After taking over an underground concourse in Shinjuku Station to great success in March, Sanrio’s Pompompurin character is back with another “huggable” advertising campaign to celebrate his 20th anniversary for any Tokyoite in need of an injection of kawaii.

This time the adorable golden retriever character with a fondness for custard puddings is wrapped around advertising columns in the concourse connecting the Keio Line’s Shibuya Station and the Mark City complex. If you want to get your Pompompurin fix, head to the Keio ticket gates and you can’t miss the crowds taking selfies!

For the current installation Sanrio has opted for a slightly alternate design, not least because the location and conditions are different.

The ads remain fluffy and soft like before, but are not fully wrapped around the columns (they were round in Shinjuku). Instead, Pompompurin has been rather unceremoniously cut in half and “stuck” suspended onto either side of the pillars. This may reduce your ability to put your arms completely around the kawaii dog but we promise the ads are still very much huggable.

The new ads are also combined with video screens (the columns at station are actually a permanent digital signage spot) that play special footage. Watch this carefully for secret codes that you can then input on the campaign website to claim free mystery items.

The huggable Pompompurin ads are installed from April 4th to April 10th.

In a unique mix of analog and digital culture, the Mask of Anubis pairs a virtual reality headset with a multi-player board game.

Working with a dedicated iOS and Android app, the Egypt-inspired game sees players work together to solve a mystery. A newly discovered pyramid contains treasures deep inside. You send your dog (what else?) into the pyramid and take turns to wear the VR googles (modeled on Anubis) to see a few seconds of the maze. You then use the tiles and other board pieces to map out the route inside.

It first made waves earlier in the year when a Japanese blog wrote about it. Initially announced at the prototype stage as Tower of Maze), it has finally been released in a limited run. Currently available only in Japan, the makers hope this will be an overseas hit and plan to exhibit it at Internationale Spieltage SPIEL in October.

The free app currently displays in Japanese or English, and apparently French and German versions are under development. English rules can be found here and a fully detailed break-down of the gameplay is here.

Here is how you make the virtual reality googles (actually a cardboard mask with a smartphone inside).

And here is a glimpse into the playing experience.

While it’s not the only virtual reality board game in the world (there is also Lost Cities by Campfire Union), this is still a very welcome innovation that takes us back to our childhood.

Retro board game culture from the 1980s and 1990s will be temptingly nostalgic for any millenial or “digital immigrant”, and in Japan this remains a thriving world. Despite its reputation for video games and technology, people like analog games and there are even board game cafes around Tokyo, such as Jelly Jelly in Shibuya.

The Mask of Anubis also taps into the high interest in virtual reality consoles in Japan (and worldwide) coming in the wake of the release of the Oculus Rift and in anticipation of the PlayStation VR (aka Project Morpheus) in the autumn. Recent developments include the Namco VR Zone Project i Can, Sky Circus at Sunshine 60 in Ikebukuro.

We first wrote back in 2014 about Babymetal’s quest to conquer the world after they were covered by the online edition of UK fashion magazine i-D. At the time, the part gothic Lolita idols, part heavy metal band Babymetal had just appeared at Sonicsphere alongside the likes of Iron Maiden.

Their unique style seems to have already inspired imitators. The KISS and Momoiro Clover Z collaboration last year seemed uncannily Babymetal-esque in places.

Now Japanese band Babymetal have taken another step forward in their endeavors to achieve global status by making their U.S. television debut. The trio of young ladies performed “Gimme Chocolate!!” from their latest album, “Metal Resistance”, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

As host Stephen Colbert says, “I’m not sure what I’m about to see, but I’m pretty excited about it.”

The “sugarpop, pint-sized idols” also got a rave review from The Guardian of their recent Wembley Arena gig to promote their second album.

In 2014, Babymetal hype reached UK shores and landed them a headline show at the Forum in London. Later that year they stepped up to Brixton Academy, and now, much to everyone’s disbelief, they are filling Wembley Arena. The curiosity and novelty of checking out a metal J-pop band fronted by three teen girls in tutus has passed. This isn’t another metal gimmick: it’s a legitimate phenomenon.

There is no longer anything about them that seems ridiculous. The band are tight and there is spotlit time enough for wailing solos and breakdowns. Given this versatile space and production budget, slick dance routines and the blending of every genre from trap to bubblegum pop suddenly makes perfect sense. The group are a true product of idol culture, each pristine girl present to see us just as much as the 12,000 of us are there to worship them. The adoration is radiating from every bloke with a tear in his eye.

