As Osaka experiences a record high of infections and Tokyo looks set to follow suit, the izakaya Bacchus in Ikebukuro takes refuge below ground, surrounding itself in English football memorabilia and local baseball.

Tokyo announces that it will host the 2025 World Athletics Championships as Yuzuru Hanyu announces his retirement from competitive figure skating as he turns professional. Meanwhile, Intermediatheque in KITTE Marunouchi showcases a permanent exhibition of scientific & cultural heritage from the University of Tokyo alongside collections from around the country, collections of flora, fauna, archeological finds, even a skeleton from the world's largest crocodile.

While Sumo suffers a wardrobe malfunction, 23 year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown becomes the first Japanese athlete to reach the Men's 100m sprint final at the World Athletics Championships. And with the release of Hong Kong documentary "Blue Island" by Chan Tze Woon at Shibuya's Eurospace exploring protests both past and present, the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival which awarded Chan's first film the Shinsuke Ogawa Prize in 2017 screens a selection of documentaries on rural Japan this August in readiness for its next film festival in 2023.

Last week Saxophonist Akira Sakata (76) performed at his old school in Hiroshima, the city of his birth and where he saw John Coltrane play in 1966. The encounter inspired him to study marine biology at University before moving to Tokyo, playing for the likes of Shuji Terayama, and much on, later played with Chris Cosey from Throbbing Gristle. His latest record is a recording from 1986 of him playing with legendary drummer Takeo Moriyama and was release earlier this year. It was mixed by Jim O’Rourke and mastered by Martin Siewert of Austrian band Radian.

Amid the swelling cases of infection in Tokyo and the yen falling even further to a 24-year low, Kyoto's Gion Matsuri Festival roles into town on July 17th. Meanwhile, Reina Sugihara's "Frame," a solo exhibition of paintings at Misako & Rosen relays the painter's haptic sense of touch as Ryan Gander's "Killing Time" at Taro Nasu Gallery embraces their own uncertainty by hugging the life out of it.

Aomori’s Northwestern Regional Prefectural Citizens Bureau is soliciting "dreams" from the general public, saying, “we'll make your dreams come true!” Meanwhile, jazz pianist Yosuke Yamashita reenacts a performance from 1969 along with the Yosuke Yamashita Trio from their impromptu performance at Waseda University during the height of the student movement. The event was the brainchild of writer Haruki Murakami, who famously owned his own jazz bar. And in Shinjuku, far from jazz and even further from Aomori, the Eagle Suntory Lounge exists to service the hopes and dreams of customers from its basement bar, away from the falling yen and risk of increased infection.

Mt Fuji opens for the summer season to climbers and Aomori schoolchildren get ready for the annual Nebuta festival, both happening for the first time in almost 3 years. And while Kishio Kisho Kurokawa's iconic metabolist building the Nakagin Capsule Tower is almost gone, slowly demolished since last month, his other buildings in Tokyo suggest some of that spirit lives on in a different form.

The LDP consolidates its place in Japanese politics following last weekend's Upper House election, gaining enough of a majority within parliament to aim for constitutional reform. And later this month filmmaker Toshiaki Toyoda unveils his latest short film "Ikiteiru" (Alive) starring Kiyohiko Shibukawa. It's the latest part of his Ōkami series dedicated, in this age of Corona, to the Japanese wolf, an animal extinct since 1905 and worshipped during Cholera and Typhoid outbreaks in the late 19th century, and a film Toyoda hopes "questions the meaning of life in this day and age, a film overflowing with power."

For a country where political upheaval is unheard of, political violence is equally rare. Following the death of former PM Shinzo Abe, the mind turns to politician Inejirō Asanuma killed on the campaign trail in 1960 during a televised debate. And although unconnected, Ikejiri-ohashi record store Omega Point near Shibuya stocks experimental, avant-garde music some of which stems from the same social, cultural period serving as a reminder; music to learn from.

Corona infections surge with the latest strain of Omicron, BA.5. While a newly refurbished Fukushima Prefectural Library reopens just prior to this weekend's Upper House election, And Fumiaki Nagao at 4649 in Sugamo, and ACCUMULATIONS at Aoyama Meguro in Nakameguro both champion art on the fringes.

Gangs are using Air Tags used in Aichi to track the whereabouts of Police and three early paintings by Taro Okamoto have been unearthed in Paris. Meanwhile, Tokyo's infamous 'Kissaten' coffee houses like Nominoichi in Ikebukuro, the 'Jazz-kissa' DUG in Shinjuku and Rojina in Kunitachi are all places to avoid detection, rediscover the odd idea, or simply invent a new one.

