Twentythree

Rural town’s attempt to draw tourists may have gone a step too far.

In recent years, Japanese public toilets have become known not only as places to do your business but as tourist attractions with creative design features. So you can’t really blame the Kagawa Prefectural Government when they saw an opportunity to turn a local public toilet into a tourist magnet. However, the resulting facility turned out to be so extravagant that it became a source of division instead.

The new building was unveiled to the public on 22 March outside JR Kinashi Station in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. During the official opening ceremony at the site that night, the mood was high, with government officials hailing it as a much-needed improvement to the previous outdated building, which housed a unisex, squat-style pit toilet that had long elicited complaints from residents over its poor condition and hygiene.

▼ This report shows the opening ceremony and the state of the former facilities.

When the station’s operators, JR Shikoku, said it would prefer to remove the facility altogether rather than rebuild it due to a lack of funds, prefectural officials stepped in with a plan to build a new public toilet, in order to serve the station’s approximately 600 daily boarding passengers, as well as students from a nearby prefectural high school who often stop to use the facilities.

▼ Kinashi Station sits two stops west of Takamatsu Station on the JR Yosan Line and ranks 14th out of Kagawa Prefecture’s 48 JR stations by passenger numbers.

The new building now contains separate men’s, women’s, and multi-purpose toilets with modern amenities, which locals have expressed appreciation for. The real wow factor, though, is the exterior, which acts as a canvas for two nightly projection mapping shows, held from 7:15 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and again from 8:20 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Weekday displays feature illuminated angel wings, while weekends showcase a rotating selection of different artworks, including student-produced videos.

While the light display has turned the public toilet into an eye-catching landmark, it also aims to help nurture young creators, with local students and emerging artists encouraged to submit their own projection mapping designs, giving them a rare opportunity to see their work displayed publicly.

Officials also hope the unusual attraction will encourage more visitors to stop by the area. As Japan’s leading producer of pine bonsai, Kinashi already attracts international visitors interested in the local craft, so it’s hoped that word of the unique building will spread amongst overseas travellers, helping to bring more tourism to the area.

Despite these admirable goals, the unusual concept has been attracting the wrong kind of attention, as many locals have been surprised to learn that the entire project reportedly cost around 100 million yen (US$670,000).

Local opinion over the cost has been divided, with some residents arguing that the money could have been better spent elsewhere, while others say the discussion itself has helped to shine a spotlight on the town and its attractions.

Like any revitalisation project, the return on investment may take some time to reveal itself, so we’ll have to wait and see whether this expensive toilet has the power to breathe new life into the town. One thing is certain, though – it’s certainly helped put Kinashi Station on the map by making headlines, and if you’d like to help support the town, you now know where to stop and do your business.

Sources: Kagawa Prefectural Government, Asahi Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan News (1, 2, 3)
Images: Kagawa Prefectural Government
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Shop ‘till you drop unfortunately becomes shop ‘till you get arrested.

As any hard-core fan can tell you, anime and manga can be a pricey hobby. Sure, the proliferation of video streaming services and digital reader apps mean the content itself is much more affordable than it used to be, but the modern otaku merchandising industry is more robust than ever, with an endless flow of figures, plushies, character standees, and more for fans to covet.

This brings us to a 32-year-old restaurant worker living in Osaka’s Kita Ward, who, in a statement to the police, said “I like anime,” and has the numerical data to back it up. Over a roughly two-year period beginning around October of 2023, she ordered more than 4.3 billion yen (US$27 million) worth of items from manga publisher Shueisha’s Jump Character Store. If you’re wondering how she managed to pay for all that merch on what’s assumedly a modest food service worker’s salary, the answer is that she didn’t.

That’s not to say that the woman, Mayu Yoshida, stole anything. Instead, she placed the orders but never paid for, or took delivery of, the items. She did this through two methods, the first of which involved exploiting Japan’s convenience store prepayment system. For shoppers who either don’t have a credit card or don’t want to carry a balance on it, many online retailers in Japan allow customers to place an order but pay for it at a convenience store, with the seller shipping the item once payment has been confirmed. There’s a limit, though, to how much time is allowed to pass between the order’s placement and payment, after which the order will be cancelled. So Yoshida would order figures, key chains, and other items through the Jump Character Shop, select the convenience store prepayment method, and just never actually go to pay for them. Between 2024 and 2025, she placed orders with a total bill of over 4.3 billion yen this way.

