Twentythree

Two days, One Piece.

Another One Piece Day has come and finally hoisted anchor to set sail until next year. But this year’s two-day event continued to deliver in bringing entertainment and news to attendees at the Makuhari Messe convention center and everyone around the world via a livestream on YouTube.

It was an especially festive One Piece Day as the manga celebrated surpassing 600 million copies in circulation worldwide this year. And in honor of that milestone, the second-ever World Top 100 character popularity poll was held. Over 13 million votes were cast around the globe, ranking 1,567 of the epic story’s characters.

As the results were announced throughout One Piece Day, it probably came as no surprise that top honors went to Monkey D. Luffy for the second time, followed by his right-and-left-hand men Rorona Zoro and Sanji in second and third places respectively.

▼ A yuru-kyara mascot Luffy was there to accept the crown.

At the start of the poll, creator Eiichiro Oda announced that he would create new special outfits for each character in the top 30, and during the event, the new Luffy outfit illustration was unveiled for the first time. The other new outfits will make appearances in the anime, trading card game, and on various merchandise.

There was also a live reading by 17 of the main voice actors in One Piece’s Elbaph Arc, including Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy) and Kazuya Nakai (Zoro). Afterward, each actor also looked back on some of the other characters they lent their voices to over the series many years.

And speaking of cast members, there was also a big announcement regarding the live-action Netflix series. New cast members for season three, The Battle of Alabasta, were revealed to be Emilio Sakraya as Koza, Omid Abtahi as Toto, Jamie Ward as Pell, and Nabeel Kahn as Chaka.

▼ Clockwise from top left: Emilio Sakraya, Omid Abtahi, Nabeel Kahn, and Jamie Ward

And as always, One Piece Day came to a close with major musical performances. Series mainstays Hiroshi Kitadani and Maki Otsuki once again graced the stage performing their legendary theme songs, as well as some fan favorites used throughout the series, such as Otsuki’s “Never Was Alone in This World,” used when Nico Robin and Saul reunited.

▼ Hiroshi Kitadani

This year’s first guest performer was AiNA THE END, who performed three songs, including the current arc’s theme song, “Luminous,” and “Blue Shining Star,” which is the theme song for One Piece Heroines.

Rounding out the bill was 36km/h, who played this arc’s closing theme, “Future,” as well as “Hello,” which was the ending theme to the voice comic for Eiichiro Oda’s one-shot Monsters.

One Piece Day 2026 came to a close with a traditional group singing of “We Are!” bringing this pirate party to a triumphant close.

And after that, came the worst time of year, the longest possible time until the next One Piece Day. For now, we’ll have to make do with all the lesser holidays like Constitution Memorial Day.

Images: ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
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We find out if these convenience store noodles really are as bad as they say.

When Japanese convenience store food goes viral online, it’s usually because of how good it is. Now, though, there’s a new find that’s going viral for all the wrong reasons, with people saying it’s too salty to eat.

The product at the eye of the storm is the “Ramen Walker-supervised Chilled Pepper Soba,” which went on sale at 7-Eleven stores across Japan on 25 August, priced at 537 yen (US$3.60).

Supervised by Ramen Walker, one of Japan’s largest ramen information media outlets, the new noodles are part of a series described as “This is the Type of Thing We Wanted”. Curiously, though, judging by people’s reactions online, this is not what diners wanted at all, with some people saying they can’t even finish the meal.

▼ 「こんなの欲しかった」シリーズ = “This is the Type of Thing We Wanted” series

The chilled soba has a simple base of noodles and green onions, but what makes it intense is the astonishingly dark sauce and overzealous peppering, which had us nervous just looking at it.

Having tried intensely salty ramen in Japan before, we weren’t sure how our palates would react to this tub of noodles, so we called upon three of the reporters on our Japanese-language team to give us their verdict.

After preparing the noodles as instructed, by mixing the sauce in thoroughly then adding the pepper before mixing it thoroughly again, we lined up our colleagues for the tasting.

▼ The “Ramen Walker-supervised Chilled Pepper Soba”

▼ So, how does it taste?

