As part of the ongoing Channel47 project, which uses the power of local resources and entertainment to share Japan and its local culture with the world, a new travel experience titled ‘DEEP EXPERIENCE THE INAKA -TENRYUKYO・IIDA CITY-’ is now on sale, taking visitors to Iida, Nagano Prefecture.

Iida City in Nagano Prefecture will be the location for the tour, with the city selected by the Japan Tourism Agency in 2024 for its ‘Project to Promote Expansion and Quality of Inbound Tourism by Providing Special Experiences for Visitors.’ The Minami Shinshu Tourism Bureau helped to create the tour for inbound travelers to experience the “real” Japanese countryside found in the Tenryu Gorge area of Iida City by funding farmhouse homestays in the area.

By creating a travel experience that takes advantage of the local resources of Tenryu Gorge in Iida City, we aim to promote sustainable tourism activities by communicating the charm of the region to people in both Japan and abroad, revitalizing local production, passing on traditional culture, and strengthening cooperation between local communities.

The upcoming anime adaptation and live-action film versions of Insomniacs After School have been a hot topic since both projects were announced. Ahead of the anime’s premiere on TV Tokyo in April, a themed train will begin running on the Noto Railway line in Nanao City, the setting for the series.

The train design has been unveiled and features beautiful Nanao scenery from the anime series along with the starry sky and the main characters.

Fans can find the train running between Nanao Station and Anamizu Station in Spring 2023. Check the schedule on the Noto Railway official website for more information.

Insomniacs After School (Trailer #2)

Makoto Ojiro’s coming-of-age manga series is set in Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture. It follows Ganta Nakami, a high school boy suffering from insomnia, and Isaki Magari, a girl with the same problem.

Insomniacs After School is only two months away. Will you be tuning in?

©オジロマコト・小学館／アニメ「君ソム」製作委員会

Hoshinoya Tokyo, a traditional ryokan in Otemachi, has announced the New Year’s Kabuki Plan, a two-day, one-night stay from January 5 until January 7, 2023. During the Edo Period, citizens enjoyed watching Kabuki plays during the New Year’s holidays, often sipping tea at connected teahouses. This event will invite visitors to experience what this was like, complete with traditional food and decorations.

Watching Kabuki was a chic way for those in Edo to ring in the new year. Theater teahouses were also a popular gathering place–along with arranging tickets, the teahouses offered plot notes, tea, sweets, boxed lunches, snacks, and other drinks.*

*Hiroshi Fujita, Yoshihide Tomizawa (2012) / The Updated Kabuki Dictionary, Kashiwa Shobo

Relax Before Enjoying Tea and a Play

Guests are invited to relax in the Ochanoma (Living Room) Lounge, decorated to look like a traditional teahouse with fans, ukiyo-e prints, and formal curtains. Hanabiramochi, or rice cakes with flower petals, will be served with green tea. These rice cakes are said to date back to the New Year’s tradition of eating hard foods like daikon and rice cakes in the hopes of prolonging one’s life. Characterized by its curious burdock root aroma, the cakes are sweetened with white miso bean paste. 

Enjoy a Post-Viewing Mont Blanc Shaped like Soba with Sweet Dessert Wine

At theater teahouses in the Edo period, sake, snacks, and desserts were served one after another. During this special event, a menu inspired by this practice and prepared by Hoshinoya Tokyo Executive Chef Noriyuki Hamada will be served! Soba noodles were often served after a play in the past. Inspired by this tradition, Mont Blanc made with chestnut paste and sponge cake will be served up to look like this popular dish. Paired with a dessert wine aged in oak barrels, the sweet will be served in a traditional lacquerware basket. In addition, the dish will be paired with Wasabi Pralines, Shichimi Meringue, and Ginger Pate de Fruits. 

Take a Rickshaw to the Kabuki-za Theater

Guests will be taken on an Edo-style tour on their way to the Kabuki-za Theater. Passing through the Nihonbashi area, the first stop will be the Fukutoku Shrine. It’s said that Hidetada Tokugawa paid a visit to and praised the shrine on New Year’s Day in 1614. The next shrine on the docket, Hodo Inari Jinja, was enshrined in Edo Castle during the Edo period to protect the heir to the Tokugawa family. It’s said that the shrine provides blessings for child rearing, matchmaking, and business prosperity. 

