Twentythree

Almost every country is sending more travelers to Osaka these days, with one very big exception.

With the international travel community still showing an intense interest in visiting Japan, you’d think Osaka’s inbound tourism numbers would be booming. It’s Japan’s third largest city, is situated close enough to Kyoto to be used as a livelier place to spend the night after a day of visiting shrines and temples, and it’s also a stop on the popular Sanyo Shinkansen line, making it easy to work Osaka into itineraries along Japan’s “golden route” of top travel destinations for foreign visitors.

And yet, Osaka actually saw fewer foreign visitors this past August than the city did in August of 2025, according to statistics compiled by the Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau.

At first, the data might not sound like it’s going to lead to that result. In August of 2026, Osaka had more visitors than it ever has in any previous August from the U.S., South Korea, Taiwan, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Russia. In addition, more tourists from Italy and Spain came to Osaka in August of 2026 than in any other month before.

But even with all those individual-demographic records being set, Osaka still had a 9.6 percent drop in foreign visitors during August 2026 compared to August 2025. So what country has been shunning the city?

China. August tourist numbers from mainland China plummeted 59 percent compared to last year. 254,000 Chinese travelers still showed up, but the drop was so severe that it more than cancelled out the total 26.7-percent August increase in travelers from all foreign countries other than China.

The cooling off in demand from Chinese travelers stems from a warning issued late last year by the Chinese government cautioning its citizens that Japan is an unsafe country to travel to. It should be noted that this warning wasn’t prompted by any actual incident of Chinese travelers being injured or robbed in Japan, but it did come right on the heels of Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi saying in an interview that Japan would provide aid to Taiwan if it were to be invaded by the Chinese military.

With international travel generally requiring advance reservations, there wasn’t an immediate drop-off in travelers from China, but new reservations started coming in with less frequency, and when we ourselves went to check in on how things were in Osaka last December (when we took the photos seen in this article), we definitely noticed much smaller crowds in parts of the city that had, up until then, been routinely packed with Chinese tourists.

“It is a very dire situation,” said Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau chairman Hitoshi Mizohata at his regularly scheduled press conference on September 30.

▼ And yes, he delivered that somber proclamation while wearing a plushie of Osaka Expo mascot Myaku-Myaku.

Without access to Osaka travel and tourism providers’ books, it’s hard to say exactly how truly dire the situation is. Obviously, a roughly 10-percent drop in customers isn’t something that any industry is going to be happy about. At the same time, that’s not a catastrophic dip, especially considering that tourist numbers have grown far more than 10 percent compared to where they were before the international Japan travel craze. So unless the travel industry went all-in on building excessive capacity because they thought the boom times were never going to so much as slow down, they should still be doing much better financially than they used to, even if their profits aren’t quite as high as they were last August.

That said, Mizohata voiced his concern that the Chinese government hasn’t made any statement reversing its “safety” warning about traveling in Japan, and so the board has no estimation of when, or if, Chinese tourist numbers will rebound. Mizohata lamented that political disagreements aren’t being kept separate from economics, though this is hardly the first time in history for those two social sciences to affect each other.

Overall, it’s probably still too early to shed all that many tears for the travel industry in Osaka. Mizohata says that local hotels have told the bureau that they have more reservations for October and November in 2026 than for the same period last year, and premium-priced hotels reportedly are especially receiving lots of bookings. The bureau also says that, based on surveys with foreign tourists in Osaka, there’s still room to better promote awareness of Osaka’s nightlife, traditional culture, sports, and luxury leisure offerings, and it plans to increase its focus on those areas

Source: MBS via Itai News, Osaka Nichinichi Shimbun
Photos ©SoraNews24
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Three ways to deal with uncomfortably dry weather while also letting you go “Ahhhh! Isn’t Totoro/Calcifer/Jiji cute?”

Japan has a love/hate relationship with humidity. Once the rainy season starts in mid-June, you can be certain to hear people murmuring, or even groaning “Mushimushi shiteiru ne?” (“It’s so humid, isn’t it?”) until about the mid-point of September. Then, pretty much as soon as the autumn weather gets cool enough to be considered crisp, many people will start to say how the air is uncomfortably dry.

