With the coming of spring, let’s say hello to a plethora of flora!

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Beautiful pink Rhododendron | Photo: FirePress Japan


Japan is pretty set in its rituals, and that includes the annual change of the seasons. We can pretty much be ready for the appearance of an assortment of Azaleas colors! Let’s take a look at just a couple instances of these beautiful, seasonal flowers!

Spring in Japan is typically surrounded sakura aka cherry blossoms from left to right, but what about other seasonal flowers? Here, let’s take a look at another common flowers you’re bound to see toward the end of April to the middle of May: Rhododendron, or more specifically, Azaleas or ツツジ in Japanese!

The common azaleas that we often see in Japan are actually a subspecies of rhododendron called Tsutsusi or simply romanized from Japanese, Tsutsuji. They are distinguished from rhododendron by having only five anthers per flower.

▲ Photo: FirePress Japan

The colors of Azaleas vary in Japan, some of the most being the white or pink variations, as you can see above, but there are also deep purple and red color variations as well, which you can see in the following posts below.

The one thing that you simply cannot get through these photos alone is the amazing fragrance that the flowers give off– it’s such a sweet and light fragrance that truly encapsulates the essence of spring. It’s especially the best after a light rain.

Another aspect to these flowering plants is that they tend to take over a large area– so you will most likely find these taking up a large area or even sometimes following the entire length of a major road or sidewalk. In some cases, cities might even try to cut these plants back when they get too huge, and thus many of the flowers quickly die off because of the lack of sunlight, so don’t be too concerned if you see many of these bushes being cut back–there is definitely a reason for everything, and this is one of them.

There’s also a sort of thing called the “Language of Flowers” in Japan, so here’s the symbolic meaning behind these flowers: Azaleas encompasses various meanings like moderation, modesty, and effort.

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New Madoka Magica Magia Exedra smartphone game

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Check it out! We’ve got more news about additional releases in the “madomagi” franchise! After the news of the new movie coming out later this winter, we’ve now got word of a new smartphone game, also coming out sometime this year!

Check out the trailer below!

And here’s a look at the movie that’s slated for release later this winter:

Some of you may recall the name Pokelabo from the release of SINoALICE by Yoko Taro, however, it recently had its end of service celebrations a couple months ago.

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Shohei Ohtani 176th home run! Breaks Hideki Matsui’s record of most home runs by a Japanese player

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Photo: FirePress Japan


The Dodgers MVP Shohei Ohtani slugs his 176th home run, breaking Hideki Matsui’s record as Japanese player with the most home runs. Way to go!

Although it took a little while getting there, first tying Matsui back on April 13 until he officially broke the record, he finally hit his 176th home run during the game against the Mets on Sunday, a slugger which was reported to have an exit velocity of 110 mph, traveling 423 feet into Dodger Stadium’s Right Field Pavilion.

Over on the MLB official website, Ohtani mentioned through interpreter Will Ireton,“I’m relieved and happy. I took a while to get this point since my last homer, so just honestly, happy, relieved.”

After Angel’s game June 27, 2023 at Anaheim Stadium | Photo: FirePress Japan

But now that Ohtani’s made this impressive milestone, the question remains just how much further he can still go, but this is a great way to kick off the first year of his 10-year contract that he struck with the Dodgers for $700 million. Also seeing him play at an Angels game last year was fun to say the least as the crowd cheered his name whenever he appeared on the field.

This achievement comes at the perfect time just as Ohtani has been in the news no thanks to his previous interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, who allegedly stole an astonishing $16 million from the baseball star. Mizuhara turned himself into the authorities sometime last week. He was subsequently released on $25,000 bond and required to surrender his passport as well as receive gambling addiction treatment.

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The “Hana to Yume” manga line hits 50

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Angel Sanctuary Fan cel by keeper | Photo: Rekka’s Cel Gallery

As the Hana to Yume line of manga hits 50 this year,
let’s reminisce over a couple of my favorite titles!

Clearly, for anyone who knows me, the number one title that strikes a major cord with me is none other than Angel Sanctuary!

My relationship with Hana to Yume manga is rather limited, but the connections I’ve made have been life long. So, I’d like to dedicate this space to my appreciation toward one particular series that has attributed to half of my personal moniker…

▶︎ Hana to Yume Titles

There are many titles under the Hana to Yume umbrella that are unknown to me, but I’d like to at least express my appreciation to all the titles that I have at least the faintest inkling of…

  • Glass Mask (1976-1997)
  • Here is Greenwood (1986-1991)
  • Please Save My Earth (1986-1994)
  • Angel Sanctuary (1994-2000)
  • Fruits Basket (1998-2006)

I don’t really know much about Glass Mask, but I at least know some of the music from Here is Greenwood. Here are a couple of the themes that still are precious to me:

Neither of these songs seem all that familiar to me, and I absolutely cannot find the song that I used to really love, so I guess that needs to wait for next time!

Most especially, Angel Sanctuary was a series that took up a great portion of my high school days, and I have to attribute half of my personal moniker to it. I’ve always dreamed of having wings and as such been drawn to characters with wings… so this series was easily picked up by my radar. I don’t care too much about the themes that it’s trying to convey throughout, but the very basic structure between humans, demons, and angels will always appeal to me. I’ve even commissioned a fan cel of my favorite character from the series, which you can see as the top image in this article. I’m not exactly sure if they are still producing fan works, since this was well over 20 years ago, but anyway…

Originally by Yuki Kaori, Angel Sanctuary is a story that follows the life of Setsuna Mudo, who appears to be the human reincarnation of the Seraph Alexiel… The story gets way more complicated as time goes on, but I’d suggest checking this one out if you’re a fan of divine fantasy (dealing with angels and demons).

The manga was adapted into a 3-part anime OVA which was really well done… it’s just unfortunate that they’re not able to tackle the entire series as a whole and could only cover the early chapters of the story. It would have been really interesting to see their take on the later sections.

The opening theme “KNIFE OF ROMANCE” by ΦPhl is also one of my favorites! Check it out!

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Foreign visitors to Japan surpasses 3 million for the first time in March

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Record number of tourists in the month of March | Photo: Storyblocks


If anyone came to visit Japan during the Cherry Blossom season, you might just be included in these figures that acknowledge the highest influx of foreign visitors in history.

March marks a historic milestone as the number of foreign visitors to Japan surpasses 3 million for the first time. With 3,081,600 visitors entering the country, this figure reflects a 10% increase compared to pre-COVID levels, marking the highest recorded number to date.

The Japan National Tourism Organization reported on the 17th that March 2024 witnessed a record-breaking influx of foreign visitors, exceeding 3 million in a single month for the first time in history. 

This represents a significant increase of about 1.7 times compared to the same month the previous year and an 11.6% rise from March 2019, before the onset of the COVID pandemic.

The surge in visitors can be attributed to various factors, including heightened interest in Japan during the spring cherry blossom season and the start of the Easter holiday at the end of March, which contributed to the spike in foreign visitors.

Among the top countries/regions sending visitors to Japan in March, South Korea led the pack with 663,100 visitors, followed by Taiwan with 484,400, China with 452,400, the United States with 290,100, Hong Kong with 231,400, and Thailand with 131,700.

While countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have surpassed their pre-COVID levels, China experienced a decline of 34.6% compared to March 2019 figures.

Vietnam, India, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, and the Nordic region achieved record highs for single-month visits, while a multitude of countries including South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the Nordic region recorded their highest visitor numbers for the month of March.

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