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This Japanese vending machine doesn’t sell drinks, but you can buy drinks through it

There’s nothing for sale inside the machine, but Okinawan spirits and delicious deserts are waiting on the other side.Recently, we were walking down the street in the city of Ishigaki in Okinawa Prefecture when a beer vending machine caught our eye. Though Japan still has vending machines that sell alcoholic beverages, they’re not nearly as commonplace as they used to be, and this one’s lineup looked particularly tempting, with a number of unique offerings including locally brewed Ishigakijima B

We go looking for a monkey mommy like Punch with Amazon Japan’s ultra low-rated orangutang plushy

Can the Laughing Sensor Orangutang bring a comforting motherly presence to our office?In the office, certain members of the SoraNews24 office have a sort of familial role. Mr. Sato’s experience and wisdom often make him a sort of big brother in our interpersonal dynamics. Seiji Nakazawa, meanwhile, is a bit more like our younger brother, who we can’t help but root for as he pursues his passions. Big sister? That’d be Ikuna Kamezawa, who breezes in and out of the office on her way to or from her

Tokyo government organizes food truck event to clear out delinquent/homeless teen gathering area

Kabukicho plaza has become a symbol of teen vagrancy in the capital.The Kabukicho district of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward is one of the liveliest entertainment areas in the cities, packed with bars, restaurants, theaters, arcades, karaoke parlors, and the city’s densest concentration of host and hostess clubs. From March 11 to 16, the neighborhood also had a fleet of food trucks parked in it. Vendors filled not only the plaza next to the Toho Building (the skyscraper with the giant Godzilla head pokin

Peko-chan Milky Time Cafe opens in Chiba and we go to check out all of the pastries and merch

It’s time to chow down on all of the pastries inspired by Fujiya’s famous brand of Milky candy and its little girl mascot, Peko-chan.Perhaps no other candy holds as special of a place in Japan’s national consciousness as Japanese sweets company Fujiya’s longtime best-selling Milky candy–a soft, chewy, milk-flavored confection that serves up equal parts happiness and nostalgia for many adults. Fujiya’s mascot since 1950 has been the pigtailed, overalls-wearing

Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki releases new artworks, still wants to make movies

Four years in the making, the new Panorama Box series shows Miyazaki’s art is “evolving”.Hayao Miyazaki is known for being a brilliant illustrator and director, and part of what makes him so skilled is his long-held fascination with how we perceive images. At the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, for example, there’s a whole room dedicated to unusual contraptions that bridge the gap between static and moving art, including a giant zoetrope that shows how movement and strobe lights

When will the cherry blossoms reach full bloom in Japan this year?[Forecast]

Latest forecast says peak sakura season is coming very early in 2026.With this year’s first reports of the opening of cherry blossoms in Japan, sakura season is officially underway. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s time to blow off work, grab a six-pack of Asahis and a whole bunch of sakura sweets, and head to the park just yet. Well, actually we’d never say it’s a bad time to do that, but if you go right now, you probably won’t see many cherry blossoms.That’s because as much as Japan looks

Expo 2025 mascot Myaku-Myaku to release tastefully erotic photo book

Myaku-Myaku, you’re such a tease.In the Japanese entertainment business, some idols are also involved in gravure modeling. This is a style of modeling that technically isn’t adult content, but treads rather close to the line with revealing clothing and provocative poses. Some idol singers start out as gravure models, some do both modeling and singing at the same time, and some use it as a stepping stone to transition from singing and dancing to other corners of showbiz.Speaking of which, M

Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki is still drawing…and walking in his Vans

Evangelion director Hideaki Anno shares heartwarming photos of recent meeting with Miyazaki in his Tokyo atelier.If you’ve been thinking about Studio Ghibli director and co-founder Hayao Miyazaki and wondering how he’s been since he turned 85 in January, then you’ll be pleased to know he’s had a famous visitor check in on him recently, in the form of Hideaki Anno.Anno needs no introduction to anime fans and film buffs, who know him as the creator and director of the hugel

Universal Studios’ Sailor Moon theme park attraction is finally coming to America

Moon power to shine across the Pacific for the first time at Universal Studios Hollywood, One Piece and Super Mario get special events too.The original concept for Universal Studios Japan is to create a pocket of Hollywood movie magic in Japan, bringing over proven-hit attractions from the Universal Studios parks in California and Florida. However, the key to Universal Studios Japan’s surging popularity these days is the park’s energetic partnerships with Japanese video game and anime franchises

Japanese onsen egg maker from 100-yen store Daiso needs to be on your shopping list

Simply add hot water and you can easily make hot spring eggs at home.Our reporter Go Hatori is addicted to hot spring eggs, or “onsen tamago” as they’re known in Japanese. While he doesn’t have the means or patience to make them himself – onsen tamago are traditionally slow-cooked in hot spring water to give them their runny, silken texture – he has been buying them from the supermarket and eating them whenever he can, even popping them into salads to get his runny egg fi

Super Mario teams up with JR Kyushu for the perfect power-up steamed bun snack

Kakuni pork manju in three colors with Super Mario-themed power-up item designs?! Let’s-a go!On March 12, Iwasaki Honpo, a famous Nagasaki-based manju (steamed bun) restaurant which has previously partnered with Pac-Man, released a new box set that will leave you brimming with energy.The Super Mario Kakuni Manju set consists of three manju filled with kakuni, cubes of simmered pork belly that are a regional specialty in southern Japan. Fittingly, the set is part of Super Mario x JR Kyushu&

McDonald’s Japan celebrates spring with… a Strawberry Shortcake Pie?!?

