New Nara Train Lures Expo Visitors

Plum blossoms are now at their best viewing season at the plum groves of Minabe Town in Wakayama Prefecture, widely known as Japan’s leading plum-producing region.

JR Tokai has decided to begin construction on the Yamanashi Prefecture station for the Linear Chuo Shinkansen on March 11, marking the start of work on the only station along the Tokyo–Nagoya section where construction had yet to begin.

A large discount retailer Don Quijote has opened its first inbound-focused specialty store in the Kansai region in Kyoto City, aiming to better serve the growing number of overseas visitors.

Workers dressed as ninjas are carrying out weed removal on a castle stone wall in Koka, Shiga Prefecture, a city known as the home of ninja.

JR East and Japan Airlines have signed a partnership agreement aimed at regional revitalization and revealed they will consider integrating tickets in the future.

A traditional fire festival in which men dressed in white race down steep stone steps carrying blazing torches was held at the World Heritage-listed Kamikura Shrine in Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, on February 6th.

A new wave of high-end hotel development in Nara is accelerating as Kintetsu Miyako Hotels announced plans to open a luxury accommodation facility on former grounds of Todaiji Temple, aiming for an autumn 2028 launch.

Oigawa Railway, where around half of its entire line has remained out of service for more than three years due to typhoon damage, is pressing ahead with a long and difficult recovery plan toward full reopening in the spring of 2029, as its president—known as a “local railway revival specialist”—makes a painful but strategic decision to prioritize commercially viable steam locomotives while keeping a small margin for dreams.