Her second strategy was to order items from the Jump Character Shop and select the cash-on-delivery payment method, wherein the recipient renders payment to the delivery person. In these instances, Yoshida would refuse delivery, and therefore not pay for, the things she’d ordered. It’s unclear what the total value was for the orders she refused delivery of, but you have to wonder if any delivery person got tired of coming to her house again and again.

▼ Please, ma’am, I’m begging you, pay for this one.

As a major online retailer, the Jump Character Store likely has protocols in place to flag orders from shoppers who habitually cancel or refuse delivery of their orders, but Yoshida got around these safeguards by creating 238 different customer accounts and hopping from one to another.

However, just because she wasn’t keeping any of the items without paying for them doesn’t make this a no-harm, no-foul situation. By not paying for the COD items, she also wasn’t paying for the shipping charges, leaving Shueisha with a cumulative bill of approximately 7.5 million yen in fees for items sent to her which then had to be returned. There’re also restocking and order-processing costs involved, all of which were enough for the police to arrest Yoshida on charges of fraudulent obstruction of business, which she has admitted to, on August 4.

The repeated targeting of the Jump Character Store might make it seem like she has a bone to pick with the manga magazine or its publisher, but that’s actually not the case. “I have been feeling stressed from daily life, and I felt a sense of satisfaction and refreshment from ordering items before they sold out,” said Yoshida following her arrest. “I do not have any resentment towards Shueisha.”

A particularly bittersweet aspect to the situation is that Yoshida had previously been a legitimate paying customer with the Jump Character Store, placing her first order in the fall of 2018. Hopefully once her legal situation is sorted out she’ll be able to return to a more responsible form of fandom.

Sources: FNN Prime Online, Jiji, Yomiuri Shimbun
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Exclusive to only two wards in Tokyo, this is a must-try drink that’s very hard to get.

We’re always on the lookout for new and unusual convenience store finds in Japan, so when 7-Eleven announced it would be releasing a never-before-seen chilled soup smoothie made with grilled corn, we knew it was something we had to try.

Finding it, however, proved to be more challenging than we’d thought, as it’s currently only available at select 7-Eleven stores in Tokyo’s Chuo and Chiyoda wards. After visiting four stores in Chuo without any luck, we eventually found it at our fifth stop, where a huddle of them were lying in wait like golden treasures, gleaming at us from inside the standing freezer section.

▼ A huddle sounds like a good collective noun for smoothies.

After plucking one out and paying for it at the register, we headed over to the smoothie machine at the counter, where we scanned the barcode on the lid before tearing it off to look inside.

▼ 冷製スープ = Chilled Soup

▼ There, in the cup, we found… actual pieces of grilled corn!

The corn looked good enough to eat right away but we were here to drink it, so we popped the cup into the machine and waited for it to work its magic. With apple and banana puree also in the mix, we were curious to find out what this soup-smoothie fusion would taste like, and when it was ready, we were fascinated by the way the corn had totally disappeared and become liquid, with tiny dark grilled flecks being the only evidence of its existence.

Taking a sip, it was clear that the corn was the star of the show. Coupled with fermented rice bran, made with lactic acid bacteria and yeast for gut health, and oligosaccharides to bring out the richness and sweetness of the vegetable, the corn flavour was sweet, with a subtle smokiness, making it different to the cans of corn potage that usually come to mind when we think of a Japanese-style corn soup.

While corn potage balances sweet and savoury flavours, this variety veers towards sweetness, which is apt seeing as it’s marketed as a smoothie. In fact, as we sipped our way through the drink, we found our taste buds becoming confused over whether this should be classed as a soup or a smoothie, as the grilled vegetable component made us think we were having soup, but the overriding sweetness made us think we were drinking a smoothie.

▼ Despite the addition of fruit puree, the smoothie doesn’t taste fruity at all, making it very different from all the other fresh smoothies at 7-Eleven.

At nearly 500 yen (US$3.19), it’s also one of the most expensive smoothies in the range, and one of the hardest to find, given its very limited availability. Though there’s no word yet on whether the smoothies will expand beyond the two Tokyo wards where it’s currently being sold, this is one of the chain’s most unusual and exciting creations, and well worth trying if you’re able to find it.

As part of 7-Eleven’s latest push to explore unexpected flavour combinations and challenge our expectations of convenience store food, this is a taste odyssey we’re happy to be on, and we can’t wait to see what weird and wonderful places the chain takes us with its next new release.

