Discover insider tips, travel guides, and inspiring stories for your next adventure in Japan
A new capsule toy recreates classic sand play tools in miniature with Sanrio Characters designs, complete with a ball chain for carrying on the go. It rolls out at capsule toy vending machine corners across Japan from late July 2026.
Sapporo Hitsujigaoka Observation Hill is holding its Summer Vacation Event 2026 from July 25 to August 16, marking the 50th anniversary of the Clark Statue. Highlights include a free admission day on July 31, Clark-themed challenges, a sheep walking race, a Bon Odori and fireworks experience, and craft workshops.
Restaurant Southwest at Sapporo Tokyu REI Hotel is holding a three-day, all-you-can-drink dinner buffet themed around aging, fermentation, and smoking, featuring 26 dishes built mainly around Hokkaido ingredients, from September 19 to 21, 2026. Guests who reserve through the official website by August 31 get ¥500 off the adult price.
Starting July 16, Seattle's Best Coffee locations are offering seven new fruit drinks for a limited time, including three "Zuizui Fruit Soda" flavors, three "Zuizui Fruit Cooler" flavors, and a new "Mango Passion Tea," available through late August 2026.
Cafe "Toastina" at Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel hosts a Hawaiian-themed "Tropical Sweets & Bakery" fair from August 1 to 31, 2026, featuring tropical parfaits and tarts, a sweets box, an afternoon tea, and a weekly Friday sweets buffet.
Shimamasu Honpo has launched the "Uchinaa T-Shirt," an original design by Okinawa-based art director Kyoko Shimabukuro that reworks the "Shimamasu" salt brand logo into an everyday fashion piece, now available at San-A stores across Okinawa.
Shimoda Marine Aquarium in Shizuoka is launching the second installment of its "All About Fixed-Net Fishing" exhibition — a fisherman-costume fish feeding show called "Discovery Ocean" — running July 25 to August 23, 2026, with commentary on the fish caught in fixed nets and specimens such as ray spines and a moray eel skull.
From July 21 to September 24, 2026, Shinagawa Prince Hotel is running Japan's only hotel collaboration tied to the movie Minions & Monsters, with character-themed cakes and breads at its coffee lounge and bakery, plus limited stickers and postcards for guests who purchase the collaboration items.
Shinjuku Prince Hotel is celebrating the August 7 release of Minions & Monsters with a themed collaboration room available August 1 to 31, 2026, and a Hollywood-inspired collaboration afternoon tea at Japanese Dining & Bar FUGA running July 21 to August 31, 2026.
Sammy Networks' free smartphone pachinko and pachislot app 777Real begins offering Daito Giken's Shinobi Soul II ~The Chapter of Blazing Fire~ starting July 14, 2026, bringing the popular 2013 hall machine to smartphones for free.
Shiraraso Grand Hotel in Shirahama, Wakayama, is partnering with SIEFtour to launch hotel-departure day-trip tours from July 17, 2026, taking guests to the rarely accessible Phoenix Fold rock formation, the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route, and the Nanki-Shirahama Geopark.
Shimonoseki Shunpanro Abeno, a fugu and seasonal-cuisine restaurant on the 14th floor of Abeno Harukas in Osaka, is serving a new "Summer Menu" built around hamo (pike conger), a classic Osaka summer delicacy, from July through Monday, August 31, 2026.