NOTEBOOK — Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo

The International Red Cross is planning to use AI developed in Japan to speed up landmine in parts of Ukraine. A team of Japanese scientists has said that it's managed to built an original optical quantum computer. Japan has moved to the knockout stage of the FIFA Women's World Cup by defeating Costa Rica 2-0. And, the intense summer heat is expected to continue until October, according to a new three-month forecast by the Japan Meteorological Agency. With temperatures reaching a peak my the mid to late July, the back streets of Kagurazaka with its French community come alive between July 26 and July 29 during the Kagurazaka Matsuri, a summer festival east of Shinjuku and visit RootK Contemporary Gallery for their exhibition "Public Visuals". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renowned Japanese author Seiichi Morimura, known for works including the novel "Ningen no Shomei" (Proof of the Man) and his nonfiction work "Akuma no Hoshoku" (The Devil's Gluttony), has died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo aged 90. The head of a man found dead in a Sapporo hotel earlier this month has been recovered from the home of a doctor who was arrested along with his daughter on suspicion of murder. And a giant maze made from 50,000 sunflowers has opened in the city of Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture north of Tokyo. Meanwhile, the 57th Katsushika Noryo hanabi taikai, or fireworks festival, returned to the east of Tokyo for the first time in 4 years. Notebook visited and looked on as people clung to lampposts clambering to catch sight of the sky filling with explosions, one deafening boom at a time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recent research shows the Japanese consumer will see the cost of over 30,000 food and drink items go up in price by October as retailers seek to protect profits. Hyper Japan Festival 2023 showcased Japanese culture in London last Friday, attracting upward of 30,000 people. A government survey last Friday showed a marked increase in the number of working women in Japan with a record 30.35 million in 2022, compared with 1.22 million five years ago. In Osaka, news is less promising as a delay in constructing foreign pavilions at the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo site is casting an unsettling shadow over the event with spiraling costs and controversial appointments. Amid soaring temperatures and unpredictable weather both here and abroad, local weather experts recently called an end to the country's annual rainy season which usually runs through June and early July. NOTEBOOK escaped the worst of the sun for the welcome seclusion of "Nominoichi", an old coffee shop (or coffee-tei) in Ikebukuro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Japanese government estimates the visitors between January and June exceeded 10 million, 21-times the number from the year before. This rebound saw international travelers return to Haneda Airport's Terminal 2 on Wednesday, following its three-year closure due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize for Literature has been awarded for the very first time to a disabled author with Saou Ichikawa picking up the top prize. Across town and one of the largest festivals of the year took place at Yasukuni Jinja (Shrine) opposite Kitanomaru Koen, a national park also home to many of museums. Yasukuni and park are a short walk from the Imperial Palace which also descends into darkness as night falls while an exhibition by the New York based artist Tyler Cobern across town at Fig. in Otsuka centers around ideas of actual and spiritual darkness. Notebook visits Yasukuni late one afternoon and listens to the sound of summer and the few people there soaking up the sun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A parade of yamahoko floats passed through Kyoto on Monday during the city's annual Gion Festival, held in all its glory for the first time in almost four years. Meanwhile, a man died after being run over by a dashi float on Saturday at the Hakata Gion Yamakasa summer festival being held in the city of Fukuoka, southwest Japan. Temperatures over the weekend soared, reaching almost 35 degrees Celsius in more than 150 different parts of Japan, with temperatures in one city reaching almost 40. And Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of the iconic Family Computer or Famicom, produced by Japanese video game maker Nintendo. With last weekend widely acknowledged to be the start of summer, with Gion matsuri in Kyoto, Matama matsuri at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine and others this July, Notebook caught one bon odori dance and the sound of Japanese fencing, also known as kendo.