room that you can stay in【Pics】

Godzilla’s greatest rival comes to challenge him for his Shinjuku crown.Downtown Tokyo’sHotel Gracery Shinjuku has a good location. It’s situated on the edge of the Shinjuku neighborhood’s Kabukicho section, providing easy access to Japan’s biggest nightlife quarter, but it’s also near many of Shinjuku’s more relaxed shopping and dining options, plus it’s very close to the extremely useful Shinjuku Station, with train and subway lines connecting quickly to just about every sightseeing attraction

Classy and cute, Ghibli cloth coasters are here in time for autumn tea time【Photos】

Tea with Totoro, anyone?Fall is the most relaxing season, isn’t it? Nestled between the go-go-go excitement of summer and the chill of winter that makes staying in bed with your head under the covers all day feel like the wisest course of action, autumn is a time of year conducive to stretching out on the sofa with a good book and a nice cup of tea close at hand.Of course, when you’re not holding that cup of tea, you’re going to want a coaster to put it down on, and if you’re a Ghibli fan, you’r

Eco Expo Asia Opens at AsiaWorld-Expo in Late October to Promote Green Technologies

Showcasing Global Solutions to Accelerate Carbon Reduction Goals - The 20th edition of Eco Expo Asia, themed Green Innovations for Carbon Neutrality, will gather over 300 exhibitors from 12 countries and regions - The Expo will spotlight three key ar...

Kyoto travel alternative: The “little Kyoto” of Shuzenji【Photos】

Sometimes great travel experiences come in little-Kyoto packages.With its cultural importance and elegant aesthetics, Kyoto is one of Japan’s most beautiful cities. However, Kyoto is currently receiving more visitors than ever, and many would say the appeal of the place is diminished when your only view of the sights is beyond a mass of tourists in the foreground.So if you’re craving some of the Kyoto atmosphere, but without the Kyoto crowds, the solution might be a visit to one of Japan’s sho-K

Dragons shine at nighttime illumination event coming to Tokyo’s Toshogu Shrine later this month

Enjoy the lit-up structures of an important shrine inside of Ueno Park this autumn complete with special omamori and more.Ueno Park is usually known as one of the best places in Tokyo to view cherry blossoms in the spring, but the park’s dazzling fall foliage is also nothing to scoff at. This year, the park will also receive its own literal glow-up when a special illumination event titled “The Night of Light when Dreams Come True” takes place at Ueno Toshogu Shrine within its g

Totoro belly warmers are ready to keep your tummy toasty through the cold months ahead【Photos】

My haramaki Totoro.It’s hard to imagine Totoro ever feeling chilly. Part of that is because the events of the My Neighbor Totoro anime take place mostly in summer, but even in the end-credits illustration that shows the Ghibli star standing in the snow, he seems completely unfazed by the cold. From that, we can deduce that Totoro’s fur must be very warm, especially the section that covers his ample stomach, and with cold weather on the way, thankfully there’s a way to have a cozy Totoro tummy of

Green is the new color this autumn at Osaka hotel’s latest sweet buffet

Celebrate the fall season with chestnuts, grapes, and decadent matcha treats.For a limited-time this fall, matcha lovers throughout Japan will have the opportunity to indulge in a luxurious offering of some of Japan’s favorite autumn delights at Hotel New Otani Osaka. The “Super Sweets Buffet 2025: Autumn-colored Chestnuts and Matcha” is serving up a range of gorgeous seasonal sweets, combined with the elegant taste of matcha.The Super Sweets Buffet will be held from October 7 to November 30 and