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Sushi Push Pops aiming to be Japan’s newest sakura season snack sensation

Restaurant chain creates sushi you can eat with one hand, leaving your other free to toast the cherry blossoms.The cherry blossoms will be blooming soon in Japan, and the arrival of sakura season also means the arrival of snack season. Between parties in the park and long strolls along tree-lined lanes, there’s often not enough time for a sit-down restaurant meal on a day of cherry blossom viewing excursions, so something fun and filling that you can munch on quickly and conveniently is the perf

Starbucks Japan’s Cream Puff Frappuccino is here! Did it make Friday the 13th lucky? [Taste test]

Our Frappuccino expert brushes aside fears of bad fortune to taste test two new drinks.Friday the 13th is supposed to be a day of ill portent, so we don’t think anyone could have blamed us if we’d simply called our boss and told him that we were staying home for personal safety reasons (plus who doesn’t like a three-day weekend?). But we had March 13 circled on our calendar not as a reminder to shelter in place, but because that was the day Starbucks Japan was releasing its newest Frappuccino fl

Number of foreigners living in Japan has grown 50 percent in four years, hits historic high

Japan’s foreign resident population surges past four million for the first time in history.Though it’s been 2026 for a while now, the Japanese business/administrative year starts in spring, so this is the time of year when many organizations start putting out their annual reports and statistical analyses. That includes the Japanese government’s Immigration Services Agency, which in a report to the prime minister’s cabinet says that Japan has reached a new record high in its number of foreign res

Komachi Shokudo: Japanese mum’s-style cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Tokyo

 Shhh…don’t let anyone know we told you about this secret cheap eat destination loved by locals.It’s often said that a good breakfast can be hard to find outside of hotels in Tokyo, but hungry early risers who live in the city often have some hidden gems up their sleeves. One of the tricks to finding an early-morning meal is to locate a good 24-hour establishment, and while that might mean a nearby convenience store to overseas tourists, locals often prefer to stop by a ca

Is this Japan’s most extreme cherry blossom viewing? Leap, cycle and climb through 2,500 sakura

Why sit on a tarp when you can zoom through flowers on a 100-meter slide or risk falling into the trees from 370 meters in the air?Anyone traveling to and around Japan during the spring knows that the country is famous for its cherry blossoms. These beautiful pink and white blossoms mark the end of winter and arrival of spring, and have often been used to symbolize the fleeting beauty of life. The most important cultural activity during this season is hanami (literally “flower viewing”), which u

The top 10 graduation songs in Japan as chosen by current Japanese high school students

From covers of classics to altogether newer songs, these are the melodies that Japanese youth associate with graduation in this current Reiwa age.March is graduation season in Japan. Thousands of students of all ages across the country participate in graduation ceremonies designed to evoke all manner of wistful emotions. If lucky, everyone’s feelings are further heightened by a backdrop of cascading sakura petals that symbolize the fleeting nature of youth.Firm Shibuya Trend Research recen

Virtual idol Hatsune Miku redesigned with look that adds new elements and brings back old ones

New version of Vocaloid software is arriving with a new Miku design.As a virtual idol, Hatsune Miku doesn’t age. However, that doesn’t mean she looks the same as she did when she made her debut 19 years ago, or even the same as she did last month, as the Vocaloid’s visuals have just been redesigned.Miku’s makeover comes in preparation for the upcoming launch of Hatsune Miku V6, the newest version of her associated Vocaloid voicebank software package. Illustrator LAM was tapped for the official a

As rumors swirl of 7-Eleven shorting customers on rice ball fillings, we check on their sujiko

Viral tweet claims have shoppers wondering if they’re paying premium-filling prices for almost-plain onigiri.Consumers in Japan have gotten a lot more cautious with their convenience store rice ball purchases these days. Once a go-to impulse buy for when you’re feeling too hungry to wait for your next full meal but not ready to have that meal just yet, convenience store rice balls, or onigiri, as they’re called in Japanese, have rapidly risen in price, now costing double, and sometimes triple, w

Giant pipe mysteriously rises up through street in downtown Osaka

That’s not supposed to be there…If you happened to be passing through Osaka’s Tsurunocho neighborhood on Wednesday morning and saw the large steel column shown in the video below, you might think the city was adding a new support pillar to the elevated road overhead. Hmmm…but it needs to be a little longer to reach the roadway, doesn’t it?However, the issue isn’t that the cylinder is too short. It’s actually the exact length it’s supposed to be. No, the problem is that it’s in the wr

Every Japanese pro baseball team to play with Mario question block bases once this year

Players should get power-ups each time they pass one, too.Last autumn saw the 40th Anniversary of everyone’s favorite plumber who was transported into a world of mushrooms and turtles. Yes, Super Mario Bros. was a game so ahead of its time that it took Hollywood decades to figure out how to make a decent movie adaptation of it.And over the years, Mario has dabbled in just about every recreational pursuit known to man, from go-karting and golf to tennis and officiating boxing matches. You can cou

Man in Japan falls into hole with a bear in it

Sunday morning hike takes a bizarre and terrifying turn.On Sunday morning, a 69-year-old Japanese man was on Iwakamiyama, a mountain in Iwate Prefecture. With a layer of snow still on the ground, the man and his female companion had unintentionally wandered off of the hiking trail, and were trying to find their way back to it.Being off course on a winter hike can be very dangerous, as it becomes difficult to see whether or not there’s secure footing where you’re walking. Sure enough, the man end

Heinz Japan finds its perfect pitchman: Pokémon’s Pikachu!