Images ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Need a stress-soothing break? This figurine’s return means you can wait with Totoro while he waits for the Cat Bus.

A bonsai tree can be a great way to add some picturesque tranquility to your home or work/study space. However, bonsai often require complex care routines, and if you don’t have much of a green thumb, the hassle and stress of keeping one healthy can undo the sense of calm relaxation you were longing for.

So today let’s take a look at an alternative kind of bonsai that, in addition to being easier to care for, also has the major advantage of coming with Totoro.

Studio Ghibli specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku has restocked its previously sold-out My Neighbor Totoro Water Garden Bonsai, which carries the subtitle of “Kasayadori.” Kasayadori refers to taking shelter from the rain, especially under the boughs of a tree, and that’s exactly what Totoro is doing in this recreation of the scene from the anime movie where he’s waiting for the Catbus to come by.

The Totoro factor isn’t the only thing that separates this from a conventional bonsai tree, either, because this figurine can make its own weather.

Drawing power from an attached USB cord, the Water Garden Bonsai functions as a desktop fountain, with rivulets pouring down around Totoro and Mei.

The clever design means that once the water falls, it gets picked up in the base of the figurine…

…and cycled back up into the upper part to fall again, so there’s no need to refill it every time you want the soothing sound of rain.

Though big sister Satsuki is absent from the scene, Mei and Totoro are joined by a friendly frog, Soot Sprites in the tree branches, and a small Totoro with a leaf for an umbrella, who wobbles as the rain falls on him.

The fountain effect can be turned on and left to run indefinitely, or set to a “voice-activated” mode that will cause rain to fall for a five-minute cycle.

▼ A video showing the fountain turned in action

Unfortunately, the other Ghibli bonsai-style water gardens shown in the video are no longer available, but the Totoro Kasayadori version, which is 22 centimeters (8.7 inches) tall and priced at 17,600 yen (US$112) is once again available for order through the Donguri Kyowakoku online store here.

Source, images: Donguri Kyowakoku
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Lawson expands the territory of its robo chefs as they expand their menus.

You can get plenty of hot meals at convenience stores in Japan, but they usually have a cold start. Head on over to the refrigerated shelves, and you’ll find an array of pre-made bento boxes, rice bowls, and noodle sets. Pick one out and take it up to the register, and after you’ve paid for it, it can be heated up in the store’s microwave.

But things are different now at certain branches of Japanese convenience store Lawson, where as of this month, you can get freshly stir-fried yakisoba noodles…that are cooked by a robot.

Tokyo-based tech company TechMagic’s I-Robo 2 has actually been cooking up meals at Lawson since the summer of last year, when it started out with fried rice and mixed vegetable stir-fry. It’s since expanded its repertoire, though and now can whip up yakisoba with pork, carrots, and cabbage.

▼ Lawson’s robo-cooked yakisoba

Because the machine can cook at higher temperatures than would be safe for a human chef (it stir-fries its fried rice at over 300 degrees Celsius [572 degrees Fahrenheit], for example), the cooking process is very speedy, taking only around 90 to 150 seconds.

And to be clear, this isn’t simply reheating or finishing off an already partially cooked dish. After you place your order, either via the in-store terminal, your phone, or directly at the register, a Lawson employee loads up the robot with the necessary ingredients for what you’ve selected, then packages your meal up for you when it’s ready.

Counting all the variations (with or without pork, regular or double-sized, and with or without fried chicken as topping for the fried rice), Lawson’s robo cook can prepare a total of 13 different dishes. Prices range from 499 to 1,099 yen (US$3.29 to US$7), a little on the high end compared to pre-made convenience store fare, but not bad for something freshly cooked to order.

The first Lawson with an I-Robo 2 cook was the Kita Otsuka Icchome branch in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward. The second was the Ebina Chuo branch in the town of Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture, whose cooking robot was installed on August 6. The Yokohama Tarumachi Sanchome (Yokohama, Kanagawa) and Koto Shiomi Icchome (Tokyo) branches will be getting theirs on August 27 and September 17, and if they prove popular, expansion to even more branches will likely follow.

Source: Lawson via Impress Watch
Top image ©SoraNews24
Insert images: Lawson
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Before Hitachi Seaside Park turns red for autumn, it’s got a beautiful summer color to show you too.

