2025 Osaka Expo: Japanese Singer Misia Set to Perform on Japan Day; Other Performances Showcasing Japan Culture Also Scheduled
The Expo Hall Shining Hat
Japanese singer Misia is set to perform at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo on July 3 as part of Japan Day, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry announced Friday.
In addition to Misia, other performances that showcase innovation and traditional Japanese culture, such as one that combines manga with modern dance, are also set to be held.
During the Expo, participating countries and regions hold their 'National Day' on a designated day to deepen understanding about their culture.
On Japan's National Day, a ceremony and official events are scheduled to be held at the Expo Hall Shining Hat at the Expo site in Yumeshima Island, Osaka. Other stage performances are set to include a fusion of gagaku court music and modern music.
To see the Japan Day events, visitors will not only have to purchase a ticket for the Expo, they will also have to enter a lottery between June 3 and 25.
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Timeline for July 2025
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Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on their way to watch the horse race event at the Naadam sports festival on July 12, 2025. (© Jiji) 9 The Ground Self-Defense Force begins relocation of its Osprey transport aircraft to Saga Prefecture as part of moves to strengthen defense of Japan's Nansei islands, including Okinawa. 10 The National Police Agency announces tightened rules for converting driving licenses issued abroad into Japanese documents. The test drivers must pass to receive a Japanese license will be made more difficult, with 50 questions rather than the current 10, with a requirement to answer 90% correctly. 11 Japan and China begin negotiations on the resumption of exports of Japanese beef to China, which were suspended in 2001 due to an outbreak of BSE. 12 The Air SDF Blue Impulse team performs an acrobatic display over the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai venue on July 12 and 13. 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This is the sixth time for this situation to occur and the first for 27 years. Canadian convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard announces the withdrawal of its takeover offer for Seven & I Holdings. 18 The Kanazawa branch of Nagoya High Court acquits Maekawa Shōji in a retrial concerning the murder of a junior high school girl in Fukui in 1986, stating that the witness testimony was not reliable. Previously, Maekawa was convicted and he was serving a prison sentence. Maekawa Shōji smiles at a press conference following the retrial in which he was found not guilty. (© Jiji) 20 The ruling coalition of the LDP and Kōmeitō wins just 47 seats in the House of Councillors election, falling short of the 50 it needs to maintain a majority. The coalition is now a minority in both lower and upper houses. 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Japan Today
4 hours ago
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Concept cafes explode in popularity in Japan
By Michael Hoffman The world bursts at the seams with fun, pleasure, joy. It may not look that way but it's so. Cares banished, time transcended, laughter resounding, champagne corks popping, clothes flying open (not quite off), anime music throbbing and in the whirlpool bath in the center of the room a bikini-clad young woman completes the picture of wild, joyous abandon. Shame on those of us not of the party! We could be. We too are invited. It's as near as the nearest 'concept café' – konkafe in Japanese – very near indeed if Spa (July 29-Aug 5) is right in estimating their number in Tokyo alone (vagueness of definition makes a precise count impossible) at 1,400. What is it about pleasure, though, that debauches it almost at birth? Does it contain the seeds of its own corruption? Is it peculiarly vulnerable to infectious invasion? Spa recalls with nostalgia the innocence of the first konkafes. They were 'maid cafés' (meido kissa), born with the century, circa 2001. 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One of the law's aims is to keep minors out. Underage staff and underage clients bedevil the industry. More distasteful still is the hiring and exploitation of girls with development disorders and mental illnesses. 'No wrist cuts,' reads a sign Spa hears of posted publicly in one konkafe – the macabre and the erotic as kissing cousins. This too the magazine hears from one konkafe operator: 'So many women want to work in konkafes.' (Why? one wonders in passing? Because it beats office work? Because it's pseudo-showbiz?) 'The inevitable result,' the operator continues, 'is a 'cast' of mixed good actors and bad. It's a problem. Among them are young women with development disabilities. The other day (one of our girls) was followed home by a stalker. She had no sense of danger. She told us later, much pleased at the coincidence, 'Near my house I met a regular customer' – while I, listening to her, broke into a cold sweat.' No harm done, apparently – but it's a predatory world, and defenselessness is terrifying. © Japan Today
SoraNews24
13 hours ago
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New service lets you get calls from anime magical girls to say goodnight and that they love you
PreCure offer encouragement and praise for a monthly price. Every magical girl anime series has its own distinguishing hook, twist, or quirk, but something that almost all of them share is a positive atmosphere. Sure, there have been a handful of dark deconstructions of the genre, but if we're talking about classic, orthodox aspects of magical girl series, the heroines are symbols of hope, embodying the attitude that as long as you believe in yourself and your friends, things will turn out all right in the end. And for those who need a more direct pep talk, there's now a service where the stars of the biggest contemporary magical girl anime will call you on the phone to encourage, comfort, and even say they love you. Earlier this year, Pretty Cure, a.k.a. PreCure, started its newest arc, You and Idol Pretty Cure, introducing a cast of five new magical girls. Now Toei Animation and Media Active are getting ready to launch the Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone service ( moshimoshi being the standard telephone greeting in Japanese). To use the app, you select which character you'd like to receive a phone call from, and also what kind of mood has you wanting to hear from them, after which they'll call you back. Options include 'I want to be praised,' which could get you a call in which your favorite Cure tells you how proud she is of you for doing your best. 'I want to be cheered up,' might instead have the magical girl reassuring you by saying that she's always on your side. There's also 'I want to be encouraged,' as well as morning wakeup calls and before-bed good night calls. Preview images also include the selection 'Fan service for you♡' followed by the phrase ' Daisuki da yo ,' which can mean either 'I love you' or 'I like you a lot,' depending on context. These aren't AI-generated messages, either, as the designers say the PreCure voice actresses have recorded new dialogue lines for Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone . It should be pointed out that the Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone website describes it as a 'virtual phone' app, since the whole thing runs though the Internet, not the phone network. Still, the interface is designed in a way that mimics the operations and visuals of a phone call to cultivate a sense of immersion. Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone is free to download, and users have access to a 'You kept your promise' call from the Cures for free as well. However, the majority of the service requires a subscription, with two tiers available. For 330 yen (US$2.30) a month, the Moshimoshi Course provides full access to calls from one character of the user's choice, while stepping up to the 660-yen-a-month Motto! Moshimoshi Course gives full access to all five Cures, plus a bonus cafe mini game. New wakeup calls are scheduled to be added every month. The ostensible target market of the PreCure franchise is adolescent and younger girls. However, as is sometimes the case with such anime, there's also an adult male fanbase, and some online commenters have been wondering if maybe that's who Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone is really targeting, seeing as how most of the kids who watch PreCure are too young to have their own smartphone. Considering that the You and Idol Pretty Cure cast are the franchise's 20th generation of magical girls, it would seem like there's also plenty of potential to draw in more subscribers by including characters from much farther back in the anime's 21-year history further down the line. In any case, there's no official upper-age restriction mentioned on the app's iOS or Android pages (here and here), though, so grown-up fans are apparently free to enjoy Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone too, with the service scheduled to launch on September 1. Source: PR Times, Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone official website, Jin Top image: PR Times Insert images: Google Play, PR Times ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