This tour will provide a more elegant way to explore Tokyo as guests enjoy exposition from their chauffeur. To make the rickshaw ride even more enjoyable, guests can rent kimonos for an extra charge.

Would you like to take a step back in time this New Year?

Shin Yokohama Prince Hotel will be offering a special room and collaboration menu inspired by the popular anime series The Vampire Dies in No Time from September 22 until November 30, 2022. Reservations will open on the hotel’s official website starting September 12 at 1:00 PM. 

The Vampire Dies in No Time follows the hilarious adventures of the vampire Draluc and the vampire hunter Ronaldo. Set in the city of Shin-Yokohama, it makes sense that this collaboration would be taking place!

Original Goods

Collaboration Menu

Guests and fans of the series will be able to enjoy a fully-decorated room and collaboration menu inspired by characters from the popular anime series.

The concept room, located on an upper floor overlooking the Shin-Yokohama cityscape, is decorated with illustrations of Draluc, Ronaldo, and other characters. The guest-only goods feature newly-drawn illustrations. 

Sweets plates and drinks will be served at the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. Guests can enjoy desserts shaped like Ronaldo’s red hat and Draluc’s ashes, so don’t miss it!

©盆ノ木至（秋田書店）／製作委員会すぐ死ぬ

Art subscription service Casie is collaborating with HOTEL SHE, KYOTO! A special art exhibition titled GALLERY HOTEL SHE, will be held from September 17 until October 16, inviting guests to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience of staying in a gallery overnight!

During the event period, guests of HOTEL SHE, KYOTO will be able to select their favorite piece of artwork from an on-site gallery. The piece will then be hung in their guestroom, and visitors can spend the night appreciating it at their own pace. This is a great way to learn more about art appreciation, and guests can enjoy discussing the art world with their friends and family. 

“Although we may view art in museums and other venues, it is rare to have the opportunity to select and display a work of art of our own choice,” the project description reads. “Through this unique experience, we aim to provide guests the chance to actively engage with art and inspire them to make art a part of their daily life going forward.”

NAKED’s newest work, inspired by Sen no Rikyu, has opened at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa! The exhibition will run through September 3 and blends physical art pieces found in the museum with the Metaverse. 

NAKED’s first exhibition at this popular Kanazawa Museum brings visitors a modern version of chanoyu, or the ‘Way of Tea.’ This year marks the 500th birthday of Sen no Rikyu, a historical figure who had a significant influence on the tea ceremony still found in Japan today. NAKED wants to honor his contribution to shaping this massive part of Japanese culture. Visitors are invited to a traditional tea ceremony room, but the experience itself has been modernized by NAKED. This unprecedented art exhibition allows both those who know nothing about Sen no Rikyu and those who know him well to experience his philosophy and aesthetics in an entirely new way.

Gate: Greetings from the Master

Open-air: The Crossroads of this Transient World

Wash Basin: Where the Four Seasons Float

Dry Landscape Garden: The Teachings of Rikyu

Tea Whisk: “Make a Good Tea for your Guest.”

Hanging Scroll: The Master’s Memories

Small Room: Evolution

Tearoom: The End and the Beginning

NAKED Fuji Canele

Tsukubai, or a low stone basin filled with water, is used to cleanse the hands before entering a tearoom. Using interactive art, the water’s surface is covered in digital flowers that blossom when a guest’s hands pass over the basin. 

In the ‘Small Room: Evolution’ area, guests will find the Sustainable Contemporary Golden Tearoom, which was created by NAKED staff together with sixth graders using golden trash collected at Kanazawa University Elementary School. The calligraphy on display in the tearoom was also done by children, with the best creations selected to be included in the exhibition. The scent was produced by EarthRing, an aroma brand located in Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture. The ‘Tea Whisk’ area offers a unique experience for all five senses, including the scent of matcha, which guests can smell when they mimic the act of prepping tea. 

In addition, guests can purchase special NAKED Fuji Canele and a Kutani ware Original Tumbler with special tea-inspired motifs. The Canele is a triple collaboration with Fukumitsuya, the oldest sake brewery in Kanazawa, so don’t miss out!

