The city of Sapporo announced that this year's Lilac Festival, which concluded on May 25th, drew a record-breaking 769,000 visitors.
While working as a civil servant in Sapporo, Mitsuhiko Kamata spent decades capturing the natural beauty of Hokkaido through his lens. Now, having taken early retirement after 35 years, he has dedicated himself full time to pursuing the fleeting, miraculous moments found in nature—moments he believes must rise to the level of art to truly move the viewer.
At the Osaka-Kansai Expo, the common Japanese practice of leaving one side of the escalator open for those in a hurry is quietly disappearing. Instead, both visitors and commuters are increasingly adopting a two-row standing system, both at the venue and nearby Yumeshima Station.
The second day of the Soma Nomaoi festival—designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the Japanese government—featured its most anticipated spectacles: the armored horse race and the sacred flag competition, held on May 25th at the Hibarigahara festival grounds in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture.
The Expo pavilion known as the "Nordic Circle" showcases five Nordic countries—Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland—collaborating under a shared structure built from recyclable materials and modeled after traditional Nordic dwellings.
All four giant pandas at Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture will be returned to China on June 28th, the park announced. The pandas—Rauhin, born in 2000, and her three daughters Yuihin, Saihin, and Fuhin—will be sent back as the breeding and loan agreement with China nears its end this August.