Tokyo News

🛸 Tokyo's ultimate architectural masterpiece, that feels like stepping onto a sci-fi spaceship

📍 The best part? It's completely free to walk through, open to the public, and just minutes from Tokyo Station. Easily one of the most aesthetic indoor photo spots in the city perfect for escaping the weather while catching some cinematic angles.

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✈️ Haneda tightens baggage check-in rules

📰 From September 1, 2026, six major domestic airlines at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport require checked baggage to be dropped off at least 30 minutes before departure, up from 20 minutes. The change comes as Japan pushes airlines to improve on-time performance.

🏢 Also new: a North Satellite terminal opens at Terminal 1 for domestic flights.

⚠️ Miss the 30-minute cutoff and your bag won’t be accepted. So plan extra time, especially when heading to Haneda from central Tokyo.

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📱 Apple held a small press preview in Tokyo yesterday for journalists and bloggers

📰 In the demo zone, guests got to try out and film short hands-on reviews of all the recently announced devices. Apple reportedly used the event to give a boost to up-and-coming creators from the Asian region.

📱 Learn more about new iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, AirPods 5, and even the iPhone Duo here.

@TokyoNews

🇯🇵 Japan has invented triathlon for RC car nerds

😄 Forget swimming as this version goes bike → RC car → running, and yes, you're steering the car the whole time you're sprinting to the finish.

How it works:
🚴 Leg 1: racers pedal a stretch on bikes
🏎️ Leg 2: they pull out radio-controlled cars and lap a track full of jumps and obstacles
🏃 Leg 3: they run the final stretch on foot, while still piloting the RC car alongside them

🎫 Since it's an unofficial, grassroots competition, the stakes stay low and fun: winners take home coupons or gear for their bikes and cars instead of cash or trophies.

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🎨 Ann Veronica Janssens: "5 Chome 4-1 Ginza, Tokyo"

📍 Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum
🗓 Sep 11 – Jan 11 · 11:00–19:00 · Closed Wed

📰 Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens' first Japan solo show turns Le Forum's glass-walled space into a study of light, mist and disorientation — questioning how the body perceives space, time and form.

~10 works, made for the space:
✨ Rose – light beams through mist forming a glowing "solid" sculpture
✨ Swings – heat-reactive film on suspended seats
✨ Untitled (blue glitter) – an iridescent puddle of microparticles on the floor
✨ Donut – new work made for the show

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📍Tokyu Plaza Omotesando "Omokado", Harajuku, Tokyo

📸 Hidden above the busy streets of Harajuku, Omokado's rooftop offers a completely different view of Tokyo. It's the perfect spot to escape the crowds, soak in the skyline, and see a quieter side of one of the city's liveliest neighborhoods.

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🤖 Japan's $640B bet on chips and AI

📰 Tokyo is pouring massive investment into becoming a semiconductor and AI powerhouse. Kioxia is a telling example: back in 2023, the company was so cash-strapped its reps handed out home-printed business cards at trade shows. The AI boom reversed its fortunes and now Kioxia is building a third plant in the northern town of Kitakami (over $31B in investment), and an inflow of workers has helped stall the region's depopulation.

📉 But the story also shows the limits of this strategy: there's real local revival, but money alone can't fix the broader decline of rural Japan yet.

@TokyoNews

🛸 One of Tokyo's newest architectural gems

📍 MoN Takanawa — The Museum of Narratives

🌳 Designed by Kengo Kuma, this spiral wooden structure opened in March 2026 and was just named one of the world's most beautiful museums by the Prix Versailles. Inside: interactive art, digital theater, and a facade wrapped in 200+ plant species.

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🍣 Tokyo is getting a sushi bus

🚌 A new double-decker tour bus is launching in Tokyo, built around one gimmick: unlimited conveyor-belt sushi.

⏰ Rides last about 70 minutes. Chefs prep the sushi in a kitchen on the lower deck, then send it up via elevator to a conveyor belt on the open-air upper deck — where passengers grab plates as the city rolls by.