Halloween is on the way, and the Hyatt Centric Kanazawa hotel is prepping some spooky sweets to celebrate! From October 1 until October 31, a Monster Halloween Cake Set will be available at the hotel’s restaurant FIVE – Grill and Lounge. Guests can also enjoy a Halloween lunch and dinner menu featuring a chic menu filled with black, red, and purple dishes. Visitors who come in costume will gain access to some special offers as well!

Halloween Lunch / Dinner Course

Poached Eggs with Black Chaudfroid Sauce

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Beet Variation

The courses were inspired by an adult Halloween party and will be available for four days only. Each dish contains colors perfect for the season, like haunting black and bloody red punctuated with a purple-tinted memory of moonlight. While the dishes may look strange, they are made with the finest ingredients. 

Monster Halloween Cake Set

Witch’s Mont Blanc Pudding

Mummy Macaron

Denture Parfait

Jack-o’-Lantern Cream Puff

Frankenstein Brownie

Gyuhi Ghost

Spider Web Mousse

GO FOR KOGEI 2022 Collaboration 5×5 Cake Set

A special cake set featuring everything from Frankenstein to spider webs will get you in the Halloween mood. The lineup includes Witch’s Mont Blanc Pudding topped with purple sweet potato cream, and the adorable Jack-o’-Lantern cream puff filled with–you guessed it–pumpkin cream. Come enjoy some other playful treats like the Mummy Macaron filled with apricot and the Denture Parfait with berries and marshmallows. On weekdays from October 3 until October 21, the cakes will be served on a special Kutani ware in collaboration with GO FOR KOGEI 2022. This 5×5 set will be limited to five servings per day. Kutani ware is a style of traditional Japanese porcelain found in Ishikawa Prefecture.

Halloween Cocktail

This year’s Halloween cocktail is the rock-themed Back in Black. With a tequila base, you’re sure to have some extra fun after downing this classy beverage. 

Come enjoy some spooky and cute Halloween sweets while you can!

In 2023, an anime adaptation of the manga series Kimi wa Hokago Insomnia will air on television. During the Nanao Port Festival held on July 17 in Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture, fans were treated to tons of artwork and collaboration visuals. After all, the series takes place in Nanao City! Over 1,500 flyers for the show were handed out in under two hours, and the local community was thrilled to know that such a popular anime series would bring more attention to the town.

As part of the collaboration between Kimi wa Hokago Insomnia and Nanao City, an exhibition will be held featuring 30 reproductions from the original manga manuscript and some original anime drawings!

The exhibition will be held from August 10 until September 25 at Patria, located directly in front of Nanao Station and prominently featured in the series. Admission is free and reservations are not required, so fans should consider coming to check it out!

Kimi wa Hokago Insomnia is the latest work by Makoto Ojiro. Set in Nanao City, the coming-of-age story follows Ganta Nakami, a high school boy suffering from insomnia, and Isaki Magari, a girl with the same issue. The manga is serialized in Weekly Big Comic Spirits.

Kimi wa Hokago Insomnia will receive an anime adaptation in 2023, and a live-action film is also in the works. The first trailer for the anime series has been released, so be sure to give it a watch!

©オジロマコト・小学館／アニメ「君ソム」製作委員会

The Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa in Tokyo will offer a special suite inspired by the upcoming Toshio Suzuki Studio Ghibli Exhibition from July 1 until August 31, 2022. This will include tickets to the exhibition, which will take place at Warehouse Terrada in Shinagawa from July 1 until September 7. 

Toshio Suzuki, a producer at Studio Ghibli, has worked with both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata on a number of beloved masterpieces. The exhibition will feature a large bookshelf housing 8,800 of Suzuki’s publications and favorite tomes. Many of these were published before Suzuki joined Studio Ghibli, and guests are invited to see how the producer was inspired to join the legendary studio after working as an editor at a manga magazine. To commemorate the exhibition’s opening, this special suite is filled with books written by Suzuki along with other books that visitors may enjoy during their relaxing stay. 

In the suite, guests will find a list of 106 books that influenced Suzuki the most. This list will be available to take home. Visitors will also find reproductions of Suzuki’s calligraphy. 

©TS ©Studio Ghibli

Banyan Tree Group, one of the world’s leading independent hospitality groups, held the grand opening of Galleria Nijo Castle Kyoto, on Friday, June 17, 2022. This is the first of the group’s hotels to open in Japan.