That being said, as any glance at the YouTube video and other articles on blogs and news sites will show, Babymetal seem to be a bit division. Some adore them. Others think they are clever twist on genre and style. While others can’t see what the fuss is about. Nonetheless, they now have a cult following and full mainstream success may be just around the corner.

This beggars the bigger question, and it’s a tricky one: are we witnessing an exciting new wave of American and European interest in Japanese pop music? Or is this just accidental fodder for the “Wacky Japan” machine?

The jury’s still out but, in the meantime, Babymetal are still rocking away.

Coca-Cola has announced the “sumaho” (smartphone) vending machine. Though the name suggests a vending machine that sells phones, it is actually one that connects with a smart device and a dedicated app called Coke ON.

Vending machines are a fact of life in Japan. Especially in the big cities, you never seem far from a vendor or even two. They sell everything from drinks to food, newspapers and gacha gacha capsule toys. Payment has been easy for many years, since almost all vending machines accept IC cards.

Coca-Cola has experimented with solar-powered “eco vending machines” in the past, but now everything is about interactivity and interface. The futuristic touchscreen machines at JR stations around Tokyo wowed the blogosphere when they appeared in 2010, being able to suggest drinks based on the demographic of the consumer standing in front of the screen, but have now become almost blasé.

The new service by the drinks giant started April 8th via the Android and iOS app. Download Coke ON (not available for Android devices at time of writing) and then, as the copy has it, “switch ON your moments.” Users with the app are encouraged to visit different Coca-Cola vending machines with their phone, making a purchase each time.

Collect the “stamps” available by first turning on the app and then placing your phone near the price display. Make your purchase with e-money or cash, and a “stamp” will be saved to your account. (Yes, this is yet another example of that marketing staple in Japan, the stamp rally.)

Visit 15 vending machines to get enough stamps to claim a free drink. You can then use the drink ticket by selecting the app and your selecting a drink directly from your phone while standing in front of the vendor. The choice is then sent to the machine, which dispenses it for you.

If you download the Coke ON app by June 30th then you get 5 stamps to get you started on your journey to a free beverage. Coca-Cola hopes to achieve 2 million downloads by the end of 2016, which means they will have a lot of data on where and what consumers are buying around the country. The brand also plans to integrate the Smartphone Vending Machine system into 140,000 vending machines by the end of the year.

Although many bemoan the state of the Japanese music industry, at least the talented people tasked with making the music videos seem to be keen on pushing boundaries.

“Ponpara Pecorna Papiyotta” by 5572320 was one of the strangest videos ever committed to music, while Namie Amuro’s “Golden Touch” was a music video that felt like it was interacting with your finger on the screen.

The hip-hop idol group lyrical school have made waves with the music video for their single “RUN and RUN”, creating it in a “vertical” format video that is specifically designed for watching on a smartphone.

Even if you are viewing this on a regular browser you can still get a sense of the “narrowscreen” portrait perspective as the girls move in and out of menus and message windows. The video feels like it is shifting through the various apps on your phone like the camera, Vine, Facetime and more.

For the best results, use the YouTube app to view the video here. Even better, view view it on Vimeo.

As the band says: “You might feel as if your smartphone is taken over and operated on its own!” The single is released on April 27th.

Hitachi has announced a new humanoid robot EMIEW3, set for production in 2018.

With a name inspired not by the similar-sounding bird but rather the word “excellent”, EMIEW3 enhances the technology and design of the previous two models in this robot series first presented in 2005.

Featuring 14 microphones around its face and sensors that allow it to communicate with human partners in multiple languages, EMIEW3 connects to a cloud to offer traffic guidance and other information.

Falling into that cute-yet-useful customer service category that Softbank’s Pepper is also attempting to monopolize, the 15kg (33 lbs), 90cm (3 ft) robot can move fast (keeping pace with human walking speed) and also stand up by itself if it happens to fall over. It knows to slow down at a corner and avoid collisions, and can also cope with differences in surface height.

Perhaps smartest of all, it can tell when someone nearby looks lost or like they need some assistance, and will then take the initiative to approach and engage them in conversation. The friendly, red humanoid robot resembles a young boy and also bears the hallmarks of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy.

One day this little fellow might well be guiding tourists around the warren that is Shinjuku Station during the 2020 Olympics, or perhaps helping you find that obscure cable in the electronics store.

Forget digital campaigns. Right now in Japan there is a lot of buzz about how companies are coming up with exciting, interactive ways to advertise their products in stations and other public places in Tokyo, especially Shinjuku. Here is another fun example.

Kanro Gelee Pure is a popular type of gummy candy in Japan, and is currently the subject of a promo in Shinjuku that has gone viral.

