Twentythree

Police not pleased with plan of leaving elementary schooler unattended for hours on Japan’s tallest mountain.

“This summer, I hiked Mt. Fuji with my dad!” sounds like a pretty cool opening for a kid’s how-I-spent-my-summer-vacation essay. The composition gets less heartwarming, though, if it concludes with “And then I got to meet some policemen after he abandoned me on the side of the tallest mountain in Japan.”

And yet, that’s exactly what happened to a 7-year-old boy from Nagoya on Thursday. Early that morning, the boy, his 48-year-old father, and his older brother (a first-year middle school student, making him either 12 or 13 years old) had started their hike up the Fujinomiya Trail. At somewhere around the trail’s sixth of 10 stations on the way to the summit, the younger child became fussy, complaining that he was tired.

At this point, the obvious options would be either to offer some words of encouragement to the tuckered-out tyke, take a break so he could rest and recover his stamina, or, perhaps, to simply accept that taking a 7-year-old on an attempt to summit Mt. Fuji was a flawed plan from the start, and so head home. Instead, Dad decided to tell his younger son “Wait here,” after which he and the older boy continued hiking towards the top of the mountain.

It’s not like the summit was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from where the dad abandoned his flesh and blood, either. According to the Mt. Fuji Climbing Official Website, it takes a little over five hours to hike from the Fujinomiya Trail’s sixth station to the peak, and slightly more than two and a half hours to walk back down there from the top. That means the dad was counting on a 7-year-old to sit tight and keep himself safe on the mountain for at least seven and a half hours, and likely longer once you factor in any time spent by the dad and older brother on rest breaks, taking photos, or admiring the view at the summit.

▼ Approximate ascent hiking times on the Fujinomiya Trail

Thankfully, the younger kid didn’t end up having to do that. At around 7:40 in the morning, a worker at a mountain hut near the sixth station spotted the unattended boy sitting by himself on a bench. The worker invited the boy inside the hut and let him take shelter there while the police were contacted. Once officers arrived, they were able to determine the father’s identity and get in contact with him, at which time he was near the trail’s eighth station, and told him to come back and get his kid.

It’s not clear exactly how long the boy was left unattended for, but, once again going by the Mt. Fuji Climbing Official Website’s estimates, it’s a roughly three-hour hike from the trail’s sixth station to the eighth, meaning he likely abandoned his son sometime around 4:30 in the morning.

Thankfully, the boy was unharmed and was safely reunited with his father. However, when the mountain hut worker found the boy, rain was falling and fog was starting to gather. It’s not known what the weather was like when the father left his son behind, but conditions can rapidly and unpredictably change on Mt. Fuji, sometimes leading to rapid deteriorations of visibility, footing, and other safety factors.

“Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable” officers told the father, who, at least, seems remorseful, saying “I made a rash decision, and I deeply regret it.” Following the incident, the police are calling on hikers to be conscious of the dangers of leaving a member of their party behind, reminding those taking to the trails that they should tailor their pace and ambitions to accommodate the member of their group with the lowest amount of stamina.

Source: TBS News Dig, FNN Prime Online, Mt. Fuji Climbing Official Website
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Mt. Fuji Climbing Official Website
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Jiro dreams of sushi, but he never would’ve dreamed of this.

When you’re visiting Japan on a tight schedule and trying to pack as much as possible into your short time here, being able to do two things at once can be a timesaver. It can also become a weird, surreal and Japan-only experience, if the new “Sushi Bus” is anything to go by.

This unusual new attraction combines conveyor belt sushi with a sightseeing bus tour, by putting a working sushi conveyor belt on the second floor of an open-top double-decker bus to create a new experience that’s said to be the first of its kind in the world.

Developed by Sushi Bus Co. in collaboration with Willer Across, which rents out restaurant buses with onboard kitchens, this new service is as impressive as it sounds: passengers sit on the second floor of an open-top bus while sushi travels around them on a conveyor belt, allowing them to eat as they take in views of Tokyo.

▼ Yes, the sushi really will be moving around the bus.

The bus will depart from the Kajibashi Parking Lot near Tokyo Station, but unlike a conventional sightseeing tour, it won’t be travelling to a specific destination. Instead, it will go on a spin around the city, much like the conveyor belt inside it, passing famous sites while passengers enjoy all-you-can-eat sushi on the 70-minute tour.

The restaurant bus has a kitchen on the first floor, where staff prepare a variety of sushi. An elevator inside the bus transports the finished sushi to the second floor, where a staff member places it onto the conveyor belt running alongside the passenger seats.

