07/28, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Kagurazaka)

The International Red Cross is planning to use AI developed in Japan to speed uplandmine in parts of Ukraine. A team of Japanese scientists has said that it’smanaged to built an original optical quantum computer. Japan has moved to theknockout stage of the FIFA Women's World Cup by defeating Costa Rica 2-0. And,the intense summer heat is expected to continue until October, according to anew three-month forecast by the Japan Meteorological Agency. With temperaturesreaching a peak my the mid to late July, the back streets of Kagurazaka with itsFrench community come alive between July 26 and July 29 during the KagurazakaMatsuri, a summer festival east of Shinjuku and visit RootK Contemporary Galleryfor their exhibition "Public Visuals".—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/26, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Katsushika Fireworks Festival)

Renowned Japanese author Seiichi Morimura, known for works including the novel"Ningen no Shomei" (Proof of the Man) and his nonfiction work "Akuma no Hoshoku"(The Devil's Gluttony), has died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo aged 90.The head of a man found dead in a Sapporo hotel earlier this month has beenrecovered from the home of a doctor who was arrested along with his daughter onsuspicion of murder. And a giant maze made from 50,000 sunflowers has opened inthe city of Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture north of Tokyo. Meanwhile, the 57thKatsushika Noryo hanabi taikai, or fireworks festival, returned to the east ofTokyo for the first time in 4 years. Notebook visited and looked on as peopleclung to lampposts clambering to catch sight of the sky filling with explosions,one deafening boom at a time.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/24, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Coffee-Tei Nominoichi, Ikebukuro)

Recent research shows the Japanese consumer will see the cost of over 30,000food and drink items go up in price by October as retailers seek to protectprofits. Hyper Japan Festival 2023 showcased Japanese culture in London lastFriday, attracting upward of 30,000 people. A government survey last Fridayshowed a marked increase in the number of working women in Japan with a record30.35 million in 2022, compared with 1.22 million five years ago. In Osaka, newsis less promising as a delay in constructing foreign pavilions at the 2025 OsakaKansai Expo site is casting an unsettling shadow over the event with spiralingcosts and controversial appointments. Amid soaring temperatures andunpredictable weather both here and abroad, local weather experts recentlycalled an end to the country’s annual rainy season which usually runs throughJune and early July. NOTEBOOK escaped the worst of the sun for the welcomeseclusion of "Nominoichi", an old coffee shop (or coffee-tei) in Ikebukuro.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/21, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Yasukuni Shrine)

The Japanese government estimates the visitors between January and June exceeded10 million, 21-times the number from the year before. This rebound sawinternational travelers return to Haneda Airport's Terminal 2 on Wednesday,following its three-year closure due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, Japan'sprestigious Akutagawa Prize for Literature has been awarded for the very firsttime to a disabled author with Saou Ichikawa picking up the top prize. Acrosstown and one of the largest festivals of the year took place at Yasukuni Jinja(Shrine) opposite Kitanomaru Koen, a national park also home to many of museums.Yasukuni and park are a short walk from the Imperial Palace which also descendsinto darkness as night falls while an exhibition by the New York based artistTyler Cobern across town at Fig. in Otsuka centers around ideas of actual andspiritual darkness. Notebook visits Yasukuni late one afternoon and listens tothe sound of summer and the few people there soaking up the sun.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/19, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Summer Festivals and Kendo)

A parade of yamahoko floats passed through Kyoto on Monday during the city’sannual Gion Festival, held in all its glory for the first time in almost fouryears. Meanwhile, a man died after being run over by a dashi float on Saturdayat the Hakata Gion Yamakasa summer festival being held in the city of Fukuoka,southwest Japan. Temperatures over the weekend soared, reaching almost 35degrees Celsius in more than 150 different parts of Japan, with temperatures inone city reaching almost 40. And Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of theiconic Family Computer or Famicom, produced by Japanese video game makerNintendo. With last weekend widely acknowledged to be the start of summer, withGion matsuri in Kyoto, Matama matsuri at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine and others thisJuly, Notebook caught one bon odori dance and the sound of Japanese fencing,also known as kendo.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/17, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Obon and Gion matsuri)

Today is Marine day in Japan, a national holiday, and with that Notebook istaking a break and will return on Wednesday. In the meantime, we revisit lastFriday's episode (07/14) visiting Nihonbashi to catch a glimpse of work bypainter David Hockney in the run up to a major exhibition in the Capitol. Allthis prior to the Bon festival season in Tokyo and Gion festival season in Kyotowhich both began last Saturday, as Kyoto filled with people and a flotilla oflanterns during the Gion festival's Yoiyama event in the city.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/14, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Nihonbashi)

The current Chief Executive of Hong Kong has said that it will ban the import ofJapanese seafood should treated water from the disaster-crippled nuclear powerplant in Fukushima be released into the ocean. In Japan, so-called ‘SearchFunds’ are helping entrepreneurs restart aging businesses. And the legendarymanga artist Kazuo Umezz has been reunited with works drawn as a teenager andthought lost, years before making his manga-ka debut. And with wind chimesdotted throughout Nihonbashi for the “Eco-Edo Nihonbashi” project that runsuntil September, current art exhibitions like “Interconnection” at MitsukoshiContemporary Gallery and 'joiner' photo prints by David Hockney at NishimuraGallery, opening this weekend alongside the David Hockney retrospective atTokyo's MOT Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, it is the iconic Nihonbashi Bridgewhich joins past with present from old Edo to present-day Tokyo.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/12, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Interviews)