The “Mystery Touch” billboard takes advantage of the Shinjuku Station Metro Promenade underground passageway, which is fast becoming the location of choice for these kinds of promos. The Dragon Quest “bubble-wrap” billboard was here in 2015, while this year Dragon Quest Builders advertised its release with a billboard made of removable blocks and then Sanrio installed the first “huggable” Pompompurin advertising columns.

The Kanro Gelee Pure billboard is “3D” with heart-shaped “candy” bursting out of the wall and demanding to be touched.

The willing participant can then slide their hand into a peculiar “mouth” to retrieve a “surprise” (a free giveaway of Kanro Gelee Pure in various flavors).

【モザイク無し動画】新宿地下コンコースの巨体ピュレグミに手を突っ込んできたよ！！！

※4月17日まで開催 https://t.co/YX7ODmIIol #ピュレグミ #ジュレピュレ #ミステリータッチ pic.twitter.com/Z5WG49e83w

— コクブカメラ［⊿CE:宮城①/幕張全通］ (@kokubucamera) 2016年4月11日

The “mouth” is meant to be a candy that has been sliced in half to reveal the sweet juice in the center. Some, though, have been quick to point out that if installation was placed vertically, it would drastically change the style of the event! We’ll leave that out there for your imaginations to run riot.

These kinds of promos are successful because no one can resist a freebie, and seeing a crowd lining up and getting excited to do something also guarantees that the considerable foot traffic in the passageway is going to take notice of the event. And importantly, people are going to tweet and share images on social media.

The billboard is on display from April 11th to April 17th, and the free giveaways are available from 11am to 7pm, or 9am to 5pm at the weekend. Be prepared to line up!

Mori has made its mission to create “cities-within-the-city” complexes, most notable in Roppongi but also in Aoyama with the Omotesando Hills.

In mid-2014 Mori Building opened the Toranomon Hills complex, the latest addition to the ever-changing Tokyo skyline.

But Toranomon Hills is actually just the initial phase in Mori’s ambitious efforts to transform the Toranomon area into a global hub.

As announced by Mori this week, future plans for the 7.5-ha district will include three more mixed-used towers in addition to the main Hills, all linked by an elevated park. This will effectively create a whole new high-end business district in Toranomon, which is not exactly an under-developed area even now.

“The city and its people need to constantly evolve in order to bolster the city’s power to attract creative individuals and enterprises from around the world”, said Shingo Tsuji, CEO of Mori Building. “We believe that Toranomon Hills complex will continue to catalyze economic, cultural and environmental changes, establishing the area as a hub for international business that will enliven and strengthen Tokyo as a whole.”

The existing Toranomon Hills already has 52 floors stretching up 247 m (810 ft), offering office space, conference facilities, luxury residences, shops and restaurants, not to mention 6,000 sq m (65,000 sq ft) of very welcome green space.

The tower will be joined by the 36-floor Toranomon Hills Business Tower, the 56-floor Toranomon Hills Residential Tower and the Toranomon Hills Station Tower, in addition to a whole new subway station on the Hibiya Line.

When complete, there will be about 800,000 square sq m (8,611,128 sq ft) of total floor space, roughly equivalent to that of Roppongi Hills, including about 300,000 sq m (3,229,173 sq ft) of office space and 26,000 sq m (279,861 sq ft) of retail space.

The Business Tower will provide “office space, salons and seminar venues for venture capitalists and top companies’ new business development divisions.”

To bring world-class sophistication to the design, Mori has tapped German architect Christoph Ingenhoven to direct the tower’s external design and leading Japanese interior designer Masamichi Katayama to undertake the interior design of retail facilities.

As well as the subway station, the development will form a new transport hub through the twin bus stations inside the Toranomon Hills Business Tower to link the area to central Tokyo, the city’s bay area (currently undergoing its own vast redevelopment) and airports.

The Toranomon Hills Business and Residential Towers are due for completion by 2019, in time for the Olympics. Some subway services will also begin by then, plus Toranomon will provide access to Loop Road No. 2, a trunk road also due to be finished in 2020 and connecting Shimbashi to the rapidly evolving bayside area of Toyosu.

Some details are still to be finalized about the Station Tower, scheduled to open in 2022, but it will mirror the Business Tower’s approach.

Mori Building’s signature style of integrated development will provide a soothing greenery-filled environment that also facilitates the movement of visitors, workers, and residents around the complex and through the city. The project will be designed by OMA principal Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with founding principal Rem Koolhaas.

The luxury Residential Tower will add some 600 units to the area, and come with facilities including spa and fitness center, childcare facilities, and 24-hour bilingual concierge.

