Crowds gathered to enjoy Japan’s famed cherry blossoms in Tokyo, where cold weather has delayed their bloom. Cherry blossoms, known as “sakura” in Japanese, are the nation’s favorite flower. People often have sakura viewing parties beneath the falling petals, where there are also picnics and sake drinking. A visitor takes photos of the seasonal cherry blossoms at the Ueno Park Friday, April 5, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Vidyuth Lakshman, 36, a tourist from Canada, said she’d seen cherry blossoms in her homeland but “not on this scale. The scale here is crazy.” The trees usually are at peak bloom in late March to early April, at the same time the country begins a new school and business year. “They’re really breathtaking,” said Silver Shea, 47, a tourist from ...
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Japan’s eagerly awaited Cherry Blossom Forecast 2024 is now out. While March to April marks the peak of cherry blossom (Sakura in Japanese) season in most parts of Japan, Sakura can also be enjoyed as early as February in southern Japan, particularly in Okinawa Prefecture, and lasts up to May in the northern part of Hokkaido Prefecture. When one thinks of Japan, the image of cherry blossoms, or sakura, often comes to mind. Indeed, the springtime bloom of these delicate pink flowers is a celebrated event across the country. In Okinawa, cherry blossoms typically begin to bloom as early as February, heralding the arrival of spring in this subtropical paradise. While Okinawa's sakura possess a unique charm against the backdrop of turquoise seas and lush greenery. Visitors to Okin...
Read MoreJapan will lift a more than 2 1/2-year ban on international cruise ships that was imposed following a deadly coronavirus outbreak on the cruise ship Diamond Princess at the beginning of the pandemic, transport officials said Tuesday. The Transport Ministry said cruise ship operators and port authorities’ associations have adopted anti-virus guidelines and that Japan is now ready to resume its international cruise operations while receiving foreign ships at its ports. FILE PHOTO: A small boat navigates near the Diamond Princess cruise ship anchoring off the Yokohama Port, near Tokyo on Feb. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) “Japan is now ready to start receiving international cruise ships again,” said Transport and Tourism Minister Tetsuo Saito. “We will create an environment tha...
Read MoreJapan’s strict border restrictions will be loosened next month, the prime minister announced Thursday, allowing tourists to easily enter for the first time since the start of the pandemic. In a news conference at the foot of Central Park in New York, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said independent tourists would again be welcomed as of Oct. 11, not just those traveling with authorized groups. A cap on the number of tourists—currently set at 50,000—who are granted entry — which has been gradually increased this year — will be nixed altogether. And visa requirements that were imposed in response to the pandemic will also be rescinded. It may revise regulations on hotels, allowing them to refuse guests who don't abide by infection controls, such as mask wearing, during an outbreak, domes...
Read MoreJapanese mountain runner Ruy Ueda sets a new speed record for all four trails. Ruy Ueda has successfully run himself into the record books after setting the new fastest-known time for running all of Mount Fuji’s main trails in one stroke. The 28-year-old Japanese athlete completed the 57.06km with 6,772m of total elevation in 9h 55m 41s. The 'Mt. Fuji in One Stroke' project began from the Fujinomiya Trailhead 5th station at 4.51am local time on Wednesday, July 13. Ruy Ueda attempts for ONE STROKE at Mt.Fuji, Japan on July 13, 2022. Photo: Keisuke Kato / Red Bull Content Pool Sitting at 3,776m, Mt Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan and one of the country’s ‘Three Holy Mountains’. The main four routes to the summit are the Fujinomiya, Gotemba, Subashiri and Yoshida trails. On...
Read MoreThe rickshaw men in Tokyo are adding English-speaking staff, a sure sign Japan is bracing for a return of tourists from abroad. Japan’s border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus infections began gradually loosening earlier this month. That’s great news for Yusuke Otomo, owner of Daikichi, a kimono rental shop in Asakusa, an old district of Tokyo famous for its temples, quaint restaurants and rickshaw rides. He can barely contain his excitement. A rickshaw puller carries his customers around Tokyo's Asakusa area famous for sightseeing, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae) “Those were a hard three years. But we managed to endure until today. And after such an experience, to think people from abroad can finally come back is simply thrilling,” Otomo told The Ass...
Read MoreJapan baked under scorching temperatures for a fourth successive day on Tuesday, as the capital's heat broke nearly 150-year-old records for June and authorities warned power supply remained tight enough to raise the spectre of cuts. The heatwave comes less than two weeks before a national election in which prices, including the cost of electricity, are among key issues picked by voters in opinion polls that show the government's approval rating slipping - with politicians including Tokyo's governor urging power price cuts. Passersby are seen through a heat haze during hot weather at Sugamo district in Tokyo, Japan June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato Temperatures in the capital hit 35.1 C by 1 p.m local time on Tuesday (0400 GMT), after three successive days of temperatures topping...
Read MoreJapanese adventurer Kenichi Horie at 83 just became the oldest person in the world to complete a solo, nonstop voyage across the Pacific Ocean — and he says he is still “in the middle of my youth” and not done yet. Horie returned home as he crossed the Kii Strait off Japan’s western coast early Saturday, completing his trans-Pacific solo voyage in 69 days after leaving a yacht harbor in San Francisco in late March. On Sunday, after spending the night on his 19-foot (6-meter) -long Suntory Mermaid III just off the coast, Horie was towed into his home port of Shin Nishinomiya, where he was cheered by local residents and supporters and banners that read: “Welcome back, Mr. Kenichi Horie!” Japanese Kenichi Horie gets celebrated at a yacht harbor in Nishinomiya, western Japan, Sunday,...
Read MoreJapan's easing of a two-year ban on foreign tourists seeks to balance the enormous economic importance of tourism with concerns that travellers would trigger a COVID outbreak, insiders say. Under the decision, Japan will allow in a limited number of foreign tourists on package tours starting June 10. Last week a few "test tours", mainly of overseas travel agents, started to arrive. Relaxing some of the world's strictest pandemic border measures required months of pressure from travel and tourism executives, three insiders told Reuters, describing both the government's fears of public backlash if infections spiked and the industry's concerns of an economic wipeout. FILE - Tourists in traditional Japanese kimonos walk in Asakusa district in Tokyo, July 27, 2020 (AP Photo/Eugene Hos...
Read MoreJapan will open its borders to foreign tourists in June for the first time since imposing tight pandemic travel restrictions about two years ago, but only for package tours for now, the prime minister said Thursday. Beginning June 10, Japan will allow the entry of people on tours with fixed schedules and guides, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said. Tourists from areas with low COVID-19 infection rates who have received three vaccine doses will be exempt from testing and quarantine after entry. FILE - People walk along a pedestrian crossing in the tourist district of Asakusa, near the landmark Tokyo Skytree tower in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, July 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Kantaro Komiya, File) Japan this week is hosting small experimental package tours from four countries, Australia, S...
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