23. January 2025

Weather Map Inc. released its first cherry blossom forecast for the upcoming season. URL: https://sakura.weathermap.jp/en.php More detailed information is provided in Japanese. https://sakura.weathermap.jp/area.php?city=Tokyo According to their forecast, Tokyo will see its first sakura bloom around March 22 and the full bloom on March 30. The estimated peak viewing opportunity will be from March 28-April 5. For Kyoto, the first bloom is forecasted for March 26 while full bloom will be on April...

05. January 2025

Tokyo's Toyosu Market held the first tuna auction of the year. A group including the Ginza Onodera restaurant chain made the highest bidding, at 207 million JPY or about 1.3 million USD for a bluefin tuna that weighed 278kg. The auction is held every morning when the market is open. Anyone can watch the auction from the enclosed viewing platform inside the wholesale building. The auction starts from around 5:30am. The majority of the tuna will be frozen ones. The wholesale function moved from...

01. January 2025

Starting this year, I will be bringing back the blog feature on this website and provide topics on anything new happening in the Tokyo area and around the country. In 2025, there will be several big events happening in the country. In Osaka, the World Expo 2025 will be held in Yumeshima Island from April 13 to October 13. In Tokyo, the World Athletics Championships is coming back for the first time since 1991. The competition will be held at the National Stadium from September 13-21. There are...

09. November 2021

Japan has finally resumed accepting visitors from abroad. For the first phase, students, technical interns and short business travelers will be allowed in on a limited basis. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/08/national/japan-eased-entry-restrictions-documents/ Entry for tourism purposes are still not allowed. With a limit of only 3.500 entries a day while over 370,000 students/interns are reportedly standing by to enter, further openings are unlikely to happen by the end of the year.

24. June 2021

The popular hot springs facility in the Odaiba district is closing down this autumn, the final day of business on September 5th. The closure is not related to COVID-19, but more because the land lease with the Tokyo Government expires at the end of the year, and the management could not agree on an extension.

19. June 2021

With only a month to go until the opening of the Olympics, the state of emergency will be lifted for the capital city while looser restrictions will remain. Restaurants will continue to be asked to close at 8 pm. Alcohol can be served until 7pm, but not to groups of 3 or more people. Customers served alcohol must leave in 90 minutes. Kanagawa Prefecture (including Yokohama) will allow groups of up to 4 to drink but the same 90 minute rule applies. Many tourist facilities continue to be closed...

21. April 2021

A state of emergency will be issued for Tokyo in the upcoming days, the third time this has happened since the pandemic broke out and only a month after the second declaration expired. Details or the duration are still under consideration and a decision is expected by the end of the week (23rd). This time the restrictions could involve a wider range of activities, whereas the second declaration mainly focused on closing restaurants early and had very little impact on daily lives. UPDATE (May...

25. March 2021

The state of emergency for the Tokyo capital area was lifted on the 22nd, ending more than two months of restrictions that focused mostly in the dining sector. Restaurants in Tokyo will continue to close early at 9pm, and spectators at sporting events will be limited to 10,000 fans. The timing coincided with the cherry blossoms reaching full bloom (photo: Ueno park, 24 Mar) and while the viewing is not restricted, almost all parks prohibit eating/drinking and encourage visitors to quietly enjoy...

08. March 2021

Despite a drastic improvement in the number of COVID-19 cases, the state of emergency in the Tokyo Metro area was extended for another two weeks, until March 21st. Restaurants will continue to close at 8 pm, and some facilities run by the Tokyo Government will remain closed, but overall things are running fairly normally.

08. February 2021

The state of emergency issued for Tokyo and surrounding prefectures Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa has been extended for another month until March 7th. The ban on entry to Japan remains in place for foreign visitors, and the business track program has been suspended.