20. February 2025
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows announced that the performer of the mascot Tsubakuro has passed away. The mascot made its debut in 1994 and has since become the face of the club and sells the most merchandise among any of its team members. Tsubakuro was popular for his interaction with players as well as comical handwritten comments using a pen and sketchbook. Tsubakuro will not be making any game appearances for the time being and whether the team will bring the mascot back with a different...
29. January 2025
Catching a pro baseball game in Japan is an activity that I recommend any sport fan to do during their stay. However the league does not want you uploading and sharing the exciting shots you took at the stadium to any social network platform - if they fall under a certain criteria. Announced in September 2024, the new rules take effect from February 1st. Fans will be prohibited from: 1) Uploading any movies related to the baseball game that exceeds 140 seconds (this also applies for pre-game...
28. January 2025
Former Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer will be returning to the Yokohama DeNA Baystars for the 2025 season. The Baystars announced the signing on January 27, a few days before the team starts their spring training. Bauer joined the team in May 2023 and posted a record of 10-4 with an ERA of 2.76 in 19 starts. He was injured in late August and did not pitch for the rest of the season. Bauer opted to play in Mexico for the 2024 season. Japanese fans are looking forward to what he can do in a full...
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...