The heavy rain which lashed northern Kyushu, south west Japan, caused theautomaker Toyota to pause operations Monday at three of its factories. That sameday, temperatures reached 36.2 degrees in Central Tokyo, the first time it hasexceeded 35 degrees this year, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Theweather even caused one ceiling painting at Sensō-ji in Asakusa to peel awayover the weekend. Perhaps feeling the heat was one man who fell victim of a barin Shimbashi that defrauded him and his credit card of almost 700,000 JPY ornearly 5,000 USD. One very expensive night out. And in the run-up to the Bonholiday season we revisit several of our interviews with key creatives in theCapitol.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/10, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Bon Odori)

Concerns in Japan are growing over a possible resurgence of coronavirus casesthis summer. Suspicious objects were discovered by police as people observed aminute's silence where the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated oneyear ago on July 8th. A three-day festival of Japanese culture began on Fridayin Sao Paulo, attracting cosplayers and members of Brazil's Japanese nikkei-jincommunity. Meanwhile, Access Tohoku, a store selling popular food and otheritems from Japan's Tohoku region, is set to open in Singapore on July 19th. Asthis week builds up to the first of several O’bon festivals in the capital, werevisit one from last year in Tokyo’s Toshima ward and listen to the Bon odoridance in full-swing.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/07, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Tokyo Gendai and Kishimojin, Zoshigaya)

Notebook reaches 200 episodes! The system logging traffic coming in and goingout of the central Japanese Port of Nagoya was hit by a ransomware attack onTuesday, by the Russia-based hacker group LockBit. The International AtomicEnergy Agency IAEA opened an office at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant onWednesday monitoring the safe discharge of treated radioactive water into thePacific Ocean. A river running Ikoma in Nara prefecture turned a bright greenthis week. And police arrested a 35-year-old man for stealing 1,500 Pokemontrading cards worth 1.15 million JPY (8,000 USD) from a store in Akihabara. Withtoday marking 200 episodes of Notebook and the start of this summer’s Tanabata(or Star) Festival, we scan the art events happening this weekend — from TokyoGendai in Yokohama, to Tennozu Artweek at WHAT Museum, even Koji Nakano at XYZCollective — and visit Kishimojin temple in Zoshigaya and its summer festivalhappening this weekend.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/05, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Thunderstorms and Zōjō-ji Temple)

Heavy rain pounded Japan's southwestern Kyushu region on Monday, causing abridge to collapse, with some 360,000 evacuating Kumamoto city. The recordrainfall over the weekend has left one dead and another person missing, with theJapan Meteorological Agency warning of further landslides. And as the rainfront, extending from western to northern Japan, moving southward, a ceremonywas held in the coastal town of Atami on Monday to remember 28 residents whodied two years ago following a major landslide. In Fukuoka, a local artist lastweek unveiled his first painted billboard in 20 years for the latest IndianaJones film. And with storm clouds and wet weather enveloping the country, andTanabata — the Star Festival — celebrated on Friday, July 7th, we visited thehistoric Zōjō-ji temple near Tokyo Tower, the day after the sky opened anderupted over most of Tokyo the night before.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

07/03, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Festivals and Ehime)

The Mayor of Hiroshima Kazumi Matsui and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan RahmEmanuel signed a sister park agreement between the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Parkand the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii. The Japanese government issueda power-saving request for areas served by TEPCO. The Nakagin Capsule TowerBuilding in Ginza is given a new lease of life with one of its modular capsulesadded to the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Andwhile the Enmusubi Wind Chime Festival opened yesterday in Kawagoe, Saitama, theannual Uwajima Ushioni Festival arrives in the port city of Uwajima for threedays later this month.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/30, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (From Ehime to the Civic Creative Base Tokyo, Shibuya)

Japanese toys, games and character goods, are to be exhibited in the Braziliancity Sao Paulo. The Japanese oil painter Gyoji Nomiyama passed away last weekaged 102. Meanwhile, art exhibitions in the capitol continue unabated, fromChristopher L G Hill’s “Turtle” at Goya Curtain, to “Distance from the Incident”at "Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, "Shinro Ohtake" at Ehime Museum of Artin Matsuyama (ending Sunday 7/2), and “Tameshigaki” (lignes de vies) anexhibition of paintings by Charles Munka at INS studio, new gallery in Shibuya.Speaking of Shibuya, CCBT, the Civic Creative Base Tokyo, is an art and culturecenter sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It held a pressconference yesterday introducing its newest creative director Hideaki Ogawa whospoke with Notebook about the challenges of running such a center in Tokyo.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/28, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Hachinosu in Matsuyama)