The interior will be designed by Tony Chi, the NY-based designer responsible for the Grand Hyatt Tokyo and Andaz Tokyo. Christoph Ingenhoven will design the exterior of this tower as well to ensure a harmonious balance with the adjacent Toranomon Hills Business Tower and the existing Toranomon Hills.

The district’s emphasis greenery is part of a vision to a more environmentally friendly urban space, linking up the nearby Atago Green Hills, another Mori development.

The Mori Art Museum opened the current iteration of its “Roppongi Crossing” series of exhibitions. Organized every three years, the exhibition is the largest of its kind in Japan devoted to presenting the latest currents in Japanese contemporary art.

Running until July 10th at the Roppongi venue, “Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice” focuses on alternative histories as well as images of physicality and gender. There are 20 artists and artist groups represented, selected by curators from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Mari Katayama, you’re mine #001 (2014)
Lambda print / 104.8 x 162 cm
Private collection / Courtesy: TRAUMARIS, Tokyo

Mari Katayama’s work plays off notions of beauty and disability, boldly placing the artist herself strikingly in the center of the exhibits.

Kazuhiro Nomura, Altar of Laughter (2015)
Mixed media / Dimensions variable
Installation view: “Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice” at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2016
Photo: Satoshi Nagare / Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Kazuhiro Nomura’s playful installation encourages visitors to throw buttons onto a plinth.

With globalization, the continuing development of IT and the proliferation of SNS platforms, people now more than ever have the ability to communicate with the world as an individual. As well, with increased opportunity for virtual communication via the Internet, there is an inevitable change in self identities and in relationship between the self and others. Thus a review of the variety of existing frameworks in the society as well as the sets of values that until now have been taken for granted is needed.

This exhibition features artists that shine a spotlight on individual events and stories based on their own research — through which alternative histories, images on physical body and gender, as well as landscapes emerge. Who am “I”? How is my body connected to history and to other people? The sense of past and future, of oneself and other people — through art we will explore new relationships between the world and oneself.

“Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice” at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2016
Photo: Satoshi Nagare / Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Nile Koetting, Magnitude (2016)
Mixed media / Dimensions variable
Installation view: “Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice” at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2016
Courtesy: YAMAMOTO GENDAI, Tokyo
Photo: Satoshi Nagare / Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Ai Hasegawa, (Im)possible Baby: 10th Birthday Scene (2015)
Digital print / 90 x 135 cm

Given that last year was the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, several of the exhibits dwell on the war and the postwar period. Many of the artists also present work that explores issues of gender and sexuality — a very timely topic in Japan right now.

For example, Ai Hasagawa’s installation explores the scientific and moral possibilities for same-sex couples to have children by “designing” visual versions of the hypothetical offspring, and then creating family portraits.

To coincide with an art exhibition inside Roppongi Hills, a new Sailor Moon cafe opened on April 16th serving special drinks and meals themed around Naoko Takeuchi’s manga and anime.

The Chibiusa Cafe, as it is called, is open until June 19th concurrently with the exhibition.

The menu includes a Sailor Moon Special Hamburger with star-shaped tater tots, Tuxedo Mask spaghetti, a Heavenly Miracle Romance Parfait, a Luna P Ball Berry Mousse, Evil Black Crystal Cocktail, Sailor Senshi Beauty Charge Juices, and more.

Sailor Moon may well be a 1990s franchise but nostalgia and a new generation of fans is fueling its recent commercial success, including a whole range of special anniversary merchandise.

The Roppongi exhibition’s tie-in cafe is actually far from the first time that the popular girls’ manga and anime series has had its own pop-up space in Tokyo.

Anion Station, usually a bar that plays anime soundtracks, became the Sailor Moon Cafe until from August until late September in 2015, and this was the third time that the Shinjuku venue had had a Sailor Moon makeover.

We’ve seen an increasing number of successful cafes and pop-ups themed around anime and other franchises.

We recently blogged about the PuyoQue Cafe while others include cafes themed around Miffy, Pokemon and Rilakkuma.

In 2014, many noted the death of gyaru culture as two of the prominent hostess and gyaru fashion magazines — Koakuma Ageha and egg — closed down.

Then in 2015, something seemed to give and there was a mini revival. Koakuma Ageha was relaunched and gyaru culture, especially the publishing side of it, seemed to be saved.

But here’s another piece of negative news that indicates that the partial renaissance won’t be pure sailing in these troubled publishing times.

Happie Nuts, another gyaru magazine, was relaunched in July last year. Founded in November 2004 when it changed its name from Happie, the title was also one of the 2014 gyaru casualties due to the bankruptcy of In Forest. Its clique of dark-skinned models were known as “Nuts Mates”.

