Latest travel news, local updates, and tourism information in Japan.
Thirteen minutes apart, two different trips: the lake resort or the working town under Mt. Fuji. A Fujiyoshida local breaks down the photographs, evenings, sunrise access, prices and trains.
Osaka's Naniwa Yodogawa Fireworks Festival fires October 17, 2026, 19:00-20:00. Every seat type and price, the closed Umeda-side riverbank, access stations and the timing rules - verified against the organiser.
Silver Week 2026 is a five-day holiday, 19-23 September, when many people across Japan travel domestically — overlapping the Kishiwada Danjiri and the Asian Games. Exact dates, how to book trains and rooms early, and where to avoid the crowds.
The Kishiwada Danjiri Festival hauls four-tonne wooden floats around corners at a run. 2026 September dates (19-20 Sep), the Kankan-ba viewing corner, safety rules, paid seats, and how to get there from Osaka.
A month-by-month guide to Japan in September 2026: the Kishiwada Danjiri festival (19-20 Sep), the 5-day Silver Week holiday, the Asian Games, red spider lilies, the mid-autumn moon, and how to plan around typhoon season.
Japan's McDonald's Pokémon 30th burgers (July 22–Sept 1, 2026): the three new items, prices from ¥580, collectible starter-Pokémon wrappers, and my honest taste test.
Feel an earthquake in Japan? Drop, cover, hold on — and near the coast, get to high ground without waiting for a warning. A calm, official-sourced guide for visitors: what shindo means, the phone alarm, and what to do in a hotel, train, street or on the coast.
Glass and cans are banned, there are no lockers and no re-entry at the 2026 summer tournament. The game-day routine that works: the AEON shopping run at 8:00, a heat kit that holds up, and Koshien curry inside.
Inscribed 26 July 2026 in Busan: the Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara — 19 sites where the centralised Japanese state took shape, 588–710. The full list, the mural-viewing reality, and notes from my visit three weeks before the decision.
Every seat at summer Koshien 2026 is reserved, ¥300–4,800. The full buying manual: seat map, Category A/B days, the four official channels, the two-session trap, day tickets, rain refunds — and the honest overseas-buyer route.
Every image on Hidden Japan Gems was personally photographed on a Sony α7 across five years of walking Japan. Please don't re-use without permission — reach out if you'd like to.
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