📍 Departs from near Tokyo Station, passing landmarks like Ginza and Shibuya Crossing along the way. Launch is set for October 10, seats just 20 people per ride, and costs around ¥16,000 (~$101). If it takes off, Osaka and Kyoto could be next.

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🎨 Ryuichi Sakamoto x Shiro Takatani – "Ambient Kyoto"

📰 For the first time ever, the acclaimed Ambient Kyoto exhibition is coming to Tokyo — featuring "async - immersion," a work by legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and artist Shiro Takatani.

📍 Azabudai Hills Gallery
📅 Running now through October 25
💴 Price: Starting at ¥2,200 (free for high schoolers and younger, and for visitors with disabilities)

👍 An immersive, sound-and-light experience from one of Japan's most influential contemporary artists that is a rare chance to catch it outside Kyoto.

@TokyoNews

📍 Ginza's architecture is a walk through eras that somehow never clash

🏙️ Old brick, glass, concrete experiments all sitting on the same block, all somehow working. Ginza doesn't erase its past, it just keeps building on top of it.

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🍬 Tokyo just opened a "shop" where you have to steal your snacks

ℹ️ Visitors pay ¥3,200 for one shot at grabbing whatever they can in 60 seconds. Catch: if the security cameras catch you stealing, then you walk out empty-handed. Stay hidden, keep your loot. Basically a stealth game with real candy as the reward.

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🌧 Record rainfall in Japan

⚡ It has disrupted transport, knocked out power, and left thousands of travellers stranded at Tokyo's Narita airport. The severe weather also triggered landslides and flooding, claiming 4 lives.

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🍺 Japan invented a beer glass that forces you to drink water

💧 Brewery YOHO Brewing has created a glass designed to prevent hangovers, literally. The catch: if you only drink the alcohol, the glass loses its balance and spills water all over the table (and anyone nearby). So you're forced to alternate sips of beer and water just to keep it upright.

📍 The glasses are already showing up in Japanese bars. The creators insist it's not just a gimmick — it's a genuine way to fight dehydration and next-day hangovers.

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🇯🇵 Not your typical Tokyo

📍 Tokyu Plaza Omotesando “Omokado”

👍 Hidden above the busy streets of Omotesando, Tokyu Plaza Omotesando “Omokado” offers a completely different perspective of the city. A great spot to take a break from the crowds, enjoy the rooftop views and see a more stylish and peaceful side of Tokyo.

@TokyoCity

🛁 Tokyo sento fees hit record high

🎫 Adult admission at Tokyo's public bathhouses rose 50 yen to 600 yen on August 1 — the largest single increase on record. Officials say it's now the highest sento price in Japan. Operators blame soaring fuel costs; some customers say they'll cut back visits.

📉 The bigger picture: only 417 traditional bathhouses remain in Tokyo, part of a decades-long decline in sento culture.

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🗼 Tokyo Retail News

🛍 Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre is opening a new flagship boutique on Tokyo's Namiki-dori on August 20. The brand – known for its Reverso and Memovox lines – is relocating from its current Ginza Namiki Boutique into a new four-story building featuring a Japanese-inspired exterior and a Vallée de Joux-themed interior.
Tokyo Weekender

📍 Namiki-dori, Ginza
📅 Opens August 20, 2026

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🇯🇵 Kyushu earthquake, July 28, 2026

😔 A powerful magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu Island, with its focus about 10 km deep. A second strong aftershock (M6.1) followed less than an hour later.

💥 Damage: Shaking hit the maximum level 7 on Japan's seismic intensity scale in some areas. A shopping mall floor collapsed in Kumamoto, and around 40,000 homes lost power. In Yatsushiro, the ground reportedly shifted by 84 cm. A tsunami warning was issued, then lifted.

☠️ Casualties: Death toll climbed fast — from 13 to 28 to 34, with dozens more injured, some seriously.

🏕️ Now: ~9,000 people remain in evacuation centers; many sleep in cars, fearing aftershocks and struggling with the heat. Officials warn more strong quakes could follow.

📌 This is the region's worst quake since 2016, when a series of tremors in Kumamoto killed 278 people.

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6️⃣ #places to go in @TokyoCity 📍