TRAVEL

Somei-Yoshino cherry blossoms have started to bloom on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.
(NHK)

Can the country welcome 60 million visitors a year without losing its culture — and its mind? (Nikkei)

Last year, the government passed a law covering minpaku, which is when people rent out space on their properties to travelers (a la Airbnb). The law is part of an effort to regulate accommodations amid a tourism boom ahead of the 2020 Olympics. (Japan Times)

Tourists in Kyoto have been warned of aggressive monkeys after a series of monkey attacks at popular spots. (Kyodo)

Japan’s Hoshino Resorts will open a luxury hotel in Okinawa next year based on the ancient fortresses that dotted the subtropical islands. (Nikkei)

The bridge connecting Kansai International Airport, on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, with the mainland, was fully reopened Monday with all six inbound and outbound lanes functional following months of repairs after it was hit by a tanker ship during a typhoon in September 2018. (Japan Today)

In Japan, there is no food more beloved than ramen, and there’s no town more ramen crazy than Kyoto’s Ichijoji neighborhood. It’s considered the most competitive ramen area in the country, a place where famous national chains are born — and hopes and dreams soar and crumble in the ramen industry. Ichijoji is well known in Japan but virtually unknown outside the country so — WELCOME to KYOTO! (ONLY in JAPAN)

Security cameras have been installed on street lights along Tokyo’s high-end shopping boulevard, Omotesando-dori, situated in Shibuya Ward, due to an increase in pick-pocketing and camera voyeurism.
(Japan Today)

Passengers on an exclusive cherry-blossom tour have ridden buses through a no-entry zone near the site of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
(NHK)

Japanese chefs and their restaurants continued to dominate at the seventh Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards. But once again they fell short when it came to the ultimate prize, the number one position on the list. (Japan Times)