Japan is a country with strong swings between its seasons, often resulting in splashes of color as different types of flowers or foliage reach their peak beauty. So if you’re headed to an outdoor attraction while traveling in Japan, timing is important, and right now is a fantastic time to visit Hitachi Seaside Park.

“Wait a second,” you might be thinking. “I though you guys said that early summer is a good time to visit that park, since that’s when its blue Nemophila flowers are in bloom. And wait, didn’t you say autumn is good too, because that’s when the park’s kochia bushes all turn red?” Yep, we sure did, but late summer is also awesome at Hitachi Seaside Park, because before those kochia can turn red, they need to grow green, and that’s what they’re doing now.

The park has a total of roughly 40,000 kochia plants, and they cover the Miharashi no Oka (“Lookout Hill”). While the ocean is visible from the top of the hill, it’s the topography itself that really catches the eye here, and the paths that wind up and around the slope let you surround yourself with greenery.

As an added bonus, Hitachi Seaside Park tends to be less crowded in summer than in the spring or fall. A big reason for that is no doubt the higher temperatures in summer, so you’ll want to bring a hat or parasol with you, but even those can lend a jaunty, fashionable look to photos you snap while strolling amongst the kochia, especially if you color-coordinate with your outfit or the blue sky above on a sunny day.

This year, the park has even planted more kochia at the base of the hill, in the section called Miharashi no Sato, which also has examples of traditional Japanese farmhouse architecture.

This year’s kochia are expected to have their bright green color from now through late September, after which they’ll start transitioning to autumn red. And if you’re looking for other reasons to visit Ibaraki, don’t forget that it’s got a great beginner-friendly mountain hike you can do plus the mysteries of Gama Land to experience.

Related: Hitachi Seaside Park official website
Source, images: PR Times
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

After years of this video game horror trying to eat us, it’s finally going to help us with our hunger instead.

The first foes that spring to mind when thinking about Resident Evil are, of course, the video game series’ zombie hordes. Zombies aren’t known for their speed or smarts, though, so as long as you can keep your confrontations with them to an individual basis, they’re pretty easy to outmaneuver and outwit.

Providing a much greater level of terror on a per-monster basis is the Licker. First introduced to the franchise in Resident Evil 2, the Lickers would be creepy enough with their freakishly long tongues, razor-sharp teeth, and exposed brains. What makes them even scarier, though, is that Lickers can stick to flat surfaces, helping them lie in ambush or stalk unsuspecting human prey. The very first Licker that appears in the series is encountered crawling along the ceiling of the Racoon City police station…and the newest Licker is ready to hide right on your back.

Thankfully, this Licker doesn’t want to eat you, and is instead here to feed you. While, as shown in the above photo, its paired shoulder straps allow it to be worn like a backpack, the original purpose of this wearable monstrosity is as a Universal Studios Japan popcorn bucket.

In recent years, USJ has been at least as committed to letting gusts step into the worlds of Japanese video games and anime worlds as they have Hollywood movies, and Resident Evil has been an enthusiastic partner with the park’s annual Halloween Horror Nights event. In addition to the Licker popcorn bucket, this year USJ will also be running a Resident Evil Requiem The Live horror maze attraction, in which fans can enter the abandoned Wrenwood Hotel where the most recent game’s FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft has gone missing. The search for Grace quickly goes sideways, though, with USJ promising “a suffocating sense of terror with nowhere to escape” as monsters attack from all angles, including above and below.

For those who want to dress the part, USJ will also be selling Racoon City Police Department uniform shirts and bags that can be worn as a waist pouch, shoulder bag, or cross-body bag.

▼ It’s unclear if the lack of trousers on offer is because of a relaxed dress code for the RPD, or because USJ doesn’t want to sell you garments that might get ruined if Resident Evil Requiem The Live scares you so badly that you pee your pants.

Pricing details haven’t been announced, but the Licker popcorn bucket will be for sale at the popcorn cart in front of the park’s Stage 22, and the RPD gear at the Cinema 4-D Store. They go on sale September 9 and will be available while supplies last (which may not be very long, considering how quickly some previous collaboration buckets have sold out). Resident Evil Requiem The Live, meanwhile, runs from September 11 to November 8, operating daily from 10 a.m. Note that the horror maze is limited to guests age 15 and up, though at least it doesn’t require you to sign a consent form like another part of USJ’s Halloween attractions this year.

Source, images: PR Times
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!