▼ The elevator system in action.

The current plan is for the bus to have just 20 seats, so there will only be 20 diners on board. The company says this limited capacity is part of the appeal, and because the bus is so unusual, it’s likely to attract plenty of attention as it travels around Tokyo. making Shibuya Scramble Crossing, Ginza and Kaminarimon in Asakusa some of the likely contendors for sites along the yet-to-be determined route.

The Sushi Bus concept, which has been in development for roughly two and a half years, started with an April 2024 illustration of what the bus might look like.

The road to making it a reality involved a lot of testing and lateral thinking, as the companies involved had to work out a way to install a sushi conveyor belt on a moving vehicle while also dealing with the kitchen facilities and other requirements involved in operating a restaurant bus.

▼ Team members hard at work, to accomplish “a project no one had ever attempted before”.

The conveyor itself required extensive testing with Kitanihon Kako, a major Japanese manufacturer of sushi conveyor systems, to prevent sushi from falling off the belt in the case of sudden braking.

▼ This test-ride video shows how well the sushi stays on the belt, even when the bus comes to a sudden stop.

Sushi Bus says there are currently only five restaurant buses operating in Japan, all owned by Willer Group. One of the five has now been renovated to become the Sushi Bus, which is said to be the first of its kind in the world.

▼ The company says it can accommodate a variety of dietary requirements, including religious dietary restrictions, allergies and “vegitarian” requests.

The new service is currently set to begin with one bus in Tokyo, although the company hopes to eventually expand to other major tourist destinations like Osaka and Kyoto as well.

The planned price is 16,000 yen (US$101) per person, with online reservations here and five departure times scheduled each day: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The bus is scheduled to begin operating in Tokyo on 10 October.

Sources: Press release, YouTube/@株式会社SUSHIBUS
Featured image: YouTube/@株式会社SUSHIBUS
Insert images: Press release
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If only some justice-loving shinobi had put a stop to things before Ise Ninja Kingdom had to shut down.

It would seem like right now would be a great time to operate a ninja theme park in Japan. With the yen at its lowest value in decades, the country is receiving record-breaking numbers of foreign tourists, many with an interest in traditional Japanese culture, and Japan residents, with overseas travel now a much more expensive endeavor, are in need of domestic entertainment options.

And yet, Ise Ninja Kingdom, in Mie Prefecture, has suddenly closed, and it’s not clear if it will ever reopen.

▼ Ise Ninja Kingdom commercial

The park, located in the town of Ise, originally opened in 1993 as Ise Sengoku Village, referencing the Sengoku period of Japanese history, when dozens of regional samurai clans were vying for control of the country. The facility boasts a recreation of a samurai-era fortress and castle town, with activities and martial arts shows for visitors to enjoy.

The park has changed names and owners several times, and following its purchase by the Kyosei Bank Group real estate investment firm in 2016, rebranded as Ise Ninja Kingdom in 2019. Like all amusement parks, its attendance cratered during the COVID pandemic, but Ise Ninja Kingdom managed to weather the storm and avoid bankruptcy. Unfortunately, while it may have survived the public health crisis, it looks like Ise Ninja Kingdom has been undone by a business scandal.

On July 22, Ise Ninja Kingdom announced that it would be closing “for renovations,” and that the closure would be starting the very next day. The park’s website has been almost entirely erased as well, and now consists only of a top page with the text-image statement:

“Thank you for your continued patronage of Ise Ninja Kingdom. As of Thursday, July 23, 2026, the facility will be suspending operations for the purpose of renovations. We ask for the understanding of those parties who had been planning to visit. When operations resume, it will be announced through the park’s official site.”

In the month since, there has been no update, nor has there been a single statement regarding what sort of renovations are supposedly in the works or their scale. The entrance to the park has been roped off and no construction workers or equipment has been seen. Following the announcement of the closure, representatives for the park turned in the paperwork to formally withdraw from Ise’s municipal tourism promotion association as well.

▼ Roughly a week before the closure, the official Ise Ninja Kingdom ninja YouTube channel also announced that it would be “going into cold sleep,” and has not posted since.

