News On Japan

Japan's First 360-Degree Projection Mapping Opens in Osaka

OSAKA - Japan's first 360-degree projection mapping show will open at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts on October 10, transforming the historic building into an immersive world of light, music, and seasonal imagery, with organizers hoping the attraction will also help stimulate the city's nighttime economy.

A special preview was held for the media ahead of the show's public opening, offering a glimpse of a visual spectacle in which images representing the changing seasons are projected across the museum's walls, ceilings, and columns.

The projections are synchronized with "The Four Seasons," the celebrated composition by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, creating an atmosphere in which visitors are surrounded by continuously shifting colors and images depicting spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, a nationally registered Tangible Cultural Property, will host the Japanese debut of a projection mapping production that has previously been staged at more than 100 historic buildings around the world.

The performance takes place in the museum's central hall on the first floor, where visitors can sit on large beanbag cushions while enjoying the panoramic display of moving images and music. The combination of architectural surroundings, immersive projections, and classical music is designed to create an experience that goes beyond a conventional museum exhibition.

Five performances will be held each evening, beginning at 5:45 p.m., with each show lasting approximately 30 minutes.

Organizers say the evening schedule is intended not only to attract visitors to the museum but also to encourage spending at nearby restaurants and other businesses, contributing to efforts to expand Osaka's nighttime economy.

The light and sound spectacle is scheduled to run from October 10 through January 2027, offering visitors an opportunity to experience the museum's historic interior in an entirely different setting.

Source: YOMIURI

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

A fire broke out at a factory handling waste plastic in Nara City on October 13, sending thick black smoke into the air and prompting the dispatch of 12 fire engines after firefighters received an emergency call shortly before 3:30 p.m. from a factory representative reporting smoke rising from inside the building, with all workers safely evacuated and no injuries reported.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivered an unusually harsh rebuke of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Kazuo Yana on October 13, describing his claims about cutting road budgets in areas that failed to support him as "inappropriate" and "really lame," while signaling that she would reconsider whether he should remain in office as opposition lawmakers intensified their demands for his dismissal.

Japan is facing a growing wave of cyberattacks as advances in artificial intelligence remove the language barrier that once made Japanese companies difficult targets for overseas hackers, with more than 68 million personal records potentially exposed in a series of security incidents over the past two weeks.

Japan is expected to experience a warmer-than-normal winter as the El Nino phenomenon currently affecting the Pacific Ocean has reached its strongest level on record, with the Japan Meteorological Agency announcing on October 10th that unusually high sea surface temperatures are likely to persist through the coming winter months.

The Otsu Festival, one of Shiga Prefecture's three major traditional festivals, was held in Otsu City on October 11th, featuring a procession of 13 elaborately decorated floats carrying traditional mechanical puppets through the streets, following the festival's addition to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December last year.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Entertainment NEWS

In today's video, we have a look at the ongoing kabuki performances at the Heisei Nakamura-za theatre, set up this time in Asakusa, Tokyo.

A major new global project centered on the popular Japanese anime franchise Naruto was announced at New York Comic Con 2026, one of the world's largest pop culture events, with plans for an entirely new anime production and a new manga series written by original creator Masashi Kishimoto.

Entertainer Tamori and two other prominent figures were named Honorary Citizens of Tokyo on October 1 in recognition of their contributions to the capital's development and the lives of its residents, with an award ceremony held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters on Tokyo Citizens' Day.

Japanese director Tomoki Misato's stop-motion animation Candy Caries has won the Grand Prize in the children's category for ages 7 and up at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada, one of the world's three major animation festivals.

Makoto Usui, the composer of "Shiawase Hakoberu Yoni," a song written in the aftermath of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that has become a symbol of hope for disaster survivors across Japan and overseas, died in July at the age of 65, leaving behind a musical legacy that his former students are determined to carry forward.

While millions of people across Japan enjoyed this year's five-day Silver Week holiday, workers at Kyoto's Toei Uzumasa Eigamura film studio theme park and a 24-hour smartphone repair service faced packed schedules, with some working late into the night to keep holidaymakers entertained and respond to emergencies.

Japan's oldest record company is turning to artificial intelligence to reshape one of the country's most traditional musical genres, unveiling an AI-generated enka singer as part of a new label combining the technology with the distinctive vocal style of Japanese ballads.

Tsunaki Mihara, a guitarist who rose to fame in the 1960s with the Group Sounds band Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets and remained active in music for decades, died of kidney cancer at a Tokyo hospital at 9:02 a.m. on September 11. He was 80.