Discover insider tips, travel guides, and inspiring stories for your next adventure in Japan
From August 20, 2026, Hotel Indigo Inuyama Urakuen is taking reservations for two Christmas cakes -- a shortcake built around the hotel's original crest and a mechanical "karakuri" cake with a hidden surprise -- both featuring Gifu Prefecture's Mino Musume strawberry.
Hotel Metropolitan in Ikebukuro is offering two limited-time stay plans paired with commemorative dinner courses — a luxury Chinese course at "Keilin," celebrating its renovation reopening, and a seasonal course at "Est," marking its 1st renewal anniversary.
Hotel Metropolitan Nagano is marking its 30th anniversary with a limited-edition Christmas cake, "Floraison d'Hiver," decorated with 30 strawberries as a tribute to three decades of gratitude, with reservations opening October 1, 2026.
Hotel Vischio Amagasaki's Café & Restaurant "West River" is running an Autumn Family Lunch & Dinner Buffet on select dates in September, October, and November 2026, featuring about 30 all-you-can-eat dishes made with seasonal ingredients like mushrooms and sweet potato, monthly sushi varieties, and a rotating hands-on food corner, plus 90 minutes of unlimited soft drinks.
Arma bianca will hold a special Animate exhibition celebrating the 15th anniversary of the serialization of Hozuki's Coolheadedness, with new wafuku arrange illustrated goods going on sale at Animate Ikebukuro and Lachic Fukuoka Tenjin from November 14, 2026, alongside an online advance reservation campaign beginning August 20, 2026.
The Naritaya family's first joint national kabuki tour, The Road to Tradition, opened on August 21, 2026 at Kanazawa Kagekiza Theater, featuring an all-premiere program across 11 performances at 6 venues nationwide through August 30.
Restaurant AVANTI at International Garden Hotel Narita is serving a weekday-only "Autumn Afternoon Tea" from September 7 to October 30, 2026, featuring nine seasonal sweets built around shine muscat, kyoho grapes, and chestnut alongside three savory dishes.
Ishida-gumi's Baroque-themed concerts at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall sold out this August, and the string ensemble now turns to a 360-degree stage at Osaka Castle Hall on October 11, 2026, with rear side seats still on sale.
Japan Post is releasing original merchandise built around its postage stamp designs — T-shirts, polo shirts, tote bags, and acrylic charms — available as made-to-order items through Japan Post's online shop starting August 21, 2026.
About 550 selected pieces spanning ceramics, textiles, lacquer art, metalwork, woodwork and bamboo work, doll craft, and other crafts -- including the newest work by Living National Treasures -- go on display at the 73rd Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition, running September 2 to 15, 2026, on the 7th floor of Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store's Main Building.
The Nintendo Switch package version of slow-life sim Japanese Rural Life Adventure launches November 12, with pre-orders opening today alongside a new Ver. 1.3.0 update and a giveaway campaign marking 100,000 downloads.
Starting September 5, 2026, JR Hotel Clement Tokushima's Dining Cafe Clement is serving "Sea of Sweets Afternoon Tea," a first-time collaboration with Shikoku Aquarium featuring photogenic sweets and savories modeled after the aquarium's dolphins, seals, garden eels, and coral, available through November 30.