There’s no question that this is a case where the celebrity endorser really is a fan of the product.There’s often quite a bit of suspension of disbelief that goes into celebrity endorsements. It’s hard to imagine, for example, Tommy Lee Jones whipping out a SoftBank cell phone when he needs to call his agent, or Leonardo DiCaprio hopping into a for-poor-people Suzuki to drive to his next A-lister party in Beverly Hills, but the Hollywood stars have indeed appeared in ads for those products in Ja

Häagen-Dazs Japan releases new ASMR ice cream called “Rocky Crunchy!”

Meet the new stars of your next viral ASMR video.In Japan, Häagen-Dazs is constantly looking for ways to thrill ice cream lovers, and now the brand has outdone itself with a new series of ice creams designed to deliver the pleasure of ASMR.Those who experience ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response to use its full name, describe it as a pleasant tingling sensation triggered by stimuli such as certain sounds, and that’s what Häagen-Dazs is hoping to achieve with this new range. Dubbe

Real-life Professor Oak? Pokémon Company recruiting PhD holders in science and agriculture

Doctorate degree, bilingual communication skills, and research regarding plants and animals are only requirement for mysterious position with Pokémon Company.Professor Oak has a pretty good job, doesn’t he? As the Kanto Region’s leading Pokémon scholar, he spends his days using his intellect to deepen mankind’s understanding of, and affinity for, all sorts of Pocket Monster species.Of course, Oak isn’t the only great mind in his field, as other regions have their own Pokémon Professors, and that

15 years after Tohoku tsunami, Japan’s free disaster phone message number is important to remember

Free-to-use system helps disaster victims connect with loved ones in times of crisis, and is worth remembering for anyone traveling or living in Japan.This week marks 15 years since the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated coastal communities in northeastern Japan’s Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate Prefectures. Even a decade and a half later, the suddenness with which the tragedy occurred serves as a solemn reminder of the necessity of disaster preparedness, and while many pe

Yu-Gi-Oh rights holders address use of anime clip in White House post on attack on Iran

Yugi’s English dub voice actor also speaks out regarding meme-style video.On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Iran, with targets including the compound of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed. Iran then responded with missile attacks of its own on a number of countries within the Middle East, creating chaos in a part of the world not exactly known for stability in the first place.With many American citizens calling for their government to explai

Cowboy Bebop creator’s Samurai Champloo anime to become live-action series from Hollywood studio

Studio that made Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop convinces Shinichiro Watanabe to work with them again.In 2021, Netflix released a Western-made live-action adaptation of landmark anime series Cowboy Bebop. It did not go well. Preexisting fans found little of the charm, depth, and stylishness that had attracted them to the franchise in the first place, and new audiences were left unimpressed.Less than a month after its release, Netflix announced that there would be no second season. That doesn

Is Daiso’s microwave Japanese rolled omelet maker worth your time and money? [Taste test]

Dashimaki tamago in three minutes sounds awesome, but if it tastes bad, it won’t be worth even 100 yen.Despite being a delicious part of Japanese cuisine, dashimaki tamago is a dish that you might not have many opportunities to eat. A type of rolled omelet, dashimaki tamago isn’t something you’ll find all that often on restaurant menus, as it’s more commonly purchased at specialty shops in Japanese department stores or made in the home.This creates a problem if you don’t have a Japanese departme

Starbucks Japan opens new cafe and art gallery in top Tokyo tourist neighbourhood

Blending coffee culture with art in a historic district of Tokyo. If you’re searching for a Tokyo neighbourhood that retains a sense of old-world Japanese charm, then Yanaka in Taito Ward near Nippori Station has exactly what you’re looking for. Having survived the 1923 earthquake and the bombings of WWII, the area boasts numerous temples and shrines, as well as an old-town shopping district called Yanaka Ginza, where you’ll find narrow backstreets and old stores that make it a

Studio Ghibli releases Catbus pullback keychain that runs like the anime character

This replica is tiny but its action is mighty.We’re always in the market for a good keychain, but add in a fun interactive element and we’re totally sold. So when Studio Ghibli unveiled a new line of “Pullback Keychains“, which puts some of its most famous characters and vehicles on tiny pullback wheels to give them automated forward motion, we immediately became fans of the series. Now, though, they’ve added a new character to the lineup which has us reaching into