But fans had hoped its prospects would be revived with a new company supplying the coffers.

Its last issue will be the March one with Saeko on the cover. Officially it is only a temporary suspension, meaning there is a possibility that Happie Nuts reappears in another form at a later date as the gyaru publishing revival stumbles on.

Other notable fashion magazine closures since 2015 include CUTiE, GINA and PICHILE.

Japan’s Snoopy craze is about to hit fever-pitch with the opening of Snoopy Museum Tokyo in Roppongi on April 23rd.

Asannounced last year, the venue features exclusive exhibits of Charles M. Schulz’s original drawings as well as a themed cafe and merchandise galore.

Following on from successful pop-up cafes in Tokyo and down south in Kyushu, Japanese fans of the Peanuts gang are in for a treat with this new Snoopy Mecca.

Tickets cost ¥2,000 for adults on the day or ¥1,800 in advance. Admission is divided into five time slots per day.

This is the world’s first such Snoopy museum, organized by Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. The location is an up-market part of Roppongi seven minutes walk from the station that the operators claim is urban yet quiet, “just like the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa”.

Visitors will have the opportunity to view unique original cartoons from the collection of the Charles M. Schulz Museum. This will include large-scale works created by Mr. Schulz himself, featuring popular characters like Snoopy and Woodstock.

Every six months, the Snoopy Museum will introduce new exhibitions curated by the Charles M. Schulz Museum. These will include early comics that were drawn before Peanuts, such as his Li’l Folks cartoons, animation art, Vince Guaraldi’s jazz music from animated Peanuts cartoons, and rare vintage Peanuts memorabilia. In addition, unpublished sketches and artwork will be displayed in a section highlighting an unknown side of Schulz sure to surprise and delight even his most loyal of fans.

The first exhibition is “My Favorite Peanuts”, showcasing sixty of Charles M. Schulzs original Peanuts cartoons, personally selected by his wife, Jean Schulz.

Musuem facilities include Cafe Blanket, a cafe with a terrace and a name derived from Linus’ signature security blanket, and Brown’s Store, which is the museum shop packed full of toys and more.

The museum will only be open until September 2018, though we suspect the time limit is just there to concentrate visitor numbers. If the museum proves a big hit, it will surely find a way to extend.

A previous Snoopy exhibition in Roppongi in late 2013 attracted 280,000 visitors. The Peanuts Movie, which grossed over $5 million at the local box office in December, also recently went on DVD release in Japan.

The new 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games logo has been announced.

The official logo was confirmed today as “Harmonized Chequered Emblems,” which was Design A in the shortlist and arguably the most Japanese in style. The logos are the work of designer Asao Tokoro.

Chequered patterns have been popular in many countries around the world throughout history. In Japan, the chequered pattern became formally known as “ichimatsu moyo” in the Edo period (1603-1867), and this chequered design in the traditional Japanese colour of indigo blue expresses a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan.

Composed of three varieties of rectangular shapes, the design represents different countries, cultures and ways of thinking. It incorporates the message of “unity in diversity”. It also expresses that the Olympic and Paralympic Games seek to promote diversity as a platform to connect the world.

As people who have been following Tokyo’s disastrous preparations for the 2020 Games will know, the original logo (or “emblem” in the organizers’ parlance) was withdrawn after multiple allegations of plagiarism were leveled at Kenjiro Sano, the designer, including that his firm may have stolen the Olympic logo idea from a Belgian theatre’s logo.

A shortlist of four logos, selected from 14,599 entries, was announced in early April and members of the public were able to submit feedback online.

“The comments and opinions received will serve as a valuable frame of reference to the Tokyo 2020 Emblems Selection Committee,” the organizers claimed.

In practice, we’re not sure how that worked. Was the feedback actually read and noted? Did it influence the design on the logo?

Just to recap, here are the other three shortlisted logos and their official statements.

B. Connecting Circle, Expanding Harmony

This design expresses the connection between the dynamism of the athletes and the joy of the spectators, and the expansion of peace and harmony throughout the world.

It seeks to encompass mental and physical strength, dynamic movement and speed, and the euphoric emotions that the world derives from outstanding athletic performances.

The design also expresses the respect and warm hospitality that will be accorded to visitors from around the world to the Tokyo 2020 Games.

C. Surpassing One’s Personal Best

These emblems were inspired by the traditional Wind God and the Thunder God, and seek to convey dynamic movement at the instant an athlete breaks the tape on the finish line. They also represent athletes as they endeavour to attain and surpass their personal best.