As Typhoon 'Aere' rips through Kyushu, Shikoku and the Tokai region, the Tanabata festival, known for its Super Moon, is due to appear between July 6th and 7th. While, Shinjuku's Thermae-Yu or Super Sento public bath is open 24 hours, 7 days a-week so you can avoid the strong winds, heavy rainfall, even celestial bodies as you tend to your own.

Typhoon Aere approaches Kyushu as a team of researchers in the Beppu Bay Project close in on defining the Anthroposcene and the film OLD DAYS, winner of the Fukuoka Independent Film Festival 'Grand Prix' is released reliving the wild days of three fictional ex-bikers.

Osaka's Grand Kabuki Summer Festival and Funanorikomi hits the Dotondori river this month. Meanwhile, live music continues the traditions of Osaka's Minamihorie district where the Socore Factory live house reimagines its warehouse roots, calling upon the latest in streaming culture to reach its audience, still hesitant to revisit live music in person.

Some of Fukushima's Difficult-to-return zones reopen as daily COVID infections slight increase. Kogane-cho near Yokohama, home to Akira Kurosawa's film High and Low from 1963 and the fictional detective Hama-Mike from 1994, has experienced its own share of disasters, and is now home to the Koganecho Art Center community,

Japan announce the 2023 G-7 Summit will take place in Hiroshima and Peach airline resumes international flights to other parts of Asia. And as Shibuya cleans up its act, Tokiwa-Shokudo in Sugamo continues to serve Sanpeijiru and sake around the clock.

Mask wearing is officially relaxed as the UK and Japan reaffirm their trade in produce from in and around Fukushima. Yet real hopes test with tourism, despite Tokyo Disneyland, for example, limiting its visitors. Closer to home, the As-Salaam Masjid mosque sits between the merchants and manufacturers of Okachimachi in Tokyo, and is topped with a Turkish dome made, incidentally, with the help of Tokyo Disneyland .

Summer in the city starts with a vengeance as extreme heat sweeps across the country. And with the heat comes Nobi (Fires on the Plain) a 2015 film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto which plays again across the country to commemorate the 77th anniversary of war in the Pacific. A talk event and new book featuring the director press home the point that war, regardless of the generation it touches first, needs remembering.

Enthusiasts and obsessives come in all shapes and sizes. Take tori-tetsu, a nationwide group dedicated to photographing trains. One small group in Tokyo have also arrested for stealing Lego. And then there is the age-old obsessive Mori Ogai who celebrates his 100 anniversary this year – a physician in the Imperial Japanese army who travelled to Germany and became one of the first to translate German literature into Japanese. And last but not least, David Bowie, who walked through Kyoto with photographer Masayoshi Sukita in 1980 who now happens to have an exhibition of pictures taken that day on display near Kyoto Station.

Okinawa marks the 77th anniversary of the end of war in the Pacific while Japan's Kashiwa naval vessel arrives in London. Keijiban is a noticeboard gallery in Kanazawa city currently showing work by Katinka Bock and UK music label 4AD finally releases the Japan-only compilation "Pleasures & Treasures" available only from Tower Records.

More currency news as the JPY keeps falling against the USD and books are finally closed on last year's pandemic-delayed Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is places like Shou-chan in Shiinamachi that serve the best fish, making everything else going on in the world seem unimportant, if only for a few *very important* hours.

A bumper crop of strawberries from Tochigi is overshadowed by inflation, while NATO decides whether to accept Ukraine's application for membership, and a building by British architect Nigel Coates highlights the often tense and strange relationship between Russian and Ukraine embassies in Tokyo.

Earthquakes hit Ishikawa as Action 4 Cinema in Tokyo strives to champion diversity in the Japanese film industry.

Hybrid Economies: Toyota's EV technology and the upcoming Linear Shinkansen train line come under inspection, while nominees for this year's Akutagawa and Naoki Prize for Japanese literature are announced, each award dominated by a strong selection of female writers.

Police tackle a suspect nailing straw dolls to a sacred tree and monitor the campaign trail for an upcoming election. All this alongside painting shows by Gerhard Richter at MOMAT, Ryuichiro Otake at Hagiwara Projects and Richard Aldrich at Misako & Rosen in Otsuka.