Well, their faces say it all really. At first, it seemed like a fairly rich chilled noodle dish, but within seconds an intense saltiness took over. Though they wouldn’t say it was impossible to eat – these men do have iron stomachs, after all – they did say it was so salty that every bite was a challenge, and they could definitely see why some people might struggle to eat it all.

The level of saltiness was unusual for a convenience store product, so it would easily take customers by surprise, and finishing the entire portion required a certain amount of determination from our trio. At the end of it all, their reactions ran the gamut from  “Argh, it’s salty!” to “It’s strong, but I can eat it” and “It’s strong… and not tasty”, so online reactions calling it “too strongly flavoured to eat” did seem to have some truth to them.

One of the things everyone agreed on was the saltiness, because however strong you think the salt might be, double it and you might be in the ballpark. Still, it hasn’t stopped 7-Eleven from selling the product, and it’s still continuing to attract attention online so if you’re up for the challenge, keep an eye out for it at 7-Eleven, and be sure to try the super hot mince cutlet while you’re there.

Images ©SoraNews24
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A sweaty, but unforgettable, visit to Kompirasan.

The streets called sando are a unique part of Japanese cityscapes. Sando are the paths that lead to shrines and temples, and because visitors often have secular needs and desires too, they’re often lined with restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops.

And while you will find those things on the path you walk along the way to the main building of Shinto shrine Kompirasan in Kagawa Prefecture, its approach also has something that many others don’t: 785 stone steps for you to climb to get there.

For this vertical-component shrine walk, we’re headed to the town of Kotohira, and in fact Kompirasan’s official, formal name is Kotohiragu. After getting off the train at Kotohira Station (pictured above), it’s about a 10-minute walk to the start of Kompira Omotesando, as this sando is called.

▼ Walking route from Kotohira Station to the start of Kompira Omotesando

Sure enough, right away we started seeing shops and restaurants with banners inviting us in for locally made manju dumplings filled with sweet bean paste or some of Kagawa Prefecture’s famous Sanuki udon noodles. We also walked by a hot spring bathhouse with a free-to-use outdoor foot bath.

The most unusual thing we spotted, though, were buckets filled with walking sticks, which could be rented for 100 yen (US$0.65), with payment and return performed on the honor system.

▼ For this rental stand, you put your 100-yen coin into one of the red piggy banks.

Of course, saving 100 yen here would mean 100 yen more for us to spend on things like Pokémon merch, so we kept our wallet closed and our feet moving.

The first 100 steps or so were no sweat…or at least not very much sweat. Early on, the ascent to Kompirasan still feels like a stroll in a charming, laidback countryside-adjacent neighborhood. It wasn’t until we stopped and looked back that we saw how far up into the foothills of Mt. Zozu we’d risen, with a nice view of the city’s downtown area spreading out in the distance.

After this, though, perspiration would become a persistent theme. The temperature on the day we visited was over 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), and in stretches of the path that were devoid of shade, it felt like we were being baked from both above and below as the sun heated up the stone steps.

Thankfully, landmarks along the way, like the stately Daimon gate pictured above at Step 365, gave us visually stimulating rewards that helped keep our minds off of things like the steadily increasing dampness of the face towel that we kept wiping ourselves off with.

This isn’t to say that Kompirasan’s approach is a grueling, mountain climb-caliber physical ordeal. It’s definitely a workout, though, and, as you can see in our pictures, we passed by many wise individuals who were sporting parasols to keep the sun off of themselves.

Doing the entire ascent in one continuous spurt in this heat isn’t advisable, so when we did spot patches of shade along the way, we regularly took the opportunity to stop, rest, and rehydrate from the water bottle we’d brought with us.

Further up the mountain, we arrived at Asahi Shrine, which has the unusual distinction of having been built as a Buddhist temple, and later converted to a Shinto shrine. The two religions exist as a pretty harmonious tandem in Japan, and both parts of Asahi Shrine’s cultural legacy are recognized and celebrated.

▼ The 25-meter (82-foot) tall Asahi Shrine is one of the largest wooden structures in the region, and the color of its copper-plated roof provides another shade of photogenic green to contrast with the trees around it.

▼ Asahi Shrine’s covered rest area is a good spot to sit and rest your legs for a bit.