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is Marine day in Japan, a national holiday, and with that Notebook is taking a break and will return on Wednesday. In the meantime, we revisit last Friday's episode (07/14) visiting Nihonbashi to catch a glimpse of work by painter David Hockney in the run up to a major exhibition in the Capitol. All this prior to the Bon festival season in Tokyo and Gion festival season in Kyoto which both began last Saturday, as Kyoto filled with people and a flotilla of lanterns during the Gion festival's Yoiyama event in the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The current Chief Executive of Hong Kong has said that it will ban the import of Japanese seafood should treated water from the disaster-crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima be released into the ocean. In Japan, so-called ‘Search Funds' are helping entrepreneurs restart aging businesses. And the legendary manga artist Kazuo Umezz has been reunited with works drawn as a teenager and thought lost, years before making his manga-ka debut. And with wind chimes dotted throughout Nihonbashi for the “Eco-Edo Nihonbashi” project that runs until September, current art exhibitions like “Interconnection” at Mitsukoshi Contemporary Gallery and 'joiner' photo prints by David Hockney at Nishimura Gallery, opening this weekend alongside the David Hockney retrospective at Tokyo's MOT Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, it is the iconic Nihonbashi Bridge which joins past with present from old Edo to present-day Tokyo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The heavy rain which lashed northern Kyushu, south west Japan, caused the automaker Toyota to pause operations Monday at three of its factories. That same day, temperatures reached 36.2 degrees in Central Tokyo, the first time it has exceeded 35 degrees this year, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The weather even caused one ceiling painting at Sensō-ji in Asakusa to peel away over the weekend. Perhaps feeling the heat was one man who fell victim of a bar in Shimbashi that defrauded him and his credit card of almost 700,000 JPY or nearly 5,000 USD. One very expensive night out. And in the run-up to the Bon holiday season we revisit several of our interviews with key creatives in the Capitol. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Concerns in Japan are growing over a possible resurgence of coronavirus cases this summer. Suspicious objects were discovered by police as people observed a minute's silence where the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated one year ago on July 8th. A three-day festival of Japanese culture began on Friday in Sao Paulo, attracting cosplayers and members of Brazil's Japanese nikkei-jin community. Meanwhile, Access Tohoku, a store selling popular food and other items from Japan's Tohoku region, is set to open in Singapore on July 19th. As this week builds up to the first of several O'bon festivals in the capital, we revisit one from last year in Tokyo's Toshima ward and listen to the Bon odori dance in full-swing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Notebook reaches 200 episodes! The system logging traffic coming in and going out of the central Japanese Port of Nagoya was hit by a ransomware attack on Tuesday, by the Russia-based hacker group LockBit. The International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA opened an office at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Wednesday monitoring the safe discharge of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. A river running Ikoma in Nara prefecture turned a bright green this week. And police arrested a 35-year-old man for stealing 1,500 Pokemon trading cards worth 1.15 million JPY (8,000 USD) from a store in Akihabara. With today marking 200 episodes of Notebook and the start of this summer's Tanabata (or Star) Festival, we scan the art events happening this weekend — from Tokyo Gendai in Yokohama, to Tennozu Artweek at WHAT Museum, even Koji Nakano at XYZ Collective — and visit Kishimojin temple in Zoshigaya and its summer festival happening this weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heavy rain pounded Japan's southwestern Kyushu region on Monday, causing a bridge to collapse, with some 360,000 evacuating Kumamoto city. The record rainfall over the weekend has left one dead and another person missing, with the Japan Meteorological Agency warning of further landslides. And as the rain front, extending from western to northern Japan, moving southward, a ceremony was held in the coastal town of Atami on Monday to remember 28 residents who died two years ago following a major landslide. In Fukuoka, a local artist last week unveiled his first painted billboard in 20 years for the latest Indiana Jones film. And with storm clouds and wet weather enveloping the country, and Tanabata — the Star Festival — celebrated on Friday, July 7th, we visited the historic Zōjō-ji temple near Tokyo Tower, the day after the sky opened and erupted over most of Tokyo the night before. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mayor of Hiroshima Kazumi Matsui and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel signed a sister park agreement between the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii. The Japanese government issued a power-saving request for areas served by TEPCO. The Nakagin Capsule Tower Building in Ginza is given a new lease of life with one of its modular capsules added to the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. And while the Enmusubi Wind Chime Festival opened yesterday in Kawagoe, Saitama, the annual Uwajima Ushioni Festival arrives in the port city of Uwajima for three days later this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Japanese toys, games and character goods, are to be exhibited in the Brazilian city Sao Paulo. The Japanese oil painter Gyoji Nomiyama passed away last week aged 102. Meanwhile, art exhibitions in the capitol continue unabated, from Christopher L G Hill's “Turtle” at Goya Curtain, to “Distance from the Incident” at Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, "Shinro Ohtake" at Ehime Museum of Art in Matsuyama (ending Sunday 7/2), and “Tameshigaki” (lignes de vies) an exhibition of paintings by Charles Munka at INS studio, new gallery in Shibuya. Speaking of Shibuya, CCBT, the Civic Creative Base Tokyo, is an art and culture center sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It held a press conference yesterday introducing its newest creative director Hideaki Ogawa who spoke with Notebook about the challenges of running such a center in Tokyo. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A man dressed as the Joker character was charged with assault and arson aboard a Tokyo train in 2021, charges he denies. Meanwhile, passengers temporarily fled the Yamanote Line on Sunday afternoon after several open knives fell on the floor of the packed train. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki offered caution against the recent rapid decline of the yen. A major Japanese moving company has apologized after a prank video starring several employees went viral. And Notebook recently visited Izakaya ‘Hachinosu' in Matsuyama, Ehime, a short walk from Matsuyama's Okaido shopping street. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Giant panda cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei turned two on Friday at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. More than 700 people are preparing to run for election in Japan's so-called House of Representatives this coming autumn. Okinawa marked the 78th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War last week. Tokyo's Narita Airport plans to raise surcharges for international passengers from September, and a think-tank in West Japan is planning to repurpose abandoned homes and rundown buildings by re-using their wood and shortcut the global strain on lumber. Matsuyama is the capital of Ehime prefecture on the main island of Shikoku. Notebook recently visited the city and rode the streetcar made famous by writer Soseki Natsume to visit the Dōgo Onsen public bathhouse. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kansai Electric informed Fukui prefectural government of its plan to reactivate the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor at its Takahama nuclear power plant, north of Kyoto on the Fukui coastline. Organizers of the popular Awa Odori dance festival are offering premium seats each priced at 200,000 JPY (1,400 USD) for the annual festival held in Tokushima Prefecture this August. A box of 15 premier cherries known as “Aomori Heartbeat” fetched a staggering 500,000 JPY (3,500 USD) during the first auction of the season in Aomori prefecture. And with Baseball the national pastime in Japan, we visit Picotao and the batting cages of the Otsuka Batting Center in Tokyo's Toshima ward for one final session before it closes on June 30th, and then head to gallery 4649 in Sugamo for a painting show by Yusuke Abe. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The distinguished novelist Yumie Hiraiwa, known for her “Kawasemi hotel” novel series, passed away earlier this month aged 91. Communities around Mt. Fuji are calling for a limit to the number of hikers ahead of this summer's predicted climbing boom. The Japan branch of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) has heavily criticized the Tokyo metropolitan government for its plan to redevelop the Meiji Jingu Gaien district. And Kagoshima Prefecture held its first Spider Battle in four years, an event where two spiders battle it out on the end of a long thin stick. Tokyo's Okubo is a rich mix of Korean and Southeast Asian culture. Inexpensive areas during the early 80s, it's now regarded as Korean Town that is also home to a vibrant Muslim community. We walk along Ikemen Street towards Shin-Okubo Station on the Yamanote line. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui will head back to the ISS for 6 months in space later next year. An indoor amusement park featuring the world of Harry Potter opened at the former Toshimaen amusement park in Nerima on Friday. And finally, Japanese film director Sadao Nakajima, known for “Gokudo no Onnatachi”, “Nihon no Don” and “Jo no Mai”, died in Kyoto on Sunday aged 88. Shinjuku has long-had a history of counterculture, film and theatre. With Shinjuku's ni-chome, san-chome, and Kabukicho all within walking distance of each other, we wander through each district one evening as daytime ends and the night begins. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An 18-year-old recruit shot and killed one of his instructors at a Self-Defense Force firing range in Gifu Wednesday morning. A special screening of Makoto Shinkai's hit animated film Suzume no Tojimari (2022) took place at the Civic Hall in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture last month, in the same place that also makes an appearance on-screen. And Tokyo-based artist Yuko Mohri to represent Japan at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Back in Tokyo, an Hibiya with its bronze statue of Godzilla is not far from Hibiya Park, opened in 1903 and once home to the state wire service Domei Tsushin, . The park today is a far cry from the Hibiya Riots which began in 1905. Nearby, the Ginza Graphic Gallery hosts artist and illustrator Tadanori Yokoo with “My Black Holes” an exhibition of archive material from the 1960s to the 1980s which runs until June 30th. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Domestic producer prices increased for the 27th straight month, rising by more than 5 percent from last year. A Vietnamese student has been arrested on suspicion of cutting hair without a license at his Tokyo home, serving as many as 3,000 customers since April 2021 while raking in a tidy profit. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has labeled Shibuya's Dogenzaka a ‘Townscape Regeneration District' that is part of redevelopment currently taking place around the main JR station. And with this year marking the 125th anniversary of Philippine independence from Spanish colonial rule, Ueno Park last weekend played host to Philippine Expo 2023 with a three day festival coinciding with the country's June 12th Independence day. We drop in on Ueno Park, transformed into Manila for three days of celebrations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With travel to and from Japan increasing, concerns over a possible measles outbreak is prompting experts to recommend vaccinating against the disease. Two injured Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in Japan for medical treatment and rehabilitation at a hospital in Tokyo. The Japanese Industry minister met with local fishing representatives from the Tohoku region over plans to release treated water from Fukushima's stricken nuclear power plant into the sea. Meanwhile, plans have been approved for Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to embark on their first official visit to Indonesia later this month. And with a three-day festival taking place in Ueno Park dedicated to the Philippines (June 9~11), NOTEBOOK visited Ueno Dōbutsuen, Japan's old zoo at the heart of Tokyo, mere minutes from the park and Ueno Station. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More heavy rain is expected in Mie, with sandbags ready amid further threat of flooding. In Tokyo, a Japanese court has ruled that not recognizing same-sex marriage is “unconstitutional”. Meanwhile, Japan's parliament is set to pass a bill this month aimed at promoting a better understanding of the LGBT community. And finally, the number of new COVID-19 cases has risen just one month after the country downgraded the status and severity of the coronavirus in May. As the weather in Tokyo remains wet and humid, we take a trip from one museum to another, from MOMAT, Tokyo's National Museum of Modern Art near the Imperial Palace, to the MOT, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and Kiyosumi Shirakawa in Tokyo's Koto ward. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The prefectural government of Saga unearthed a sealed sarcophagus on Monday at the Yoshinogari historical park in southwestern Japan. The Japanese government announced new plans on Tuesday to speed up decarbonization, generating 15 trillion yen (107 billion USD) and investing in hydrogen. The government also announced it aims to raise the proportion of female executives at companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. And on Monday, the Japanese-made SLIM lunar landing probe was unveiled at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima before its maiden voyage in August aboard the H3 rocket bound for the moon. Ever since it opened in 1894, Japan's gateway to the sea has been Osanbashi Pier, overlooked by Yokohama's Minato Mirai skyline. We visit one windy afternoon catching the sound of a Dragon boat race off in the distance. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heavy rain lashed parts of western and eastern Japan last Friday, as warm and humid air from Typhoon Mawar flowed into seasonal rain as Japan's Meteorological Agency warned of further landslides and flooding. Japan is aiming to be at the centre of the supply chain for the next-generation of semiconductors by ramping up its investment in the technology. Meanwhile, the Irish Film Festival in Tokyo was launched last weekend at the Kadokawa Cinema in Yurakucho. Just south of Tokyo, Yokohama Chūkagai has become one of the largest and oldest Chinatowns in Japan, alongside Nankinmachi in Kobe and Shinchi in Nagasaki. We pass through its red gates on a warm Sunday as restaurants fill and streets overflow with locals and visitors alike. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

