Discover insider tips, travel guides, and inspiring stories for your next adventure in Japan
After drawing about 2,000 visitors in its debut year, the pool music festival "SBI MUSIC CIRCUS presents SPLASH CIRCUS" returns to Ohama Park Pool in Sakai, Osaka for four days in September 2026, with ticket sales opening July 2.
Square Enix has launched its SUMMER SALE Part 1, offering increased discounts on Final Fantasy series titles including FINAL FANTASY IX and the FINAL FANTASY VII Remake series, along with games such as Octopath Traveler 0 and FANTASIAN Neo Dimension.
Starbucks Cafe & Art Gallery Yanaka Gotenzaka in Tokyo hosts its second exhibition since opening, "ArtSticker SELECTION," featuring 26 new works by 13 rising artists selected through the ArtSticker platform, from July 3 to August 30, 2026.
Handmade bag brand STATE OF ESCAPE opens its first-ever Hokkaido pop-up shop at Daimaru Sapporo from July 15 to 21, 2026, featuring the signature neoprene Escape Collection, the new knit Meridian Collection, and dual-tone bags sold ahead of their general release.
Yokohama Takashimaya's 8th floor gallery will host the Stig Lindberg Exhibition: Master of Scandinavian Design in the 20th Century from September 9 to 21, 2026, showcasing around 300 pieces drawn from the Lindberg family's private collection, including works never before shown in Japan, alongside exclusive original goods.
The dress-up and character-raising game Sugar Doll has launched a new classic gacha called "Sunny Days Memories," featuring blue ocean and sunflower field costumes, alongside a summer-themed seasonal event and limited-time background packs.
From July 17 to August 30, 2026, Sunshine Aquarium in Ikebukuro will hold its "Refreshing Summer Festival 2026," featuring an upgraded sea lion splash show, an outdoor mist squad, seasonal octopus and penguin displays, and new early-morning-only events with a discounted ticket.
SURFEEL HOTEL WAKKANAI in Hokkaido has begun selling a new summer-only sweet, the Yubari Melon Shortcake, generously filled with Hokkaido's signature Yubari melon.
From July 3, SUSHIRO Cafe revives its annual collaboration with Kyoto's 190-year-old tea purveyor Morihan, launching a Matcha Crème Brûlée Rare Cheesecake supervised by one of Japan's leading tea masters and torched to order for a crackly caramelized top at SUSHIRO locations nationwide.
TAKARA BELMONT CORPORATION is relocating part of "Quantum Leap for Beauty World," the exhibit it showed at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, to its Tokyo head office, opening it to the public free of charge for one day only on Saturday, August 8, alongside uniform try-on photo sessions and talk shows.
The Body Shop is adding Body Yogurt STM, a fast-absorbing gel body lotion, to its citrus-scented Satsuma body care line, launching nationwide on July 16, 2026, with in-store pre-orders opening early on June 25.
THE ELEMENTAL, an inn on the shores of Lake Kussharo in Teshikaga Town, Hokkaido, is starting a French full-course lunch limited to two groups per day, celebrating the bounty of eastern Hokkaido alongside seasonal ingredients from across Japan.