Having grown up in the atmospherically arid environment of Southern California, I’m honestly totally fine with the level of dryness in Japan during the fall and winter. As such, I’ve never personally seen much appeal in a humidifier, but even I can understand that if someone did want one, they’d want one of these awesomely adorable Studio Ghibli humidifiers.

These seasonal products are back in stock once again at Ghibli specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku. The full lineup consists of three designs, and naturally we’re starting with a look at the Totoro one.

The water reservoir topper features both a big and small Totoro, with the larger forest spirit playing his ocarina, which the steam billows out of as the water is heated.

▼ There’s a trio of shy soot sprites too!

Each of the humidifiers stands 27 centimeters (10.6 inches) tall, with a base roughly the size of a drink bottle or thermos. That compact footprint makes the Little Humidifiers, as Donguri Kyowakoku calls them, suitable for use even in compact work/study spaces or other cozy nooks of your home.

Going form forest spirits to a fire one, joining Totoro in humidifier form is Calcifer, from Howl’s Moving Castle.

Calcifer’s design lends itself even more naturally to use as a humidifier, with the steam rising out from underneath the frying pan of on his back making it look like he’s right in the middle of cooking up that bacon-and-egg breakfast.

And rounding out the group is Jiji, the black cat companion of the titular heroine of Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Jiji’s topper also has a clever place that the steam rises from, as it comes out of the coffee mug he buys while shopping with Kiki as they set up her new apartment, creating the illusion that someone has just poured a fresh cup of java.

▼ Warning! Although Donguri Kyowakoku makes no official mention of the phenomenon, be aware that using the Jiji humidifier will almost certainly make you crave pancakes.

The humidifiers are identically priced at 5,280 yen (US$33) and come bundled with their USB power cord. They’re designed to automatically shut off after eight hours of continuous use, but since the bottles are also sized to hold enough water to humidify for eight hours too, once that much time passes you’ll need to refill the bottle anyway.

The entire lineup can be purchased through the Donguri Kyowakoku online store here, and if you could use even more Calcifer in your home, these days he’s a cool candle nightlight too.

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3)
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Featuring inspirations from kigumi wood joinery design and hand-dusted platinum, each of these limited edition watches are a unique work of art.

Bringing a fusion of ancient Japanese artistry and modern engineering to the wrists of elite collectors and timepiece connoisseurs, Casio will introduce a new member on November 13 to its flagship MR-G line in celebration of three decades since its inception in 1996. Priced at 1.1 million yen (around US$7,350), and limited to only 800 pieces worldwide, MRG-B2100HR-1A has its design centered around the theme of haruka, a Japanese concept conveying timeless strength and boundless duration.

At the heart of the watch’s artistry is kigumi, a traditional Japanese woodworking and architectural technique where timber is joined without nails, other metal fasteners, or adhesives. The woodworkers intricately carve joints that connect seamlessly and have no possibility of corrosion. Reinterpreting this into watchmaking, the dial forms an intricate, three dimensional lattice.

Above this marvel of construction, renowned metal leaf artist Hiroto Rakusho applied his craft by hand. Born in Kyoto’s Nishijin district, Rakusho is an officially designated Traditional Craftsman known for expanding Nishijin foil art onto global stages and contributing to digital archiving for cultural preservation.

Rakusho personally decorated each 3-D dial using sunago, a technique originating in the creation of picture scrolls and Buddhist texts, where platinum leaf is ground into a powder before being dusted over a surface. The delicate, uneven distribution of platinum creates a brilliance and deep gradation that exhibits itself uniquely on every single piece, guaranteeing that each watch has its own artistic fingerprint.

To mirror Rakusho’s artwork on the exterior, Casio applied structural color technology via ultra-short pulse lasers across the bezel and watchstrap. The micron-level laser texturing mimics the natural iridescence seen on butterfly wings and mineral crystals, producing a colorful beauty that changes depending on the viewing angle.

Complementing this is Casio’s advanced metal construction: an octagonal bezel, based on the popular MRG-B2100, crafted from 27 individually polished components, alongside premium COBARION (a cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy about two times as hard as stainless steel, and which has a platinum shine) and DAT55G (a high-performance titanium alloy, around three times that of pure titanium) alloys that provide structural resilience.

