News On Japan

Will 'Queer Eye' show a different view of Japanese culture?

Mar 01, 2019 (Japan Times) - Netflix's popular reality series "Queer Eye" recently wrapped up filming for a number of special Japan-based episodes.

The footage from the recent trip to the country won't air until later in the year, so curious viewers will have to wait to see just how the Fab Five highlight the country to the world.

However, the stars of "Queer Eye" and staff working behind the scenes shared plenty of posts on social media, offering snapshots of their visit (SoraNews24 compiled some of the highlights). How much of it factors into the show proper remains to be seen - something tells me Kiko Mizuhara and Naomi Watanabe weren't just playing travel guides for kicks - but, regardless, these updates offered a snapshot of how celebrities spend their holidays in the country. It, along with other recent cases, highlighted some new spots becoming popular with prominent figures, while also reminding us that time-tested landmarks persevere.

Maybe I'm naive about celeb life, but I always assumed that when they visit a city such as Tokyo they hit up elite establishments regular schmucks can only dream of accessing. However, it turns out they are just like your distant cousin reaching out for the first time in a decade looking for travel tips from a local. They end up going to Robot Restaurant or the Kawaii Monster Cafe. And the "Queer Eye" guys are hardly alone in visiting these places. Chrissy Teigen apparently loves the former location enough to have gone twice, while all sorts of stars have popped up at the latter. At least they didn't pull a Katy Perry or Nolan Gould, who spent part of their vacation in Tokyo riding around in those real-life Mario Kart go-karts.

But those are old hat at this point, and have inspired eye rolls from local non-Japanese residents for years now. The Fab Five's visit, though, points to what the next frontier of Tokyo tourism for the elite will be. The teamLab Borderless exhibition in Odaiba factored in heavily to the "Queer Eye" posts from the capital. The spot's relative newness hasn't garnered the same cynicism that Robot Restaurant or the Mario go-karts have, but has attracted visits from influencers eager to share photos of them standing in front of the brightly colored displays on Instagram. Expect to see plenty more rich and famous folks visiting that spot in the years to come.

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Japan’s World Cup campaign ended in the cruelest possible fashion on June 29, as Gabriel Martinelli scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 victory over the Samurai Blue in their knockout match in Houston. Japan had led in the first half and were still level at 1-1 in the final moments, but Martinelli’s late strike sent Brazil into the Round of 16 and eliminated Japan from the tournament.

Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.

A Kintetsu Railway train derailed inside Kyoto Station on the morning of June 29, forcing partial suspensions on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line for the rest of the day and causing long delays that hit commuters, students and tourists.

A section of stone wall at Hikone Castle, one of Japan’s few surviving original Edo-period castles and a National Treasure whose main keep remains intact more than 400 years after its construction, collapsed after heavy rain caused by Typhoons No. 7 and No. 8, Hikone city officials said.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.

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