The Wind God and the Thunder God have been much loved by the people of Japan for centuries. (e.g. the famous painting by the early 17th-century Japanese artist Tawaraya Sotatsu, and the statues of these Gods at the Kaminari-mon Gate in Tokyo’s Asakusa district)

In the original depiction, the taiko drums held by the Thunder God are represented by fireworks, while the Wind Cloth held by the Wind God is replaced by the portrayal of a rainbow to symbolise the concepts of peace, diversity and harmony.

The emblems also express the athletes’ continued contribution to peace through their mental and physical tenacity, and a connection to the future.

D. Flowering of Emotions

The morning glory flower as it faces up towards the heavens to greet the new morning, expresses the faces of athletes striving to attain a personal best and the bright faces of people as they applaud the athletes. The upward-looking morning glory also represents the climax of this range of emotions.

The seed of the morning glory sprouts, the vine grows, and the flower opens. The process of the flower growing and eventually returning to seed conveys the sense of expectation for the Games and succession to the next generation.

This flower was particularly popular during Japan’s Edo period (1603-1867), and remains a firm favourite (e.g. as subject for “Ukiyoe” prints.) It signifies a heightened sense of anticipation towards the 2020 Games and the warm welcome that visitors from around the world will receive.

For reference, here is the withdrawn original logo by Kenjiro Sano.

Some on social media have even cheekily suggested this parody logo (source unknown) as a more suitable visual ambassador for the upcoming Games.

Buddhism is making a comeback (if it ever went away), in unusual places.

From Buddhist bars — the most famous of which is Vowz in Yotsuya — to the “monk delivery service” available on Amazon since last year, religion is adapting to modern life and finding new interfaces with busy metropolitan people.

Another example is Tera Cafe, located in the tony neighborhood of Daikanyama.

Reuters says the cafe is “part of a flourishing phenomenon in Japan where Buddhist monks are seeking to make inroads in the modern world as the country’s connection with a 15-century-old tradition changes.”

People’s attachment to their local temple has rapidly declined as the population becomes more concentrated in anonymous, transient homes in big cities, far from their ancestral lands. The only ritual people still regularly observe in a Buddhist context is a funeral, which is hardly the best way for a religion to be known.

But religions are surprisingly enterprising in Japan, especially its new religions, which often control shares in businesses and corporations, or run their own. The same goes for Buddhist priests, who, depending on their sect, may well be free to marry, start businesses, and even eat meat and drink.

Hirotake Asano, the head priest at Shingyoji Temple, opened Tera Cafe in 2013. He also owns restaurants and a golf course.

The cafe is bright and accessible, and serves alcohol and meat dishes. While it might be a step too far for some, it is certainly bringing a whole new demographic of female shoppers into contact with what is fast becoming a social sphere associated only with death.

Not only can you enjoy food and drink, the Tera Cafe (“tera” means temple in Japanese) also has classes and consultations with on-site priests, including in English.

This article by Tiffany first appeared on Tokyo Cheapo.

Golden Week refers to a cluster of holidays from late April to early May:

Showa Day (April 29), referring to the previous emperor’s birthday;
Constitution Memorial Day (May 3);
Greenery Day (May 4); and
Children’s Day (May 5).

The gaps in between mean that you never really get a literal week of holidays. If you’re lucky, though, the first holiday will fall exactly on a Friday (leaving only Monday as a regular day), as is what will happen in 2016.

In any case, for many professionals, this sounds like a great time to take a vacation. Doesn’t it?

Sure, but… that’s what everyone else is thinking as well, which means that, during this time, roads, expressways, and trains meant for long-distance travel are congested; plane and bus tickets get sold out easily; hotels get fully booked quickly (and prices are high); and you can expect crowds at most tourist spots. Many Japanese professionals are so busy that even though they have paid holidays, they either don’t or can’t really use them, so public holidays are the best chances for them to travel. Some avoid the Golden Week crowd by traveling overseas, though.

This photo was aptly titled, “This is Golden Week.” | Photo by Chris Gladis used under CC

If you want to take the risk and go to Japan’s major tourist spots at about the same time as everyone else, by all means, go ahead—especially if this is also one of the rare times that you can travel. But if you want to enjoy Golden Week in Japan while avoiding the crowd, stay right where you are! This might be a good time to explore Tokyo — even if you’re a long-term resident, you might see a side of it that you previously hadn’t known. Perhaps you might also want to use the holidays as an excuse to try something you haven’t done before, even if it’s something as simple as visiting your neighborhood sento (bathhouse), or spending the night at a capsule hotel.