By capturing the spirit of haruka, the MRG-B2100HR-1A unites Kyoto craftsmanship with modern engineering into an enduring piece of wearable art.

Related: Casio Online Store
Source, images: PR Times
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Gundam Base Minneapolis grand opening has been derailed by “unforeseen circumstances.”

September 30 was supposed to be a day of joy, excitement, and plastic for fans of venerable anime mecha franchise Gundam. That’s because it was the date on which the grand opening of Gundam Base Minneapolis, a brand-new Gundam superstore, was scheduled to take place inside the Mall of America in the northern U.S.

Unfortunately, the day turned out to be one of, if not necessarily sadness or full-on disappointment, a decided lack of new Gunpla models to put together, because not only did Gundam Base Minneapolis end up not opening on September 30, as of right now no one knows when the store will be open.

▼ Artist’s preview rendering of Gundam Base Minneapolis

As announced through Bandai Namco’s American website and official Twitter account, the store’s grand opening had to be delayed “due to unforeseen circumstances.” Not only that, it’s been delayed indefinitely, with no word as of this writing as to when it will be ready for shoppers and event guests.

Bandai Namco was able to give fans a heads up four days before the scheduled opening, so that no one had to waste a trip to the location just to find its doors closed. Also effected is the Bandai Namco Cross Store, an anime and character merchandise specialty shop, which will be located adjacent to Gundam Base Minneapolis. The Cross Store was also supposed to open on September 30, an event which has similarly been postponed indefinitely.

To its credit, Bandai Namco has been rather courteous in handling the matter, saying in its announcement:

We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause.

We know many of you have been looking forward to exploring these new destinations, and we’re just as excited to welcome you through our doors. We’ll share the new opening date as soon as it is confirmed, along with more details about what you can expect when we open.

We sincerely apologize again and thank you for your patience, understanding, and continued support.

Unfortunately, with no more specific details about the cause of the delay than “unforeseen circumstances,” it’s impossible to even speculate how long the delay may be, though it’s hard to escape the feeling that Char is somehow involved.

Source: Bandai Namco via Anime News Network/Ken Iikura-Gross, Twitter/@bncrosstore_us
Top image: Bandai Namco
Insert images: Bandai Namco (1, 2)
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Yep, that’s actually a change for McDonald’s Japan.

On October 1, McDonald’s Japan shocked fans with a surprise announcement that they’re changing the name of the chain’s mascot. Some might say it’s crazy to throw away decades of name recognition for such a widely recognized spokescharacter, but McDonald’s Japan feels like the time is right, and posted on its official Twitter account that that the famous clown decked out in the company’s red and yellow colors will, from now on, be known as Ronald McDonald.

▼ 今日からロナルド = “From today, I’m Ronald.”

ドナルド、どーなるの？ pic.twitter.com/y97RsfnVTH

— マクドナルド (@McDonaldsJapan) October 1, 2026

To many of our readers, this might seem like old news. Like, 63-year-old news, since 1963 was the year when McDonald’s friendly clown character made his debut in U.S. TV commercials for the fast food chain, and in which people clearly said his name was Ronald McDonald.

However, ever since Japan’s first McDonald’s opened in 1971, he’s been known here as “Donald McDonald.”

It’s not exactly clear why Ronald got a new leading consonant for his name while crossing the Pacific. One theory is that Den Fujita, the Japanese businessman who established McDonald’s Japan, thought that “Ronald” would be difficult for Japanese people to pronounce. However, the Japanese language has both “ro” and “do” sounds, and “ro” isn’t at all a rare sound within Japanese names or vocabulary, so it’s not a particularly difficult sound for native Japanese speakers to make. Another possible explanation that’s been posited online is that the change to Donald was made to avoid confusion with Ranald MacDonald, who in 1848 became the first native English speaker to teach the language in Japan. Despite the important role he played in the country’s history, though, Ranald MacDonald is far from a household name in Japan, and as much as modern-day McDonald’s Japan likes wordplay, it seems doubtful that they’d feel compelled to rename their mascot to cater the sensibilities of linguistics enthusiasts.

▼ An anime-style Donald McDonald, showing off his “Donald magic” powers. Sadly, the animation doesn’t seem to have been produced by Studio Pierrot (yes, I do cater to the sensibilities of linguistics enthusiasts).

But whatever the reason, back in 1971 McDonald’s Japan said hey, we like this clown character you’ve created, but we’re gonna rename him Donald, OK? And perhaps because no one knew the character was going to stick around this long, or because the fast food industry was still young enough that chains weren’t thinking about global branding synergy, Ronald became Donald in Japan, until McDonald’s Japan’s announcement that he’s now Ronald.

The character’s “From today, I’m Ronald” tweet has drawn comments such as:

“Biggest shock of the year.”
“Naw, dude you’ve been Ronald since a long time ago.”
“They’re not renaming him Ronald McRonald, are they?”
“Now people are gonna be able to tell how old you are if you say ‘You know, he used to be called ‘Donald.’”
“It’s going to take me some time to get used to this.”
“I mean, we’re all going to keep on calling him ‘Donald,’ right?”
“I think he didn’t want to have the same first name as Trump.”
“People in Japan know him as Donald, so they should have kept it like it was. There’s no need to go out of the way and match his name in other countries.”

Regarding the last two comments, though McDonald’s Japan did, a very long time ago, print “Donald Trump” cards (“trump” being what Western-style playing cards are called in Japan) featuring their mascot character, when the current U.S. president comes up in conversation in Japan, his first name is rarely used, so it’s unlikely that Donald McDonald’s name was changed to avoid association with Donald Trump.

On the other hand, McDonald’s Japan apparently does think there’s a good reason for matching the name used for the character in other countries, and it’s not necessarily to sell more burgers. On the same day that McDonald’s Japan announced that their mascot’s name is now Ronald, the Donald McDonald House Japan charity organization said that it is renaming itself to Rondald McDonald House Japan, in order to more clearly convey its alignment with the goal of helping children battling illnesses or other medical conditions shared by the many Rondald McDonald House divisions in other countries.

▼ Rondald McDonald House Japan announcing its new name

日本にハウスができて、25年。
私たちは、新たな一歩を踏み出します。

名称やロゴは変わりますが、
病気と向き合う子どもとそのご家族の
「第二のわが家」としての使命は変わりません。

「#家族いっしょ」 の力を信じて― #ロナルドマクドナルドハウス は、
これからも、支える家族を支え続けます。 pic.twitter.com/Wh0PxDOp8M

— 公益財団法人ロナルド・マクドナルド・ハウス・ジャパン (@dmhcj) October 1, 2026

As for McDonald’s Japan’s customers needing some time to get used to Ronald’s new name, we can relate, but we think they’ll come around eventually, especially as long as the chain doesn’t tinker too much with its tsukimi burger recipe.

Source: Oricon News via Yahoo! Japan News via Hachima Kiko, Twitter/@McDonaldsJapan
Top image: McDonald’s Japan
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Seasonal exclusive graces the menu for a limited time, proving pumpkin spice isn’t dead in Japan.

For Starbucks customers in the U.S., the Pumpkin Spice Latte has been going strong as an autumn special for 23 years, but here in Japan, it’s still a baby, having only become a regular seasonal addition since 2021.

So although customers overseas may be tiring of the flavour, with some claiming pumpkin spice is dead as people turn to other trending drinks like matcha, here in Japan customers still have a strong thirst for it. In fact, it remains so popular that the beverage is making its return for another season, in hot and iced versions, with members of the Starbucks Rewards program getting an early taste of it on 29 September, a day ahead of its official release.

▼ The Pumpkin Spice Latte is available in Short through to Venti sizes, priced from 550-680 yen (US$3.50-4.33).

As always, the drink is inspired by the flavors of pumpkin pie, combining the gentle sweetness of the autumnal vegetable with warming spices, and a dash of nutmeg as a flourishing finish. A good serving of milk adds a smooth richness to the mix, creating a mellow flavour that’s ideal for colder nights and shorter days.

It’s nice to see the Pumpkin Spice Latte returning to the menu, because although matcha is popular here, pumpkin spice has an overseas quality that makes it a unique novelty for Japanese customers. It’ll be particularly special to get a taste of it while kicking back in one of the country’s newest and most interesting stores, but as always, it’ll only be on the menu for a limited time through autumn.

Source, images: Press release  
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Swapping out scissors and ribbons for sand and farm tools.