A man dressed as the Joker character was charged with assault and arson aboard aTokyo train in 2021, charges he denies. Meanwhile, passengers temporarily fledthe Yamanote Line on Sunday afternoon after several open knives fell on thefloor of the packed train. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki offeredcaution against the recent rapid decline of the yen. A major Japanese movingcompany has apologized after a prank video starring several employees wentviral. And Notebook recently visited Izakaya ‘Hachinosu' in Matsuyama, Ehime, ashort walk from Matsuyama's Okaido shopping street.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/25, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Matsuyama, Ehime)

Giant panda cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei turned two on Friday at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo.More than 700 people are preparing to run for election in Japan's so-calledHouse of Representatives this coming autumn. Okinawa marked the 78th anniversaryof the end of the Pacific War last week. Tokyo’s Narita Airport plans to raisesurcharges for international passengers from September, and a think-tank in WestJapan is planning to repurpose abandoned homes and rundown buildings by re-usingtheir wood and shortcut the global strain on lumber. Matsuyama is the capital ofEhime prefecture on the main island of Shikoku. Notebook recently visited thecity and rode the streetcar made famous by writer Soseki Natsume to visit theDōgo Onsen public bathhouse.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/23, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Baseball, Otsuka Batting Center)

Kansai Electric informed Fukui prefectural government of its plan to reactivatethe No. 1 and No. 2 reactor at its Takahama nuclear power plant, north of Kyotoon the Fukui coastline. Organizers of the popular Awa Odori dance festival areoffering premium seats each priced at 200,000 JPY (1,400 USD) for the annualfestival held in Tokushima Prefecture this August. A box of 15 premier cherriesknown as “Aomori Heartbeat” fetched a staggering 500,000 JPY (3,500 USD) duringthe first auction of the season in Aomori prefecture. And with Baseball thenational pastime in Japan, we visit Picotao and the batting cages of the OtsukaBatting Center in Tokyo’s Toshima ward for one final session before it closes onJune 30th, and then head to gallery 4649 in Sugamo for a painting show by YusukeAbe.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/21, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Ōkubo)

The distinguished novelist Yumie Hiraiwa, known for her “Kawasemi hotel” novelseries, passed away earlier this month aged 91. Communities around Mt. Fuji arecalling for a limit to the number of hikers ahead of this summer’s predictedclimbing boom. The Japan branch of the International Association for ImpactAssessment (IAIA) has heavily criticized the Tokyo metropolitan government forits plan to redevelop the Meiji Jingu Gaien district. And Kagoshima Prefectureheld its first Spider Battle in four years, an event where two spiders battle itout on the end of a long thin stick. Tokyo's Okubo is a rich mix of Korean andSoutheast Asian culture. Inexpensive areas during the early 80s, it's nowregarded as Korean Town that is also home to a vibrant Muslim community. We walkalong Ikemen Street towards Shin-Ōkubo Station on the Yamanote line.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/19, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Ni-chome, San-chome and Kabukicho)

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui will head back to the ISS for 6 months in spacelater next year. An indoor amusement park featuring the world of Harry Potteropened at the former Toshimaen amusement park in Nerima on Friday. And finally,Japanese film director Sadao Nakajima, known for “Gokudo no Onnatachi”, “Nihonno Don” and “Jo no Mai”, died in Kyoto on Sunday aged 88. Shinjuku has long-hada history of counterculture, film and theatre. With Shinjuku's ni-chome,san-chome, and Kabukicho all within walking distance of each other, we wanderthrough each district one evening as daytime ends and the night begins.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/16, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Hibiya Park, Godzilla and Tadanori Yokoo)

An 18-year-old recruit shot and killed one of his instructors at a Self-DefenseForce firing range in Gifu Wednesday morning. A special screening of MakotoShinkai’s hit animated film Suzume no Tojimari (2022) took place at the CivicHall in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture last month, in the same place that alsomakes an appearance on-screen. And Tokyo-based artist Yuko Mohri to representJapan at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Back in Tokyo, an Hibiya with its bronzestatue of Godzilla is not far from Hibiya Park, opened in 1903 and once home tothe state wire service Domei Tsushin, . The park today is a far cry from theHibiya Riots which began in 1905. Nearby, the Ginza Graphic Gallery hosts artistand illustrator Tadanori Yokoo with “My Black Holes” an exhibition of archivematerial from the 1960s to the 1980s which runs until June 30th.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—

06/14, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Ueno Park, Philippines Expo 2023)

Domestic producer prices increased for the 27th straight month, rising by morethan 5 percent from last year. A Vietnamese student has been arrested onsuspicion of cutting hair without a license at his Tokyo home, serving as manyas 3,000 customers since April 2021 while raking in a tidy profit. Meanwhile,the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has labeled Shibuya’s Dogenzaka a ‘TownscapeRegeneration District’ that is part of redevelopment currently taking placearound the main JR station. And with this year marking the 125th anniversary ofPhilippine independence from Spanish colonial rule, Ueno Park last weekendplayed host to Philippine Expo 2023 with a three day festival coinciding withthe country's June 12th Independence day. We drop in on Ueno Park, transformedinto Manila for three days of celebrations.—Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @notebook_podTwitter: @notebook_pod—Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.comLeave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook—