News On Japan

Japan's All-Suite Cruise Ship Sets Sail on Maiden Voyage

Japan's All-Suite Cruise Ship Sets Sail on Maiden Voyage

YOKOHAMA - Japan's first luxury cruise ship, where all rooms are suites, has departed Yokohama Port for its maiden voyage.

Operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, the "Mitsui Ocean Fuji" becomes the third luxury cruise ship run by a Japanese shipping company, following the "Asuka II" and "Nippon Maru."

The Mitsui Ocean Fuji is Japan’s first cruise ship where every guest room is a suite, offering ocean views from every room.

The debut cruise is a seven-day journey that includes a stop in Busan, South Korea, with travel costs ranging from approximately 500,000 yen to 2 million yen per person.

Spanning about 200 meters in length and accommodating over 450 passengers, the Mitsui Ocean Fuji left Yokohama Port at 5 p.m. on the 1st, heading for its next destination, Beppu City in Oita Prefecture, as a crowd gathered to bid farewell.

Source: ANN

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

A woman in her 60s died after her car was submerged in a flooded underpass in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, as record rainfall caused widespread flooding, landslides and transport disruption across Kanto and surrounding areas on September 7, with authorities warning that further rain was expected during the evening commute.

An evacuation order has been issued for the entire city of Ishinomaki and parts of Marumori in Miyagi Prefecture as heavy rain caused by the autumn rain front disrupts transportation across the region, with a linear rainband potentially forming along the Pacific side of Tohoku through the evening.

Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka resigned on September 7 after the city assembly unanimously approved his request to step down over allegations of workplace power harassment, setting the stage for a mayoral election in October.

Typhoon No. 24 (Krovahn) was near Minami-Daito Island, about 300 kilometers southeast of Okinawa, as of 3 a.m. on September 7, moving east-northeast at about 10 kilometers per hour and expected to weaken into a tropical depression by the afternoon, although strong winds and high waves were forecast to persist before its remnants move north and potentially intensify the autumn rain front over western and eastern Japan later in the week.

Tokyo has unveiled the design for a major redevelopment of the plaza outside Shinjuku Station's west exit, with a landmark tree, water-play area and event space planned as part of a transformation centered on "greenery, light and people" that is scheduled for completion in 2035.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Travel NEWS

Japanese customs authorities blocked a record 19,568 shipments suspected of infringing intellectual property rights in the first half of 2026, up 12% from a year earlier, as the expansion of cross-border e-commerce drove an increase in imported parcels.

Hikone Castle in Shiga Prefecture has been formally selected as Japan's candidate for nomination as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, advancing a campaign that has continued for more than 30 years and aims to secure inscription in the summer of 2028.

Highway service areas around the Kanto region are becoming destinations in their own right, offering travelers everything from freshly harvested vegetables and popular regional restaurant dishes to baths, observation decks and family events during the busy summer vacation season.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry raised subsidies for aviation fuel used on domestic flights from September 3, doubling the support rate while ending subsidies for international flights.

Night trains are making a comeback across Japan, with railway operators introducing new overnight services and even experimenting with overnight Shinkansen trains as demand grows for alternatives that combine transportation, accommodation and the experience of traveling through the night.

Osaka City plans to tighten regulations on private lodging businesses, or minpaku, by generally prohibiting new operations in wooden and steel-frame apartment buildings where residents already live, following repeated complaints over noise and garbage.

Bear sightings and attacks have been reported across Japan throughout the summer, with animals damaging sheds, attacking livestock and injuring people, while experts warn that autumn is the most dangerous season as bears expand their range in search of food.

Kashima Shrine in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, held its Ofune Festival on September 2, with a spectacular fleet of more than 100 brightly decorated boats sailing along rivers and across lakes in a tradition staged once every 12 years during the Year of the Horse.