Here are some activity suggestions for Golden Week:

1. Visit Tokyo’s less touristy spots

Photo by Alberto Gragera used under CC

Shitamachi refers to the downtown areas of Tokyo that were traditionally considered working-class neighborhoods. Until now, they still look and feel more traditional than, say, the glitzy neighborhoods of Roppongi and Hiroo, and are great places for souvenir shopping, since shitamachi were historically the domain of merchants. Some examples of Tokyo’s shitamachi are Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi (collectively known as Yanesen), Monzen-Nakacho, and Kita-Senju. Aside from shopping, these areas are usually dotted with small temples and shrines (like the stunning Nezu Shrine), making for good walking tours.

You might also want to consider suburban Tokyo: the neighborhoods along the Chuo Line — Nakano, Asagaya, and Kichijoji — are vibrant but not crazily so, and they have shopping streets where you might find some bargains. Kichijoji is also home to the large Inokashira Park, in case you want to enjoy some greenery. Tokyo’s hipster neighborhoods of Daikanyama, Jiyugaoka, and Shimokitazawa might also be worth checking out for fashion, art, and cafe enthusiasts.

2. Check out some events

Photo by George Alexander Ishida Newman used under CC

Luckily, there’s no shortage of things to do in Tokyo during Golden Week. For one, there are some cultural events for you to get acquainted with other cultures. If you want to eat Hawaiian food and see the hula and other traditional dances, Venus Fort in Odaiba is holding its annual Hawaiian Festival from April 29-May 8. Also in Odaiba is an early Oktoberfest celebration at the Symbol Promenade Park Central Plaza from April 28-May 8. Yoyogi Park, which regularly holds international festivals, is celebrating Cinco de Mayo from May 3-4 — a few days early.

You can also see some spring colors by visiting some flower festivals in or around Tokyo. Lovely weather and lovely blossoms make for a good combination. And for more things to do during Golden Week, visit our events guide.

But if you really want to go someplace beyond Tokyo…

3. Take a day trip nearby

Photo by Yoshizumi Endo used under CC

There’s still no guarantee that these places won’t be crowded, no matter how close they are to Tokyo, but there’s still a good chance that they won’t be as crowded as, say, Kyoto or Osaka. (Expect some crowds at flower festival sites, though.) Some feasible day trip locations from Tokyo are Enoshima, Kamakura, Isehara, Hakone; Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture; Chichibu and Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture; and Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture.

Read more, including a map and links, on Tokyo Cheapo

Japan continues to negotiate its evolving relationship with drones: fun consumer toys, provider of exciting new services, or dangerous tools for potential terrorists?

For the upcoming G7 summit in Japan, police announced “anti-drone” security measures where they will use drones with nets to take down potential flying intruders.

Now Japanese online retailing giant Rakuten has started its drone delivery service, following on from Amazon’s Prime Air tests in Japan.

Sora Raku (literally “air comfort”) is currently just for golf courses, so you can get something delivered to you while you are out catching a few holes on the green.

Rakuten will set up landing zones where you can pick up your delivery, so you will never get hungry during that long round of golf. Orders are placed through a dedicated Android app, telling the clubhouse to send over the drone and your delivery.

To use the service, players log in via their Rakuten Member IDs, and can choose to pay by either credit card or with Rakuten Super Points. The pilot service starts on May 9th, initially with no delivery charges.

The choice of delivery to golf courses may seem a little curious, but it allows Rakuten to focus on rural areas and make agreements directly with private owners as drone traffic in urban and built-up areas faces scrutiny from politicians.

To launch Sora Raku, Rakuten has been investing in Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory (ACSL), which develops robotics and drones for industrial uses. The service employs a drone called Tenku, developed by ACSL.

According to Rakuten, “Tenku is equipped with an autopilot system developed domestically by ACSL and boasts highly stable flight performance, even in strong winds.” To reduce the risk of accidents or drones being downed by golf balls flying through the air, “the drone also employs a design that makes it highly visible even on a golf course”.

By offering the Sora Raku drone delivery service at golf courses, Rakuten hopes to provide a new shopping experience and make drones more widely accepted among consumers. In addition, Rakuten is looking into the utilization of drones for deliveries in sparsely populated areas and mountainous regions, in transporting supplies during disasters and in its e-commerce businesses, including Rakuten Ichiba, and aims to accumulate technical and operational expertise through running the service and put it to use in developing further innovative drone delivery services.

Rakuten is testing the service at a single golf course in Chiba Prefecture before looking into expanding.

We’ve been closely following the development of consumer virtual reality in Japan. This year alone we have already seen a great crossover of digital and analog technology with the Mask of Anubis VR board game and Namco Bandai has just opened its own VR game center, VR Zone Project i Can.

