News On Japan

Fire Ceremony and Luxury Dining by Japan’s Highest Lake

Mar 21, 2023 (Japan by Food) - Shizuka visits Nikko for a wonderful luxury retreat in the mountains. She gets to witness an engaging fire ritual, where rhythmic chanting and the leaping flames of holy cedar transports you to an otherworldly scene.

After the tour of the temple's main hall and scenic spots like Chuzenji Lake and Kegon Falls, Shizuka enjoys a fancy kaiseki meal in the Ritz Carlton’s dining room. The delicate art of kaiseki course dining is brought to life by the regional quality of unique mashiko-yaki ware and cuisine infused with Tochigi spirit. ...continue reading

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Japan has asked for changes to an Equal Earth world map that depicts the Russian-controlled Northern Territories in the same color as Russia, prompting the map's creator to say the Japanese-language version will be revised while the English version will remain unchanged.

Nagoya was assessing the damage after record-breaking rainfall exceeding 100 millimeters in one hour struck the city on September 8, causing a river to temporarily overflow into a residential area and leaving carp and catfish stranded in roadside drains.

Large volumes of floodwater poured into the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, following heavy rain on September 7, prompting the massive underground flood-control facility known as the "Underground Temple" to go into operation.

Osaka Metro plans to abolish magnetic tickets and replace them with QR code-based tickets around fiscal 2031, as declining use and the cost of maintaining conventional ticket gates accelerate the shift toward digital fare systems.

Ticket sales for the Asian Games are gathering pace with less than two weeks until the competition begins, with more than 60% of tickets sold for the opening ceremony and 31 sports as of September 7, although organizers say seats remain readily available for events including soccer and baseball.

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Grape-picking season has reached its peak at tourist farms in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture, where hot weather from spring through summer has produced particularly sweet, richly flavored fruit this year, although prolonged rain has reduced visitor numbers and could shorten the season.

The autumn red snow crab season has opened on the Sea of Japan coast, with the first auction at Kasumi Fishing Port in Kami, Hyogo Prefecture, recording a top price of 300,000 yen for a single crab on September 4.

Japan's Environment Ministry will conduct its first survey of animal cafes, where customers can interact with animals including exotic species, as concerns grow over infection risks, injuries and the welfare burden placed on animals.

Japan byFood and Shizuka are back with Worth The Trip the series where we will discover food spots in Japan that are actually worth traveling for! This time we are going to award-winning eats around Tokyo under one rule – we can only eat for $10 or around ¥1,600 yen.

Japan's 2026 rice harvest is expected to show mixed results across the country, with yields slightly above the previous year's level in five prefectures, roughly unchanged in 20 and slightly lower in 21, according to an Agriculture Ministry forecast released on August 31.

The edamame harvest has begun in Nakasatsunai, Hokkaido, one of Japan's leading production areas, with favorable weather supporting strong growth and farmers expecting about 3,000 tons of the local specialty to be harvested by mid-September.

Traditional vegetables cultivated in Tokyo for generations are facing a growing threat from extreme heat and a shortage of farmers willing to carry on their cultivation, with some growers reporting that seeds are failing to germinate or young plants are dying in increasingly severe summer temperatures.

Production of Asahi Ponzu, a popular seasoning that has been a fixture on Kansai dining tables for decades, has been suspended for the first time in the product's roughly 60-year history as a severe shortage of sudachi citrus exposes a deepening crisis in Tokushima Prefecture, which accounts for 98% of Japan's shipments.