But while the suddenness and exact manner are starling, Ise Ninja Kingdom closing down isn’t itself a shock. As mentioned above, the park was acquired in 2016 by Kyosei Bank Group. Among the company’s investment products is one called Minna de Oyasan, which translates to “Everyone as the Landlords Together.” Minna de Oyasan was touted as a sort of crowdfunding-style investment opportunity, but critics have accused it of being a gussied-up Ponzi scheme. A string of scandals involving misrepresentations of what investors’ money was being used for and noncompliance in fulfilling obligations to return investors’ money led to a lawsuit filed by nearly 1,200 plaintiffs seeking 11.4 billion yen (US$72 million) from the company.

While Ise Ninja Kingdom and its management don’t appear to have been directly involved in the alleged wrongdoings, the park’s association with Kyosei Bank Group has resulted in the shadow warrior theme park’s reputation being tarnished by the shady real estate deals. Attendance had been plummeting for the past several months, with those visitors who did walk through Ise Ninja Kingdom’s gate finding that they had the park almost entirely to themselves, and certain parts of the facility, such as some of its restaurants, not operating.

▼ A video from this past March showing a largely empty Ise Ninja Kingdom

Taking all of this into account, it certainly seems like instead of closing for “renovations,” Ise Ninja Kingdom is instead closing down until either Kyosei Bank Group’s scandal fades from people’s minds or the company can find someone else to sell it to. Neither of those are likely to happen very soon, though, if ever, so it’s good to know that there’s another samurai-era theme park in Japan that’s ramping up its offerings, not shutting them down.

Source: Ise Ninja Kingdom, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan Times
Top image: Wikipedia/Kouki Nakanishi
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Can you eat more than 12 mega burgers in just 45 minutes for a chance at winning the national final?

Fast-food enthusiasts, please prepare yourselves: Burger King Japan’s legendary One Pounder Challenge is back for its third and final round in 2026, and it’s as gloriously tasty as ever.

The star of this all-you-can-eat extravaganza is the monstrous Dirty The One Pounder, packing four flame-grilled 100 percent beef patties, four slices of rich cheddar cheese, pickles, onions, and a special garlic mayo sauce. Individually priced at 2,490 yen (US$15.70), or as set for 2,790 yen, and clocking in at 1,656 calories and 527 grams (1.16 pounds) per burger, it’s both a test for your stomach and your heart.

The event runs for seven days, from August 28 to September 3, with daily sessions being held at 2:30 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m., and each catering to small groups of just six to eight participants. It’s taking place at a Whoppering 90 stores nationwide, from Hokkaido to Fukuoka, including a brand-new debut at Aeon Mall Morioka-Minami in Iwate. Although do note that the branches at Tokyo and Kyoto Racetracks, and also Kansai International Airport Terminal 1, are not participating in this event or selling the jumbo burger.

After the clock starts, you have 45 minutes to eat as much as you can. The timer is strict, and your last order must be placed at the 30-minute mark. A rotation system is enforced, so after you are presented with your first burger, small order of French fries, and medium drink, you must have completely finished your current portion of any item before you are able to order another. However, you don’t need to finish your fries to order another burger, just wolf that burger down, and another stack of beef will be sent your way.

Participation in the event costs 4,900 yen, and tickets must be purchased online in advance via the official booking site here. Sales opened on August 19 on a first-come, first-served basis, and this event is known to sell out quickly, so you’ll want to grab your ticket as quickly as possible. Every participant takes home exclusive merchandise: a limited One Pounder T-shirt, an original Burger King pouch, a One Pounder sticker, and an event sticker.

You should show up at least five minutes before your scheduled slot, and be sure to keep your ticket secure. As you’re shovelling what feels like could be an entire cow down your throat in an attempt to smash the top record from the challenge back in June of an astonishing 12 burgers (over 19,000 calories), it’s important to pace yourself and eat safely.

However, if you do happen to accomplish becoming one of the top three eaters nationwide, you will also receive an invitation to the grand One Pounder Challenge 2026 Final in Tokyo at the end of the year.

If you’ve got your ticket in hand, get those stomachs warmed up and ready to feast, but if you’ve missed out this time, you should also train those finger muscles in order to snap up the ticket for the next all-you-can-eat showdown before your competition.

Related: Burger King Japan
Source and images: PR Times
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Attempt to pass himself off as a foreigner reveals possible link to another crime too.

In the early morning hours of August 18, at around 2:30 a.m., a lone man walked into the Oizumi Yoshida branch of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson in the town of Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture. The only other person in the store at the time was the branch’s 50-something year-old manager, who was working the register.

▼ The store where the incident took place

The man approached the counter, but instead of making a purchase, he pulled out a knife and demanded the manager hand over the cash in the register. Actually, “demand” is probably too harsh a word, since even though the man was obviously attempting to commit armed robbery, his exact words were:

“Okane wo kudasai.”