Milbox Touch is the latest arrival in this trend, a Japanese version of the Google Cardboard VR viewer. But far from being merely derivative, it comes only with a very original difference.

It features a unique side-mounted touch panel that allows you navigate menus and play games with your finger. Scroll, swipe or tap the panel to toggle through the controls.

Assemble the DIY cardboard viewer and then slide in your phone to get started. Milbox Touch was a SXSW Interactive Innovation Award 2016 finalist and has already received a lot of press. It is now commercially available and we fancy its chances in the rapidly crowded virtual reality device market.

The makers, White Inc., have developed an app (currently Android only but iOS version in the works) that allows you to play a virtual reality version of Pac-Man.

Perhaps it represents the age of the people working on these devices or the generation of the target market, but Pac-Man was also the subject of a smart watch toy product.

Last week we wrote about Rakuten’s new drone delivery service for golf courses. And now comes another great example of how people in Japan are showing us what drones can do. Hopefully the government is also watching and learning that drones are exciting new tools that can be exploited in new ways, rather than dangerous toys requiring legislation.

Produced by MicroAd and directed by Shu Shinkawa, Sky Magic Live at Mt Fuji is a “drone entertainment show” featuring 20 flying machines in swarming formations against the incredible backdrop of Japan’s tallest mountain.

As if the World Heritage site wasn’t enough, the drones fly to the sounds of shamisen music played live in front of the mountain. On top of the 16,500 LED lights and perfectly choreographed, DMX512-controlled swarms, it adds up to a true audio and visual feast.

Led by creative director Tsuyoshi Takashiro, Sky Magic is a project exploring the potential for drones to be used in advertising.

The shamisen performance is provided by Tsugaru-Jamisen Oyama-kai. This is another example of the players’ partnership with MicroAd’s drones.

If these kinds of crossovers are your thing, then be sure to check out last year’s rendition of Smooth Criminal performed on shakuhachi and koto.

Celebrating 45 years of the work of fashion designer, the rather too obviously titled “Miyake Issey Exhibition: The Work of Miyake Issey” at the National Art Center, Tokyo runs until June 13th.

Like architecture, exhibiting fashion is often a tricky affair to get right and to tackle this issue, the organizers have chosen to use digital technology.

Visitors can download a free augmented reality app that shows a virtual model wearing Issey Miyake clothes. The app works with your phone camera and the exhibition flyer.

You can then take a photo of the mini fashion show and share it.

Augmented reality never really took off like it was projected to but remains a favorite in advertising and fashion. We also saw a “virtual dressing room” recently, among other developments.

Costing ¥500, audio guidance is also available for the exhibition in English and Japanese.

One of the things we enjoy doing at Japan Trends is not only observing actual news and trends, but also how trends are reported and generated by the media, both Japanese and international.

What is the making of a “trend”? Well, it’s partly when everyone starts talking about something, creating buzz that by definition then turns the “something” into a self-generated trend.

A few years ago the Internet went crazy for Japan’s “tattoo tights”, which were a genuine thing in street fashion. Since then, one of the key retailers involved closed in 2014 and the trend apparently faded away.

But could this be the next big thing?

The last two weeks have seen a large number of blog posts and online articles about Japanese “pre-painted toenail art tights” or “nail polish stockings”. There isn’t a full consensus on what to call them or even what their Japanese name is, but the English-speaking blogosphere has clearly decided these are a craze… because everyone says so.

There is at least one English-language blog post from January, though it’s unclear where the current buzz, which started around April 22nd, exactly originated from.

A fairly detailed, yet undated BoredPanda round-up highlights Belle Maison as the top producer of these unique stockings (for the record, Belle Maison is a retailer so it can’t have “invented” these tights). The story also got rubber-stamped on sites like Mail Online and Huffington Post, which mostly subsist by regurgitating content from other sites without much concern for accuracy or authorship.

By the time the Daily Mail had got its claws into the “trend”, it had morphed into yet another cautionary Wacky Japan tale: “bizarre Japanese stockings”, “strange new stockings”, and so on. (The Mail Online post may actually have kickstarted the buzz, though we can’t tell because as usual they don’t provide a source beyond a vague comment about “social media”.) Cosmopolitan weighed in with “this concept is pretty genius but it’s also ridiculously hilarious, TBH.”

We haven’t seen people wearing these in Tokyo, but then we don’t spend every day scouring the legs of young ladies on the streets of Shibuya, Harajuku or Aoyama. Has anyone else actually seen these in the wild?

Regardless of the extent to which these pre-painted toenail art stockings are a trend, they are still pretty awesome, and are available for international deliveries from the Japan Trend Shop.