Limited-edition pink dessert seems unseasonal at this time of year, but all will be forgiven if it meets our high standards. Every time spring rolls around in Japan, McDonald’s releases a seasonal dessert pie, often with a pink hue to celebrate sakura cherry blossom season. Now, following on from last year’s Strawberry Daifuku Pie, the chain is giving us a new limited-edition flavour: strawberryshortcake.A McDonald’s Strawberry Shortcake Pie sounds like a weirdly delicious dess

Cherry blossoms begin blooming in Japan with record-early starts for sakura season

Three cities share the status of this year’s first sakura arrivals, with a fourth joining them one day later.The moment Japan waits all year for has finally arrived, as this week multiple cities reported the first flowering of this spring’s cherry blossoms of the Somei Yoshino variety, Japan’s most iconic and photogenic type.Three cities share the claim of the first places for the sakura to bloom this year, with Kochi City, Gifu City, and Kofu (in Yamanashi Prefecture) all getting their first op

Umamusume food and drinks dash into real world at Family Mart convenience stores[Taste test]

Family Mart’s lineup includes actual Hachimi Drink, collaboration also features “magic” clear files.“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse” is one of those expressions that isn’t really meant to be taken literally. However, right now Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart is offering us the chance to eat like a horse, or at least to eat like a horse girl, with their celebration of the fifth anniversary of the release of Umamusume: Pretty Derby.Family Mart has prepared five food and drink items

Japanese government says country needs more women’s room toilets to meet modern society’s needs

Even if the number of men and women using a building are the same, the number of toilets shouldn’t be, government’s guideline drafts say.As its name suggests, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has a pretty broad focus, and right now it’s turning its attention to toilets. Specifically, the government entity is turning its attention to the number of toilets in women’s restrooms in Japan, and it says there aren’t enough.On March 13, the ministry released its preliminar

Starbucks Japan releases new My Fruit³ Frappuccino at only 34 stores around the country

Rare, super-personalised Frappuccino gets a new look for spring. Starbucks is going fruity this spring, with the unveiling of a new limited-time drink called My Fruit³ Frappuccino Ripe White Peach. If that name sounds familiar to you, that’s because the My Fruit³ Frappuccino first made its debut in Japan in 2021, and quickly became one of the country’s rarest and most sought-after drinks, as it became available at only 15 stores around the nation.▼ The core flavours in the lineup hav

Eastern Japan high school graduating class’s wallets robbed during ceremony

When the grads are up, the guard is down.High school graduation is a really special time in one’s life. I only vaguely remember mine… I think someone played the bagpipes at it. But there was that one episode of Beverly Hills90210 where the entire student body rallied together to ensure Donna Martin could attend her graduation, and it stands as a testament to just how much this ceremony means to both teens and middle-aged actors portraying teens.So, I can only imagine the whirlwind of emotions th

Pizza Hut Japan’s new ie-kei ramen pizza is here and weird, but is it tasty too? [Taste test]

Yokohama-style ramen slides on top of a pizza with help from the creator of ie-kei.Here at SoraNews24, we love ramen, and we love pizza. But would we love ramen pizza?That was the question we suddenly had a burning desire to answer with the release of Pizza Hut Japan’s Yokohama Ie-kei Ramen Pizza. This new flat fusion food draws inspiration not only from the ie-kei style of ramen, with its distinctive hybrid tonkotsu (pork stock)/soy sauce broth, but specifically from the restaurant where ie-kei

Major Tokyo subway line shut down by in-train mobile battery fire

Device for charging on-the-go brings subway to a stop in latest mobile battery fire.The Tokyo Metro’s Hanzomon subway line is pretty handy for getting around the city. Running more or less diagonally between the southwest and northeast corners of downtown, the Hanzomon Line can whisk you to and from the hustle and bustle of Shibuya, the brand-name fashion boutiques of Omotesando, the big-business high-rises of Otemachi, and the Skytree in Oshiage, all within 30 minutes at most and with no need t

Are Japanese convenience store sandwiches scamming us with their fillings?

We find out if there’s any truth to the so-called “cross-section scam”.For all the high praise showered upon Japanese convenience store sandwiches by overseas tourists, local customers have been less than enthusiastic recently, with claims that the top chains may be pushing their fillings towards the cross-section, making them seem fuller than they really are.With rising prices affecting pretty much every aspect of life in Japan, ingredients and serving sizes are being scrutini