Nipponica

According to Fujishiro Shrine, located in the Wakayama Prefecture city of Kainan, a family named "Suzuki" moved from the Kumano region in the south Kii Peninsula to Fujishiro (present-day Kainan) around the late Heian period (794-1185), and from their base there, they spread the Kumamo faith centering on the three grand shrines of Kumano.

Sounds like an interesting visit to celebrate all the Suzukis in your life.

The former professional boxer, now aged 88 and battling physical and mental illness, will learn his fate in late September when the Shizuoka district court rules in his retrial, which started in March 2023. He has not appeared in court, having been declared mentally unfit to give credible evidence. His long incarceration has exposed what campaigners call inhumane treatment of death row inmates in Japan.

Regardless of his guilt or not, the death penalty is an echo of an uncivilized past and Japan could easily gain a few rungs on the human rights ladder by abolishing it.

Objects and signs in the shape of glasses are not the only decorations found on the city’s streets; designs of glasses are hiding in all kinds of places, such as on benches and bollards, making the city a photo hotspot for social media users.

Proper madness but if you are going to do it, at least they are going all the way.

The boy was taking a class shortly before 11 a.m. Friday at a swimming pool in a nearby junior high school as his elementary school's swimming pool could not be used due to an equipment failure, the education board of the city of Kochi said.

A very sad story and disappointing that the 3 teachers on site did not notice the boy drowning.

Thrill-seekers looking for an adrenaline hit can head to the iconic Tsutenkaku Tower in the western Japan city of Osaka, where a new obstacle course that involves leaping off the side of the major landmark opened this summer.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is scheduled to hold a summit meeting with Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit, which is set to begin Tuesday in Washington, a U.S. government official said Friday.

NATO and the four countries are expected to discuss cyber affairs, countermeasures against false information and Ukraine aid, while keeping China and Russia in mind.

According to a Mitsubishi Research Institute survey, 27% of respondents expressed an interest in visiting the Expo as of April this year, almost unchanged from the previous survey conducted in October 2023 and four points lower than in October 2022. The number of pre-ordered tickets sold was approximately 2.8 million as of June 19, or only 20% of the target.

This is unfortunate but not unexpected. As a bit of a World Expo nerd, I am really excited to visit simply because my mid-20th century utopian ideals still haven't been totally purged from my psyche. Events like the 1964 World Expo and places that ape the Expo ethos like 1980s EPCOT Center had an optimistic, global view of the future which is sadly rare nowadays. Expos have always been driven by a commercial drive for pavilion sponsors and business in the host city, but it could be much more than that. Hoping that Osaka can provide a unique experience that will drive people to visit.

During the Yamato Period (300-710), this village was one of the earliest capitals of the nascent Yamato state, even meriting its own aptly named Asuka Period (552-645) — a time of cultural blooming and political consolidation (indeed, it was during this era that the country of Japan began to refer to itself by the modern name of “Nihon” instead of the archaic “Wa”).

A cycling tour of this former capital does sounds like a relaxing way to spend a day. Lots of ruins from the earliest eras of human settlement in Japan to see.

The onset of summer provides the perfect excuse to stay inside with the air conditioning and catch up on your streaming queue. For those planning to binge some Japan-related shows alongside new seasons of “House of the Dragon” and “The Bear,” 2024 has been particularly bountiful ... with awards even possible in the near future when Emmy nominations are announced July 17.

If you need more shows to add to your list, there are some good recommendations for recent and upcoming series in this article.

In 1998, a Japanese man was stripped naked and left alone in an almost-empty apartment as part of a challenge for a reality TV show.

Tomoaki Hamatsu, known as Nasubi, was left with only a pen, some blank postcards, a telephone and rack full of magazines. But he was not there to read. The concept of the show was to see if a human being could survive on competition prizes alone. In order to win the challenge, the value of the prizes he won had to reach a certain financial threshold - 1m yen, around £6,000 at the time.

He would not emerge for 15 months, following a gradual descent into depression and mania, driven by hunger and isolation. Nearly three decades later, Nasubi's ordeal is being revisited as part of a new film that has just screened at the Sheffield Documentary Festival.

I just got a chance to watch this last night and it was a thoughtfully produced story covering many issues in Japanese society include school bullying, mental illness, and the exploitative entertainment industry. Nasubi tells his story well and eloquently explains the suffering that he endured. A great watch and a good historical document for those that never got to see 電波少年 in person.