Underwater drones are being developed by the Japanese government to patrol the waters around the Senkaku Islands near Okinawa while renowned film director Kazuki Omori passed away after a period of illness. Known for writing and directing Godzilla vs. Biollante, 1989, and Godzilla vs. King Ghidrah, 1991, he began by adapting books by Haruki Murakami as well as writing his first film reflecting on his experiences studying at medical school.

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The former village Kanbara in Gunma prefecture, originally buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Asama in 1783, was shown to the public over the weekend. The Tenmei Eruption not only devastated the village but also remodeling the local landscape which has come to be known as the Pompeii of Japan. Meanwhile the Japanese Emperor and Empress on tour in Hyogo prefecture visited one of the world's fastest supercomputers, Fugaku, currently being used to study AI in the field of life science, predict future weather patterns and embrace the future of quantum computing.

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Monday’s note reported on two pythons on the loose in Tochigi and “Documentary Dream Show” being screened at K’s Cinema in Shinjuku, while Wednesday’s note pictured inbound tourism, a lunar eclipse, and the first catch of winter snow crab this year. Today, however, looks at Sakumaseika, the 114 year-old confectioner known for its sweets in the Studio Ghibli film Grave of the Fireflies, which closes its doors next January. And two exhibitions — “Voix” by Gozo Yoshimasu at Take Ninagawa and “Copper Age 1978-2022” by Shinro Ohtake at Ginza Atrium, GinzaSIX — both exploring drawing as wild and untamed in their own unique way.

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Japan aims to have inbound tourism recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2025, bolstered by upcoming events such as the Expo 2025 in Osaka and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo that same year. The weak yen is also helping the economy, while the US midterm elections will point at how Japan's currency will fare over the next few months as investors buying the dollar are now frantically buying back the yen. And with yesterday's rare lunar eclipse, the winter dish of crab is back on the menu. Fishing bans have been lifted in the waters surrounding Ishikawa and Fukui prefectures and the Snow Crab is now returning to tables across the country as winter draws in.

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Two pet African ball pythons are currently on the loose after being abandoned by their owner and released into fields in Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. In Tokyo, “Documentary Dream Show” (Yamagata in Tokyo 2022) at K’s Cinema in Shinjuku features 45 films from the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival held last year online. Yamagata is further north of Tochigi and home to Asia’s first international documentary film festival, the first of which celebrated the 100th anniversary of Yamagata city in 1989. Since then, the festival has been held biannually during the month of October.

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Seen next to Monday’s note on the 178 people all named Hirokazu Tanaka and Wednesday’s note on N.E.U.U., a new games centre in the shadow of Shinjuku's old Odakyu Department store, as well as the screening of Tsai Ming-liang’s 2003 film Goodbye Dragon Inn in 4K, today's news of yet more rockets fired from North Korea are a world away as Tokyo seeks to make itself a unique cultural center that stands apart from other global centers. Art Week Tokyo involves 51 galleries, museums, and experimental art spaces opening their doors to visitors over 4 days. One such venue is MOMAT, the National Museum of Modern Art in Takeshiba, now in its 50th year, hosting the retrospective of Japanese artist Shinro Ohtake.

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XR, or Cross Reality, a new digital tool combining elements of virtual reality and actual reality, has been unveiled by the Odakyu Corporation in Shinjuku to showcase its redevelopment of the area and the old Odakyu department store on the west side of Shinjuku Station. Elsewhere, the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival draws to a close. Tsai Ming-liang’s 2003 film Goodbye Dragon Inn, showing as part of the World Focus section, reflects the state of contemporary cinema as well as the present day, while other films such as World War III (2020) by the Iranian director Houman Seyedi and Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani? (2006) directed by Shinji Aoyama hold a strange mirror to the world.

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On the eve of Hallowe'en, a world record breaking attempt took place last weekend to gather the most number of people with the same name. All named 'Hirokazu Tanaka' the group even boasts former pro baseball player ... Hirokazu Tanaka ... amongst its ranks. On the other side of the city, national museums line Ueno Park, the first public park in Japan. One of these is the National Museum of Western Art, designed by French architect Le Corbusier. It recently reopened after several years of renovations restoring the museum to its former glory. Ueno Park is also dominated by the arrival of two new panda to Ueno Zoo, while celebrating 50 years since the first Chinese panda came to Japan.

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Seen in the context of recent events — from Monday’s note on the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival and an upcoming new animated shorts festival at Shibuya’s Eurospace, to Wednesday’s note on a 400 year-old chisel recovered from within part of Daitoku-ji Temple, Kyoto — the purchase of five wooden "Brillo's Box" sculptures by Andy Warhol by Tottori prefecture for almost ¥300 million, bought in preparation for the new Tottori Prefecture Museum of Art opening next year, is causing something of a stir. Meanwhile, Damian Loeb "Still" at Taka Ishii Gallery and tomorrow's screening of "Event for Modified Man" (1976) by Australian artist Stelarc at the Keio University Art Center's Mita Campus in Tokyo both probe and amplify the best of what the city has to offer post-lockdown.

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250 officials from more than 142 countries and regions, as well as eight international organizations, are gathering this week to announce their participation in the upcoming 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. And as Autumnal weather creeps in, fish from Yamato Raku in Shinjuku makes the experience of food like kaki (oyster) katsuo tataki (slices of raw seared bonito) age-ginnan (pan-fried ginnan seeds that grow from the ginkyo tree) and sanma-no-kama-meshi (a hot pot of rice and whole mackerel) all the more memorable.

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