This is an odd choice of words to be using mid-crime, though the first part is fine. Kane is the Japanese word for “money,” and adding the honorific o to the front of it technically does make it a more polite expression, but it also helps differentiate it from the other possible meanings of kane, such as “metal,” so when talking about money a lot of people default to using okane even when they’re not necessarily trying to sound elegant.

What makes “Okane wo kudasai” a weird thing to say while you’re threatening someone’s life, though, is that kudasai means “please.” Kudasai isn’t an intimidating or forceful way of speaking, and in getting victims to do what they want them to, most criminals tend to see soft-touch expressions and bladed instruments as an either/or choice in getting people to do what they want them to. Even stranger, in addition to the unnatural vocabulary, the would-be robber also pronounced the words in a stiff, unnatural way.

▼ “Casey, is this just another of your excuses to talk about Japanese linguistics?” you may be asking, but I promise you, this is all going somewhere.

The mixture of polite speech and implied violence was not enough to convince the convenience store manager to hand over the cash, though, and when he refused to comply/oblige, the man fled the scene. However, using forensic evidence and security camera footage, police investigators were able to determine his identity as that of Atsushi Goto, a 32-year-old resident of Isesaki, another town nearby in Gunma. What’s more, just one day earlier, on the 17th, a man had robbed a different convenience store in Isesaki of 30,000 yen (US$190) with the exact same method: flashing a knife at the register and saying “Okane wo kudasai.”

Officers placed Goto under arrest near his home, and he has already admitted to the attempted robbery in Oizumi. Questioning also revealed why he said “Okane wo kudasai” in an unnatural voice, as Goto, who is Japanese, told the police that he did so in order to hopefully sound like a foreigner and aurally mask his identity.

The incident brings to mind a similar one that took place in Aichi Prefecture a few years back, when a Japanese man attempted to rob a convenience store while saying, with unnatural vocabulary, “I’m a Vietnamese. Money! Money!”

Ordinarily, there might be a certain measure of sympathy for someone who’s arrived at such a dire point in their life that they apparently feel like robbing convenience stores is their best shot at earning money. It’s a lot harder to feel sorry for someone, though, who’s trying to cover their tracks by playing into growing suspicions against Japan’s foreign population, especially in rural areas where recent high-profile agricultural thefts committed by foreign nationals could make the local community more likely to believe the ruse. The exact punishment Goto faces is uncertain, but hopefully it’ll lead him to choices more considerate of the direct and indirect victims of his M.O.

Source: Teleasa News, TBS News Dig, FNN Prime Online
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Beautiful timepiece combines two things Japan is famous for: anime and precision timekeeping.

If you love Japanese bullet trains as much as you love anime/manga One Piece and classic Japanese timepieces, then there’s a brand new collector’s item to add to your wish list: a Seiko watch inspired by the One Piece Shinkansen.

The watch is specifically inspired by Setouchi Blue, one of three specially adorned bullet trains in the “One Piece × Sanyo Shinkansen” collaboration, launched last year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Sanyo Shinkansen, which runs between Shin-Osaka in Osaka and Hakata in Fukuoka.

While two of the Shinkansen pay tribute to Tony Tony Chopper and Monkey D. Luffy respectively, Setouchi Blue features a design inspired by a journey through the Setouchi region, an area closely associated with the Seto Inland Sea. With the Straw Hat Pirates appearing across the train, a ride on Setouchi Blue will make you feel like you’re heading out on your own seabound adventure, and now you can carry that sense of seafaring freedom with you wherever you go, with the limited-edition Seiko chronograph watch.

▼ The One Piece Shinkansen Watch Setouchi Blue Model has a beautiful blue gradient dial inspired by the train’s exterior.

The two top sub-dials feature the wave pattern seen along the side of the train, while the small-seconds sub-dial displays the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates, the pirate crew led by protagonist Monkey D. Luffy. A straw hat motif appears at the 1 o’clock position, while a gold-coloured index at the 10 o’clock, or 50-minute, position celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Sanyo Shinkansen.

The chronograph seconds hand is specially designed to resemble Luffy and an anchor, while the hour and minute hands are treated with LumiBrite, Seiko’s luminous paint. Four LumiBrite elements below the Seiko name are designed to resemble the headlights of the Shinkansen, adding another gorgeous glow-in-the-dark detail.

The back of the watch is engraved with the One Piece Shinkansen logo and an individual edition number, with only 5,000 watches being produced.