As pretty as Asahi Shrine is, though, we weren’t done walking yet. Following the signs that point on to the Kompirasan main shrine building (御本宮)…

…we once again came to the stone steps, with a sign declaring:

“Just a little more to go! 133 steps left until the main shrine building! Make it to the top, and happiness and blessings will come to you!”

In other words, we’d already made it up 652 steps, so another 133 couldn’t be so ba-

Ah, OK, so when they said 133 steps, they meant 133 very steep steps.

But hey, blessings and happiness sounded pretty nice, so we took a deep breath, took a step, then took 132 more steps, and finally…

…we made it!

The view from up at the main shrine building is especially beautiful on a sunny day like this, allowing you to take in all the layers of towns, farmland, and mountains between you and the horizon. Also a beautiful sight: the covered tent with mist sprayers that had been set up in the shrine’s courtyard.

Kompirasan’s main hall enshrines Omononushi no Kami, the deified spirit of Emperor Sutoku, who reigned in the 12th century. Omononushi no Kami is a well-rounded spirit, and praying at the shrine is said to impart blessings related to health, seafaring, business, and agriculture.

▼ The main shrine building

▼ With so many blessings to provide, Kompirasan has an especially wide selection of good luck amulets that visitors can purchase.

The walk up to the main shrine takes about 45 minutes, not counting any rests or breaks along the way. After admiring the scenery and soaking up the atmosphere, we started our descent back into town, and this was when we started to regret not renting a walking stick at the bottom. There aren’t really any handrails along the steps, and especially on the way down, it can be pretty tiring on your knees and other joints.

▼ It turns out that 100-yen stick rental fee would have been a good investment.

All in all, though, this is definitely a walk worth taking if you’re in Kagawa, and given the easy access by train, it’s very easy to fold into a trip around the island of Shikoku, which Kagawa makes up the northeastern corner of. If you can plan your visit for sometime other than midsummer, though, we’d definitely recommend doing so.

Reference: Kotohiragu and Kotohira official tourism website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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Step into the sumo world with this exclusive convenience store range.

Family Mart’s Convenience Wear is a popular way to put an outfit together on a budget, and it’ll soon be getting a distinctly Japanese twist, thanks to a new collaboration that celebrates one of the country’s most famous sumo wrestlers.

▼ The wrestler entering the ring is Chiyonofuji,  one of sumo’s biggest stars during the Showa era (1926-1989).

Chiyonofuji – real name Mitsugu Akimoto – was the 58th yokozuna, with yokozuna being the highest rank in professional sumo. Known for his powerful physique and extraordinary strength, he dominated the sport during the ’80s, becoming one of its most iconic figures and remaining hugely popular even to this day, decades after his retirement.

Now, Chiyonofuji’s legacy continues in this new Convenience Wear range, which consists of two Line Socks inspired by sumo traditions, and hand towels depicting some of his most memorable moments in the ring.

▼ Chiyonofuji Socks 600 yen (US$4).

These unisex Line Socks feature a design inspired by the shimenawa ropes seen at sumo’s highest-ranked wrestlers’ dohyo ceremonies.

▼ Chiyonofuji’s name also appears in the design.

▼ The socks are specially treated so they have antibacterial and deodorising properties to keep them odour-free.

The socks come in two colourways, white and dark blue, and are available in two sizes: 22–25 centimetres (8.7-9.8 inches) and 25–28 centimetres.

▼ The Chiyonofuji Hand Towel (800 yen) recreates one of the legendary wrestler’s memorable scenes in the ring.

The towel, made in Japan by esteemed towel manufacturer Imabari, is designed to be highly absorbent. Carefully created, it features a jacquard-woven depiction of Chiyonofuji, recreating his appearance in the ring.

▼ The wrestler’s name also appears on the towel.

The collaboration was developed with Hiroyuki Ochiai, the fashion designer and creative director of Convenience Wear, who said the Chiyonofuji design looked just as he remembered seeing the wrestler on television at the time. Ochiai says he hopes that the collaboration provides an opportunity for people in Japan and overseas to learn more about Japanese culture.

The collaboration went on sale at Family Mart stores nationwide from 28 August, with availability and launch times varying slightly between stores. The socks and hand towel will also be available in limited quantities through Family Mart Online from 25 August.

Source, images: Press release
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