Japanese property developer Mitsui Fudosan recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its historic £1.1 billion (approximately 230 billion yen [US$1.46 billion]) expansion of the British Library in London, and in doing so also brought a long-standing Japanese tradition to the other side of the world. As an institution boasting one of the largest book collections on earth, the British Library is expanding its footprint near its main building across the street from London’s St. Pancras International Station. As part of Japan’s largest scale real estate development to date in the UK, Mitsui Fudosan and the British Library are looking to construct a multi-story complex housing commercial offices, rental laboratories, and expanded library facilities.

To mark the start of work, UK government officials, library leadership, and Mitsui Fudosan executives gathered for a chakko-shiki (“groundbreaking ceremony”), more formally known as a kiko-shiki. Major property developments in Western countries often center around a simple ribbon-cutting, but construction in Japan traditionally has an entire sequence of ceremonies designed to ensure safety, prosperity, and community goodwill.

These Japanese construction customs traditionally start with a jichinsai, a sacred Shinto purifying ritual led by a Shinto priest. This religious ceremony uses offerings of rice wine, salt, and rice to pacify the local tochi-no-kami (earth deities), asking permission to alter the land and praying for protection against construction accidents or natural disasters, as well as for the prosperity of those who will use the land. In modern times, not all chakko-shiki begin with a jichinsai, with some people favoring to simply recognize the secular business side of the ceremonies, but the British Library event included this splash of tradition, featuring a non-Japanese Shinto priest who participated in the ceremony.

There are of course talks by the key people involved in the construction project, but the highlight and prime photo opportunity of the event is the ugachi-zome (literally “first pierce”), the symbolic first dig, where these important people grab a hoe or shovel and stab them into a small mound of sand.

Historically, preparing for building a house in Japan was a three-step process: clear the area of weeds, dig up the soil, and level the ground, and it is said that a house cannot be built without this process. Therefore, the full Shinto groundbreaking ceremony has evolved into three parts, starting with kari-some (“the first cut”), where the designer cuts grass with a sickle.

▼ The “ey, ey, ey” is very much an intergral part of all three parts.

This is followed by the kuwaire-no-gi (“hoe entry ceremony”), where the client lightly chips out a section of sand from the mound with a hoe.

Then comes the sukiire-no-gi (“shovel entry ceremony”), where person in charge of construction flattens the mound with a shovel (suki, 鋤), or at least makes more of a dent than with the hoe.

The other aspects of the jichinsai are also embedded with history and religious meaning and culminate in the naorai, the closing feast in which participants share the sake and food that were offered to the deities in order to receive their blessings, before then returning to daily life (naoru means “to return”).

Other ceremonial rituals continue through the stages of a building’s construction lifecycle, such as the joto-shiki, or raising-the-ridgepole ceremony, when the main structure is complete. Historically, carpenters placed symbolic items on the highest beam meant to ward off disaster and pray for good fortune, but nowadays it has been streamlined to just a sacred wooden wand or wooden plaque containing the names of the master carpenter, the homeowner, and the deities invoked in protecting the house, which is permanently sealed away within the roof cavity.

The four corners of the building site are splashed with ceremonial sake and salt to purify the land, and ensure the safety of both the workers and future residents.

In some instances of residential development, the whole neighborhood gets together for a mochi-throwing event, sometimes substituted with coins or sweets, in a bid to foster goodwill with the neighbors who will live alongside the development.

At the end of larger-scale construction projects, when the entire building is finished, stakeholders assemble for a shunko-shiki (construction completion ceremony), which announces the completion to the public, conveys gratitude to those physically and financially involved in the construction, and prays for safety and prosperity.

With the jichinsai and chakko-shiki being performed at such a large-scale overseas investment project, we’ll have to wait and see if they complete the entire trio of construction ceremonies at the British Library’s expansion, and find out whether or not they’ll climb to the top floor and start lobbing down tea bags in place of mochi, in an attempt to build goodwill with the locals.

Source: Jiji, Embassy of Japan in the UK, PR Times, YouTube/@ntv_news, YouTube/@大原美香-q3f, YouTube/@macs-kurashi, YouTube/@大勝建設-d3i, YouTube/@likes_home, YouTube/@harry_no_yukkurilife
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: PR Times
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