Welcome to NOTEBOOK, a cultural guide to art, design and architecture, along with local views and travel news in English giving a realistic view of Tokyo from two perspectives, one from Japan and the other from abroad.Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.comInstagram: @NOTEBOOK_podTwitter: @NOTEBOOK_podGet in touch: [email protected] a message: speakpipe.com/notebookPhoto: Getty Images
Latest episodes
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11 min
07/28, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Kagurazaka)
The International Red Cross is planning to use AI developed in Japan to speed up landmine in parts of Ukraine. A team of Japanese scientists has said that it’s managed to built an…
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10 min
07/26, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Katsushika Fireworks Festival)
Renowned Japanese author Seiichi Morimura, known for works including the novel "Ningen no Shomei" (Proof of the Man) and his nonfiction work "Akuma no Hoshoku" (The Devil's Glutton…
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10 min
07/24, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Coffee-Tei Nominoichi, Ikebukuro)
Recent research shows the Japanese consumer will see the cost of over 30,000 food and drink items go up in price by October as retailers seek to protect profits. Hyper Japan Festiv…
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9 min
07/21, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Yasukuni Shrine)
The Japanese government estimates the visitors between January and June exceeded 10 million, 21-times the number from the year before. This rebound saw international travelers retu…
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9 min
07/19, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Summer Festivals and Kendo)
A parade of yamahoko floats passed through Kyoto on Monday during the city’s annual Gion Festival, held in all its glory for the first time in almost four years. Meanwhile, a man d…
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9 min
07/17, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Obon and Gion matsuri)
Today is Marine day in Japan, a national holiday, and with that Notebook is taking a break and will return on Wednesday. In the meantime, we revisit last Friday's episode (07/14) v…
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9 min
07/14, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Nihonbashi)
The current Chief Executive of Hong Kong has said that it will ban the import of Japanese seafood should treated water from the disaster-crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima b…
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9 min
07/12, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Interviews)
The heavy rain which lashed northern Kyushu, south west Japan, caused the automaker Toyota to pause operations Monday at three of its factories. That same day, temperatures reached…
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9 min
07/10, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Bon Odori)
Concerns in Japan are growing over a possible resurgence of coronavirus cases this summer. Suspicious objects were discovered by police as people observed a minute's silence where…
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9 min
07/07, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Tokyo Gendai and Kishimojin, Zoshigaya)
Notebook reaches 200 episodes! The system logging traffic coming in and going out of the central Japanese Port of Nagoya was hit by a ransomware attack on Tuesday, by the Russia-ba…
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9 min
07/05, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Thunderstorms and Zōjō-ji Temple)
Heavy rain pounded Japan's southwestern Kyushu region on Monday, causing a bridge to collapse, with some 360,000 evacuating Kumamoto city. The record rainfall over the weekend has…
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9 min
07/03, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Festivals and Ehime)
The Mayor of Hiroshima Kazumi Matsui and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel signed a sister park agreement between the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park and the Pearl Harbor Nat…
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9 min
06/30, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (From Ehime to the Civic Creative Base Tokyo, Shibuya)
Japanese toys, games and character goods, are to be exhibited in the Brazilian city Sao Paulo. The Japanese oil painter Gyoji Nomiyama passed away last week aged 102. Meanwhile, ar…
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9 min
06/28, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Hachinosu in Matsuyama)
A man dressed as the Joker character was charged with assault and arson aboard a Tokyo train in 2021, charges he denies. Meanwhile, passengers temporarily fled the Yamanote Line on…
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9 min
06/26, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Matsuyama, Ehime)
Giant panda cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei turned two on Friday at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. More than 700 people are preparing to run for election in Japan's so-called House of Representative…
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9 min
06/23, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Baseball, Otsuka Batting Center)
Kansai Electric informed Fukui prefectural government of its plan to reactivate the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor at its Takahama nuclear power plant, north of Kyoto on the Fukui coastli…
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9 min
06/21, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Okubo)
The distinguished novelist Yumie Hiraiwa, known for her “Kawasemi hotel” novel series, passed away earlier this month aged 91. Communities around Mt. Fuji are calling for a limit t…
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9 min
06/19, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Ni-chome, San-chome and Kabukicho)
Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui will head back to the ISS for 6 months in space later next year. An indoor amusement park featuring the world of Harry Potter opened at the former Tos…
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9 min
06/16, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Hibiya Park, Godzilla and Tadanori Yokoo)
An 18-year-old recruit shot and killed one of his instructors at a Self-Defense Force firing range in Gifu Wednesday morning. A special screening of Makoto Shinkai’s hit animated f…
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9 min
06/14, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Ueno Park, Philippines Expo 2023)
Domestic producer prices increased for the 27th straight month, rising by more than 5 percent from last year. A Vietnamese student has been arrested on suspicion of cutting hair wi…