The timepiece comes in a special box designed to look like a treasure chest, complete with a foil-stamped One Piece Shinkansen logo on the lid.

Inside, you’ll find key artwork from the One Piece × Sanyo Shinkansen project, along with an illustrated guarantee card.

Made in Japan, with a stainless-steel case, case back and band, and a curved Hardlex crystal, each watch uses a quartz movement with an accuracy of within 15 seconds per month and is water-resistant to 10 atmospheres. The case measures approximately 4.7 x 3.98 centimetres (1.85 x 1.57 inches) and is 1.28 centimetres thick.

Available from 17 August through Premico’s online shop for 76,780 yen (US$512), the watches will be shipped out from mid-January 2027.

Source, images: Press release
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A fusion of Japanese and American influences is converging to kick off moon-viewing burger season.

Japan is understandably fond of its indigenous culinary culture. However, it’s also a nation with an unabashed enthusiasm for adopting tasty foods that originated overseas, so it’s not uncommon for hamburger chains in Japan to lean into the American-ness of their menu items. For example, later this month Wendy’s Japan is introducing a new hamburger meant to evoke thoughts of New York, while still having two elements that are very Japanese.

Coming soon is the New York Tsukimi Mocchi Burger, the latest addition to Japan’s tsukimi burger genre. Tsukimi is the Japanese word for “moon-viewing,” but in certain culinary circles it’s also used to refer to adding an egg to a dish. The term started with people noticed that, if cracked into a bowl of noodles, the contents of an egg would spread out and resemble a full moon. Eventually Japanese burger chains began offering deluxe sandwiches with toppings including a fried egg in the fall, the traditional season for moon-viewing parties in Japan, and calling them tsukimi burgers. Wendy’s Japan gets even more Japanese with their take on the sandwich by including a slab of mochi too, chosen to incorporate Japanese folktales about rabbits who live on the moon and pound lunar rice cakes on its surface.

But since tsukimi burgers are all about a little burger-based enjoyable extravagance, this year Wendy’s will be giving their a little something extra. In addition to the fried egg and grilled mochi, Wendy’s says the new New York Tsukimi Mocchi Burger’s toppings consist of a rich and refreshingly tangy “American-style sauce,” crisp bacon, and cheese, for a unique tsukimi burger that represents “a fusion of American and Japanese” flavors.

Of course, you could argue that one of the defining characteristics of American cuisine is large portion sizes, and there’s also a New York Tsukimi Mocchi Burger Double, which doubles up the patties, bacon, cheese, and sauce.

Or maybe fried food is the standard-bearer for American chow? In that case, Wendy’s New York Mocchi Spicy Chicken Filet Burger fits the bill by swapping in a fried chicken cutlet for the patty.

And finally, there’s a Jr. New York Tsukimi Mocchi Burger, for those who want a tsukimi burger but might not have a celestial-sized appetite at the moment.

All of the New York tsukimi burgers will be offered at Wendy’s First Kitchen, as the two-in-one combined branches of Wendy’s Japan and its sister chain First Kitchen are called. Meanwhile, exclusively First Kitchen branches will have the four above tsukimi burgers, plus four more with a little more Japanese flair, such as the Tsukimi Mocchi Smash Burger, with egg, mochi, cheese, a less crispy slice of bacon, and a hybrid teriyaki/tartar sauce.

The Tsukimi Mocchi Chicken Tatsuta Burger features tatsuta, a type of Japanese-style fried chicken with a potato starch breading that gives it a crunchier texture.

And, finally, both of them can be ordered with a mentai mayo (spicy cod roe and mayonnaise) sauce instead of the teriyaki tarter.

New York is often said to be one of the most expensive cities on the planet, and while Wendy’s New York tsukimi burgers may not have that same status, they’re not particularly cheap, either. The single-patty New York Tsukimi Mocchi Burger is priced at 1,180 yen (US$7.40), and the Double is 1,780, three or four time what a basic fast food chain burger will run you in Japan. The New York fried chicken tsukimi burger is kinder to your wallet at 980 yen, as is the 820-yen Jr. New York tsukimi. First Kitchen’s exclusives are the most budget-friendly of all, costing 750 yen for the Tatsuta tatsuta sandwiches and 780 yen for the smash burgers.

It appears that Wendy’s and First Kitchen are looking to get a jump on the competition this year, as they’ll both begin offering their tsukimi burger lineups on August 27.

Source, images: PR Times
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