News On Japan

Expo Site’s Nearest Station, Yumeshima, to Open January 19 Next Year

OSAKA - A new Osaka Metro station, located nearest to the venue for the Osaka-Kansai Expo set to open in April next year, will begin operation on January 19.

The Osaka Metro Chūō Line provides the only direct rail access to the Yumeshima Expo site. During the event, up to 129,000 people are expected to use the station daily.

Construction is currently underway to extend the line approximately 3.2 kilometers from its current terminus at Cosmosquare Station to the new Yumeshima Station, which will serve as the closest station to the venue. On the 5th, Osaka Mayor Hideyasu Yokoyama announced that the station’s opening date has been confirmed for January 19.

Osaka Mayor Hideyasu Yokoyama:

“We are delighted to open this new station, where many people will pass through and experience the future of Osaka.”

Yumeshima is home to a container yard, and concerns about serious traffic congestion in the surrounding area have been raised. The new station is expected to ease transportation issues for those involved with the Expo.

Source: YOMIURI

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Toyota Motor will begin operating fully autonomous taxis in 2027 through a partnership with U.S. self-driving technology company Waymo, marking a major step in the Japanese automaker's efforts to expand driverless transportation services.

Mount Fuji has received its first snowcap of the season, the Japan Meteorological Agency announced on October 30, after temperatures at the summit plunged to minus 9.4 degrees Celsius, marking the arrival of winter conditions on Japan's highest mountain.

U.S. intelligence agencies suspect that a Chinese female intelligence operative developed a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in an attempt to obtain confidential corporate and U.S. government information, according to a report published by The New York Times on October 29th.

The Japanese government has asked major telecommunications operators to forcibly block access to websites believed to contain personal information stolen in a cyberattack on GMO, it emerged on October 29th, as authorities moved to prevent further exposure of sensitive data online.

Typhoon No. 31 was located near Minamitorishima Island in the Pacific Ocean, as of 3 a.m. on October 30, and was expected to approach the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo over the October 31-November 1 weekend while maintaining very strong intensity, bringing a growing risk of dangerously high waves, powerful swells and extremely rough seas.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Travel NEWS

Hokkaido University's famous ginkgo avenue in Sapporo has reached its peak autumn color, attracting residents and tourists to the campus ahead of the two-day Hokudai Golden Leaf Festival on October 31 and November 1, an event that drew 35,000 visitors last year.

A spectacular illumination of the Hashigui Rocks, a nationally designated natural monument in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, is set to begin on October 30, transforming a series of unusual coastal rock formations into a colorful nighttime attraction.

Japan's first major cold spell of the season brought snow, freezing winds and record-low autumn temperatures across the country, with 639 observation points registering their coldest readings of the season on October 29, while forecasts issued that evening indicated that temperatures would recover on October 30 as rain spread across much of the country.

Typhoon No. 31 was located near Minamitorishima Island in the Pacific Ocean, as of 3 a.m. on October 30, and was expected to approach the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo over the October 31-November 1 weekend while maintaining very strong intensity, bringing a growing risk of dangerously high waves, powerful swells and extremely rough seas.

Japan's first significant snowfall of the season has brought winter conditions to Hokkaido and northern Honshu, with snow depths exceeding 10 centimeters in several mountain and inland locations on October 28, while a fresh wave of cold air is expected to bring further snowfall over the weekend of October 31 and November 1.

Osaka's iconic Tsutenkaku Tower celebrated the 70th anniversary of its reopening on October 28, marking seven decades since the landmark was rebuilt in 1956 as a symbol of the city's postwar recovery, while new attractions continue to draw visitors to the surrounding Shinsekai entertainment district.

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck northeastern Chiba Prefecture at around 12:07 a.m. on October 29, registering a maximum intensity of 5-lower on Japan's seven-level seismic scale and sending tremors across a wide area of eastern and central Japan, including Narita Airport, where footage captured the moment of shaking.

Japan will introduce a major overhaul of its tax-free shopping system for foreign visitors on November 1, replacing immediate tax exemptions at stores with a refund system that requires travelers to pay the full consumption tax upfront and claim reimbursement when leaving the country, a change expected to reshape retail strategies and purchasing behavior across the tourism industry.