Ibaraki Prefecture now offers rewards to whistleblowers who lead them to companies illegally employing foreign workers.
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 22)
![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]")
![Nintendo’s Super Mario throws out first pitch at professional baseball game in Japan[Video]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/05/1_23ead9.jpg?w=640 "Nintendo’s Super Mario throws out first pitch at professional baseball game in Japan[Video]")
![Final Fantasy VII’s Tifa’s bar pops up in real-world Tokyo, and we stop by for drinks[Photos]](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/05/6_f00354.jpg?w=640 "Final Fantasy VII’s Tifa’s bar pops up in real-world Tokyo, and we stop by for drinks[Photos]")
Seventh Heaven arrives in Roppongi with a twist on its name and another for its cocktails.
With 1,100 yen to buy gifts for Mom, but no other directions, what will they come out with?
Consumers showing little sympathy for rice sellers as eating habits and supply chains change.
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