North Korea launched what is thought to be a ballistic missile under the guise of a satellite Wednesday, before it crash-landed in the Yellow Sea. As global warming causes a rise in sea temperatures, Japan's fish catch in 2022 fell to a record low. The London-based Japan House has started promoting the Japanese countryside overseas. And finally, the third edition of the Art Collaboration Kyoto art fair in October has announced this year's exhibitors. On a warm afternoon in early June, we walk along Nakano Broadway, west of Shinjuku on the Sobu line. Its famed for its secondhand book stores, rare-to-find toys, photo books or out-of-print copies of very early manga, and is somewhere with a very particular charm. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Typhoon Mawar is forecast to approach the southwest of Okinawa later this week, with high tides and violent winds near the Sakishima Islands. With the hay-fever season almost upon us, the Japanese government says it will speed up its plan to cut down cedar trees known to exacerbate the allergy. Toyota's global production in April rose by almost 14 percent. And, the world “yakko-negi” championships took place in Kochi Prefecture, seeing just how far the local vegetable could be thrown. We drop by Hamarikyu Gardens in Chuo ward and listen as the nearby Tokyo Expressway snakes past, deadened by a wall of trees and the surrounding waterways. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Films by Japan's Studio Ghibli will be removed from the Russian streaming service Kinopoisk as Russia's war in Ukraine drags on, that's according to Tass, the Russian state news agency. The Japanese actor Koji Yakusho was named Best Actor at this year's Cannes International Film Festival on Saturday for his leading role in Wim Wenders' latest film, “Perfect Days.” And finally, in currency news the yen slumped to 140 yen against the dollar, marking the lowest it's been in almost six months. And following on from recent festivals in Kanda and Asakusa, Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku holds its annual Grand Festival — or reitaisai. Be sure to check NOTEBOOK's SubStack for more detail. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During a speech in Tokyo this week, South Korea's Ambassador to Japan Yun Duk-min said his country is eager to join the G7 after joining last weekend's summit as a guest country. Haruki Murakami won this year's Princess of Asturias Award for Literature in Spain, while 11 year-old Kunzaburo Yuno from Oita won a special prize at the Children's Nonfiction Literature Awards in Kitakyushu. And finally, a painting of victims who suffered the Minamata poisonings more than 6 decades ago has now been restored. With Shunsuke Imai's painting exhibition titled “Skirt and Scene” taking place at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery near Hatsudai, we skirt from Shinjuku to Hatsudai and then beyond, taking note of sight and sounds from the local neighbourhood as we ride the local bus towards Shibuya. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Japan's Fugaku supercomputer developed by the Riken research group and Fujitsu has been ranked the world's most powerful supercomputer for the seventh time in a row since 2020. Meanwhile, a group including several Japanese universities has said it will use Fugaku to develop tools using generative artificial intelligence. In other news, Japan is considering a revamp of its tax-free shopping system following the growing trend of reselling tax-free goods overseas. And finally, the lone yokozuna-level sumo wrestler ‘Terunofuji' and the former ozeki-level ‘Asanoyama' both lead the field yesterday at this year's Summer Grand Sumo Tournament taking place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena from May 14th until the 28th. And with the current Netflix drama “Sanctuary” proving a hit, we head to Ryogoku. Tickets have completely sold out so we wait outside as a trickle of sumo wrestlers march in and then saunter out, one by one. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The G7 summit in Hiroshima concluded yesterday, after discussing Ukraine with its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who made a highly-publicized visit on Saturday. With all eyes on the summit in Hiroshima, two Chinese coast guard ships slipped into Japanese waters that same day entering waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. And with current affairs dominating every conversation, Japan's Environment Ministry has quietly revealed the country's greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 rose for the first time in eight years. Prosperity is being celebrated as part of Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa, one of the three big Shinto festivals in Tokyo and one of the wildest, passing through the streets surrounding Sensō-ji Temple and Asakusa Shrine. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Japan's National Tourism Organization JNTO has confirmed the number of foreign visitors bounced back April to 67 percent of same month in 2019, with a little help from this year's cherry blossom. Former volleyball player Tadayoshi Yokota who won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics passed away earlier this month. In Hiroshima, security has ramped up in readiness of today's G7 summit following several high profile attacks on current and former Japanese Prime Ministers. And from Electric Town in Akihabara we drop by the Intermediatheque museum near Tokyo Station to see their current exhibition, Tokyo Ephemera, before heading towards Aoyama to see Terry Winters: IMAGESPACE an exhibition by the American painter at Fergus McCaffrey. We end our trip across town at the edge of Kabukicho, another Electric Town but one, a short walk from Shinjuku Station. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A small distillery in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, recently claimed its sixth whisky award at an international competition held in London. In Okinawa, a woman was arrested on Monday after approaching the U.S. consulate general brandishing what she claimed to be a pipe-bomb. Meanwhile, the American President Joe Biden is due to hold talks with Prime Minister Kishida tomorrow in Hiroshima, when Biden and other leaders including the newly appointed Brazilian President Lula da Silva descend on the city for this year's G7 summit taking place this weekend. Prior to that we head to the edge of Tokyo bay and wander through the outer market of Tsukiji, once the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. We arrive as it begins to wind down and talk with the owner of Mejicafe buried deep within the market along Yokocho-dori. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A strong earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.2 hit Chiba last week, with another measuring 5.1 hitting the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima on Saturday. Tokyo reportedly has the second highest number of millionaires in the world. In Gifu prefecture, villagers in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Shirakawa village came together for the first time in five years to re-thatch one its well-known houses. And as the Daizafu-Tenmangu Shrine in Fukuoka undergoes renovation, a temporary hall at the shrine was unveiled, designed by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. The 1,300 year-ago Kanda Myoujin Shrine in Tokyo sits just above the Kanda River. We catch several gold mikoshi being carried on the shoulders of volunteers through the streets of Kanda and Akihabara as they make their way towards Kanda Myoujin for the bi-annual Kanda festival or matsuri. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four young men, were taken into custody earlier in this week following the robbery of a watch shop in Tokyo's Ginza district. Naoki Prize-winning novelist and pianist Ryo Hara passed away last Thursday, May 4th, aged 76. And as COVID-19 is downgraded to the same level as seasonal flu, residents in Hyuga city, on the main island of Kyushu, have been attending a ceremony to pray for an upturn in business. “Borrowed Landscapes” is a group exhibition at Blum & Poe in Harajuku, a gallery facing Harajuku station and the Meiji Jingu forest established in 1915. We wander through Meiji Jingu catching sight of a wedding at the temple moments before the heavens open. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An 11-year-old mountaineer from Yamanashi prefecture is gearing up to conquer Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro. In Adachi Ward, a small explosive device detonated near Nishi-arai Train Station late Monday injuring one passer-by. In Singapore, a Tokyo-based venture capital company, made up of Japanese bank SMBC and the Incubate Fund, has established a funding initiative, investing across Asia in promising finance-related technology or fintech. This coincides with NexTech Week Tokyo, a 2-day technology trade fair taking place at Tokyo Big Site from today until Friday, with a second session planned for later this autumn. And as the spring holiday season ends, a holiday invented in 1948 then christened 'Golden Week' in 1951 by the Japanese film industry, we walk to Tokyo Tower one warm and windy afternoon listening as people return to work. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tokyo-based startup company iSpace failed to land the world's first private-sector lunar landing on the Moon. Washington officials said there were no plans to park U.S. nuclear-powered submarines carrying nuclear warheads in Japan, but U.S. submarines will dock in South Korea for the first time since the end of the Cold War. The organizer of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka has warned of ballooning costs, citing the need to strengthen security in South East Asia. Meanwhile, Japan will downgrade the legal status of COVID-19 from May 8th, bringing the coronavirus in line with seasonal flu. And with Fridays focused on art and culture, we spoke with three, young Tokyo gallerists and asked them to recommend things worth seeing and places worth a visit during the Spring national holiday of Golden Week, which starts tomorrow and ends next Friday. