Casey Baseel
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Casey Baseel spent his formative years staring in frustration at un-subtitled Japanese TV programming shown on Southern California’s international channel. Taking matters into his own hands, he moved to Tokyo to study the language, then found work in Yokohama a decade ago teaching, translating, and marketing hotels he can’t afford to stay in. When not participating in the eternal cycle of exercising to burn the calories form his love of Japanese food, Casey scours used comic and game shops for forgotten classics, drags his wife around the country in a quest to visit all its castles, sings karaoke not nearly as well as he thinks he does, and counts the days until the summertime bars open on Enoshima Beach.
Posted by Casey Baseel (Page 18)
![7-Eleven Japan now sells canned water, but does funky packaging mean funky flavor?[Taste test]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/05/cw-2.jpg?w=640 "7-Eleven Japan now sells canned water, but does funky packaging mean funky flavor?[Taste test]")
![Let’s hike a Japanese mountain (that isn’t Mt. Fuji) – Mt. Tsukuba[Photos]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/05/mt-0.jpg?w=640 "Let’s hike a Japanese mountain (that isn’t Mt. Fuji) – Mt. Tsukuba[Photos]")
Three years after being acquired by Nippon TV, there’s a shakeup at the top levels of Ghibli’s leadership.
![Live-action Princess Mononoke stage cast appears in costume for first time[Video]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/05/mk-0.jpg?w=640 "Live-action Princess Mononoke stage cast appears in costume for first time[Video]")
Fujinomiya mayor wants people hiking unopened trails to think about someone other than just themselves.
Ibaraki Prefecture now offers rewards to whistleblowers who lead them to companies illegally employing foreign workers.
![Pokémon retro black-and-white Game Boy art T-shirts are on the way from Uniqlo[Photos]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/05/up-1.jpg?w=640 "Pokémon retro black-and-white Game Boy art T-shirts are on the way from Uniqlo[Photos]")
Hopefully new policies will keep Chiikawa figures out of scalpers’ hands so they can find their ways to fans instead.
Even when Mt. Fuji is hidden in shadows, there’s still something breathtaking to see here.
![Police cracking down on outdoor seating in Tokyo’s liveliest street market neighborhood[Video]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/05/ay-0.jpg?w=640 "Police cracking down on outdoor seating in Tokyo’s liveliest street market neighborhood[Video]")
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Only two Yoshinoya branches in all of Japan are on a train platform, and this is one of them
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