Hokkaido is home to Japan's most luxurious and rarest steam train, the winter express. Only in operation several weeks of the year, we bag ourselves tickets as we continue our journey across Japan. (Abroad in Japan)

You DON'T Need to worry about Traveling to Japan, but you DO Need to know some these simple unspoken RULES when you come to Japan (Inaka Adventure)

Tire Park is every child's dreams come true. Over 3,000 tires (and a lot of sand) were used to build the coolest playground in Tokyo. It's filled with robots, dinosaurs, rocket ships, and more... (NOJ / Japan Travel)

Honda says it will return to Formula One racing in the 2026 season, after withdrawing in 2021. The automaker has a deal to provide Aston Martin with hybrid engines. (NHK)

The Japanese pretend to be humble but they are a people who love to be praised. When a Japanese person says, "No, it is not true," it means more praise please. (Japanese Comedian Meshida)

Japan's lower house on Tuesday approved a bill creating a special pool of funds to substantially increase defense spending despite opposition lawmakers' resistance. (Kyodo)

Japanese researchers say they have fully sequenced the genome of the endangered matsutake mushroom. (NHK)

Kitaro Square has play objects featuring Yokai (spirit-monster) and others, including "GeGeGe no Kitaro," from manga artist Shigeru Mizuki. (NOJ)

Beijing has also responded angrily to statements made during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit, which wrapped up in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Sunday. (Al Jazeera)

Tokyo's Haneda Airport will reopen an area for international flights in Terminal 2 in July to handle surging demand since Japan eased its entry rules. The part of the terminal had been shut down due to COVID-19 pandemic. (NHK)

Japan’s slow post-pandemic recovery is showing signs of growing momentum, according to the latest gauges of strength in the service and factory sectors. (straitstimes.com)

Japan is considering overhauling its tax-free shopping scheme for foreign visitors in response to a growing number of cases of tax-free items being resold overseas for profit at tax-inclusive prices, sources close to the matter said Monday. (Kyodo)

Fumi Yoshinaga’s original manga “Ōoku: The Inner Chambers” receives its first anime adaptation! The tale is set in the magnificent city of Edo, where a reversal of gender roles spurs a whirl of emotions. (Netflix Anime)

A week after Japanese regulators postponed the restart of the world’s biggest nuclear power plant due to safety lapses, a careless employee working from home added to the company’s woes. (livemint.com)

An ice cream in Japan that costs more than $6,000 per serving was handed the title of the world's most expensive ice cream by the Guinness World Records (GWR) on May 18. (nextshark.com)

Okunoshima or Usagi Shima is a tiny, pretty, and abandoned (no human) island in the Inland Sea of Japan, sitting in the city of Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture. (WION)

Things to do in Fukuoka Japan (Happy Trip)

Spouses of the leaders who participated in the G7 Hiroshima Summit visited the 400-year-old “Shukkeien Garden” in Hiroshima, which has a history going back 400 years.

Spouses of G7 leaders took part in a symposium, discussing peace issues with young people in Hiroshima. (Reuters)

Local protesters were joined by demonstrators from the U.S., the Philippines and South Korea to rally against the ongoing Group of Seven (G7) summit and the possible establishment of an Asian version of NATO. (CGTN)

A massive protest erupted in South Korea's capital Seoul on Saturday against Japan's push for its controversial nuclear-contaminated water ocean discharge plan from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant despite intense international outcry. (CCTV Video News Agency)

Yuko Kishida, the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has gifted pairs of wearable binoculars to the spouses of the leaders of the Group of Seven countries and international organizations who attended the G-7 summit that concluded Sunday in Hiroshima, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. (Kyodo)

Japanese weather officials say yellow sand from China's deserts is expected to blow into wide regions from northern to western Japan, and even spread to the Pacific coast through late Monday night. (NHK)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a symbolic victory on the battlefield. (taiwannews.com.tw)

Honda announced that it will start selling electric motorcycles to the general public for the first time in Japan. (NOJ)