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the weather in late Spring lurches from hot and humid to wet and cold, news comes in of plans by the Japanese government to expand its scheme allowing foreign workers with specific skills to live in the country for longer. The Yen temporarily hit an eight-year and four-month low, falling to ¥148 against the Euro on Tokyo's foreign exchange market yesterday. At the same time as the Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno confirmed that Japan will deploy a PAC-3 'surface-to-air' missile defense system on two Okinawan islands in readiness for new missiles launched from North Korea. And as the political situation in Sudan worsens, Japanese nationals along with their spouses have been airlifted to neighbouring Djibouti aboard a Japanese Self-Defense Forces aircraft on Monday night. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a ritual 'masakaki' tree offering at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Friday, much to the irritation of China and South Korea which see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past. Tottori Prefectural Government is planning to prohibit the use of AI chatbot ChatGPT while Russian authorities have banned an former residents of the disputed Northern Territories campaigning for Japanese sovereignty. The animated film “The First Slam Dunk” has smashed box offices in mainland China, and as polling boxes close in nationwide local elections, we wander the streets of Tokyo and listen as politicians & neighbouring street singers compete for attention. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A local government focus group in Osaka eyeing the chance to open a casino in the city has announced that promotional material likely included artwork without the permission of its artists Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami. This week also marked one year since a fire tore through Kitakyushu's Tanga Market, known to as “Kitakyushu's kitchen”, but it is bouncing back. As are tourists with ministers fearful that Japan is headed towards a 9th wave of the novel coronavirus. City officials in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, is thinking of novel ways to streamline administration, becoming the first local level government to utilize the AI chatbot ChatGPT across every office. We finish the week by staying in Kyoto, visiting the city's Nakagyō district and Kyoto's infamous Teramachi Shopping Arcade. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yuko Kishida, wife of the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, met the U.S. First Lady Jill Biden on Monday in Washington. A young women died in the early hours of Sunday morning after a tree fell on her tent. Later that same day, 11 festival goers were injured after the four-wheeled, wooden ‘Danjiri' festival float they were pulling overturned in Sakai, just south of Osaka. In mainland China, takings for the Japanese animation film "Suzume" have exceeded those in Japan less than a month after its release in March. And NOTEBOOK leaves Tokyo for the day to visit Kyōto, the Kyōto Gyoen National Garden and Kyōto's Imperial Palace.  — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A 24 year-old man hurled a homemade pipe bomb at the current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over the weekend as he spoke in public at Wakayama's fishing port. In Tokyo, the 225-meter-tall Tokyu Kabukicho Tower opened in Shinjuku's Kabukicho district the very same day. Meanwhile, the theme music to Nintendo's classic video game Super Mario Bros. is being archived by the American Library of Congress as part of its permanent collection. And amid the noise of campaigning politicians ahead of the upcoming nationwide local elections, we walk through Ikebukuro and Shinjuku to the sound of heavy rain and shopping tourists. — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

North Korea fired a ballistic missile at the Sea of Japan yesterday, the first since March 27th. The Japanese space startup ispace confirmed its lunar lander will attempt to touch down on the moon's surface later this month. Tokyo Disneyland will celebrate its 40th anniversary tomorrow, and renowned Japanese writer Haruki Murakami's first full-length novel in almost six years hits Japanese bookstores yesterday. There is a long list of exhibitions that have opened or are due to open, but before jumping on a train to see them, we walk through Nakameguro and along the Meguro River, eavesdrop on an orchestral rehearsing and catch a breath of fresh air.  — Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices