Latest travel news, local updates, and tourism information in Japan.
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.
Nagaoka (Aug 2–3), the 98th Omagari competition (Aug 29) and Tsuchiura (Nov 7): what each night is, verified 2026 times, and the ticket reality — no free seats, and Nagaoka already sold out.
Four consecutive fireworks nights across the Fuji Five Lakes, 2–5 August 2026 — Saiko, Motosu, Shoji, then the 10,000-shell Kojosai. Times, the bus trap nobody mentions, and which quiet night to pick.
Lake Kawaguchi's century-old Kojosai fires ~10,000 shells on 5 August 2026 — the finale of four straight lake-fireworks nights. Launch sites, viewing areas, 17:00 road closures, and the town's ¥10M crowdfunding to keep the tradition alive.
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Nearly every image on Hidden Japan Gems was photographed by me on a Sony α7 across five years of walking Japan; a few licensed photos fill the gaps. Please don't re-use my photos without permission — reach out if you'd like to.
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