Hotel Exterior

Located south of Nijo Castle, a World Heritage Site, and named after the beautiful winter flower, Galleria Nijo Castle Kyoto is a small, modern, and minimalist luxury hotel that offers simple guests a chance to recharge themselves.

Wellbeing Room

For the grand opening, a new Wellbeing Room has been opened where visitors can experience quiet meditation.

Visitors can stroll through nearby gardens, temples, and shrines, take a tour of Kyoto’s many historical sites, or spend time in the Wellbeing Room meditating or practicing yoga to recharge their batteries away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The French Restaurant Singular will also offer up healthy and tasty meals with a focus on local ingredients and producers.

Enjoy a visit to Kyoto in this peaceful space perfect for resting both body and soul.

From June 1 until August 31, Keio Plaza Hotel Hachioji is inviting guests to travel to the adorable world of Moomin by partaking in two tasty buffet events at the Le Clair Restaurant on the second floor. In Moomin’s home country of Finland, people start enjoying the summer following the solstice in June. The theme of this project is ‘Moominvalley Turns Jungle,’ inspiring the hotel’s chefs to create a spectacular original menu. A tasty lunch buffet will be held Tuesday through Friday during the event period, while a sweets buffet will take place on weekends and holidays. The restaurant’s interior will be decorated with artwork from Tove Jansson’s 1956 comic Moominville Turns Jungle.

The Moomin Lunch Buffet is titled ‘Jungle Party in Moominville,’ and will depict a fun summer lunch get-together in the titular character’s home village. The lineup of foods includes smoked salmon canapes, marinated herring, and sardine sandwiches, all typical of Scandinavian cuisine. Plenty of spiced dishes and veggies will be available, the latter looking like they came from Moominmamma’s garden. August 9 is Moomin Day, and the chefs will be preparing some extra goodies for each guest on that day only.

The Moomin Sweets Buffet will feature adorable desserts created by expert pâtissiers and will be inspired by Moomin and his friends enjoying the summer. From red velvet cake made to look like Little My’s dress to chocolate mousse in the style of Moominpappa’s Silk Hat, fans of the series will want to snap plenty of pictures before they dig in! Tons of sweets will include popular Scandinavian ingredients like red currants, raspberries, and blueberries. The welcome plate, limited to one per person, will change monthly, with a Tropical Parfait coming in July and an Edible Jungle coming in August. Light meals will also be available to compliment the sweets.

The Sweets Buffet will also include a special table plan limited to three per day, using plates and mugs included in the Moomin by Arabia 2022 Summer collection. Guests participating in this plan can order a special non-alcoholic cocktail created by the restaurant’s bartender and made with rose-colored ice inspired by Moominmamma’s love for flowers.

Starting July 1, guests visiting the five-star Conrad Tokyo hotel can enjoy a new peach-filled afternoon tea menu for a limited time. Designed in collaboration with the British luxury brand Wedgwood, the lineup includes both savory and sweet items perfect for summer. The afternoon tea will be available on the 28th floor at the aptly named Twenty Eight Bar and Lounge.

In collaboration with Wedgwood, a 260-year-old porcelain and fine china brand used by the British royal family, this special service will feature an afternoon tea plate with a tempting array of sweets. The plate itself is from Wedgwood’s world-renowned Gio collection and features a honeycomb pattern embossed on fine bone china. The contrast between the modern setting, the classic and refined shape of the white tableware, and the beautiful pink treats will come together to create the most memorable summer moment imaginable.

Coconut & Earl Grey Panna Cotta / Rose Jelly / Peach Compote

Wine and Peach Gelatin / Vanilla Mousse

White Peach Mousse / Raspberry Gelatin

White Peach and Soy Milk Sandwich

Apricot Tart / Peach Cream

Peach Soup / Lobster Consomme Jelly

White Peach and Chicken Mousse Tart

Pork Rillettes and Peach Slider

Highlights from the sweets menu include coconut & Earl Grey Panna cotta served with rose jelly and peach compote, peach gelatin infused with red wine and vanilla mousse, and a delectable white peach and soy milk sandwich. For those with less of a sweet tooth, the afternoon tea service also offers delectable dishes like a white peach and chicken mousse tart, a pork rillettes and peach slider, and more. Guests can also enjoy a selection of scones in either plain or coconut, each served with clotted cream and either peach or guava jam. Over 20 beverages will be on offer, including Wedgwood teas.