logo
Travelers in Japan asked to keep power banks within reach on flights

Travelers in Japan asked to keep power banks within reach on flights

Kyodo News08-07-2025
TOKYO - The Japanese government on Tuesday began urging travelers to keep power banks within reach on airplanes following a series of incidents of mobile batteries catching fire on flights.
Airline staff at airports across the country began asking flyers for their cooperation, with staff of All Nippon Airways group at a boarding point at Tokyo's Haneda airport urging against stowing power banks in overhead compartments onboard the aircraft.
"For safety, we would like to ask for understanding and cooperation," one staff member said.
Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in power banks, can ignite upon physical impact or due to gradual degradation, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Mobile batteries are not allowed in checked baggage, and there are limits on the number and capacity permitted in carry-on luggage.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Royal Holdings in tie-up to open 21 luxury hotels in Japan by 2035
Royal Holdings in tie-up to open 21 luxury hotels in Japan by 2035

Asahi Shimbun

time2 hours ago

  • Asahi Shimbun

Royal Holdings in tie-up to open 21 luxury hotels in Japan by 2035

An architectural rendering of a high-end hotel and resort facility under Minor Hotels' Anantara brand, slated to open in 2030 in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture. The facility overlooking Mount Asamayama will boast a 100-meter-long roof. (Provided by Royal Holdings Co.) Restaurant operator Royal Holdings Co. is teaming up with Minor Hotels, the largest hotel group in Southeast Asia, to develop luxury hotel accommodation in the Japanese market. The company plans to open 21 hotels across Japan by 2035, targeting wealthy foreign tourists from the more than 36 million people who visit each year. Based in Thailand, Minor Hotels operates more than 560 luxury hotels and resort facilities in 57 countries. It is also a member of the Global Hotel Alliance, the world's largest alliance of independent hotel brands, serving 30 million members. It will be Minor Hotels' first foray into Japan. Royal Holdings and Minor Hotels established a joint venture earlier this year. On July 10, they unveiled plans to open Anantara Karuizawa Retreat, a hotel and resort facility, in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, in 2030, partnering with general real estate firm List Group. Anantara is Minor Hotels' flagship brand. Situated on a 42,000-square-meter plot overlooking Mount Asamayama, the facility will have 51 guest rooms, of which 23 are suites, It will also boast a spa, swimming pool and restaurants. The companies are preparing to apply for confirmation for construction. Accommodation fees and other details have yet to be determined. William Heinecke, founder and chairman of Minor International, which operates Minor Hotels under its umbrella, told a news conference in Tokyo that Japan is the first choice of overseas destination for Thai people. He expressed gratitude that the globally recognized hotel brand of Anantara had been accepted in the Japanese market. Royal Holdings started in-flight catering services and operating a cafe at Fukuoka Airport in 1951. The company has operated the Royal Host family restaurant chain as well as the Shakey's pizza chain since the 1970s. In addition, it operates restaurants at airports, expressway facilities and hospitals, and runs Tenya, a restaurant chain specializing in tempura rice bowls. As for its hotel business, the company opened its first Roynet Hotel (present-day Richmond Hotel) in 1995. It currently manages 43 Richmond Hotels, which target business travelers. 'We want to operate hotels aimed at wealthy visitors from abroad in tourism destinations and cities around the country as a way to expand the scope of our business,' said Royal Holdings President Masataka Abe.

Shikoku: New Anpanman Ekiben Boxed Meal on Sail; Shaped Like Anpanman Train
Shikoku: New Anpanman Ekiben Boxed Meal on Sail; Shaped Like Anpanman Train

Yomiuri Shimbun

time18 hours ago

  • Yomiuri Shimbun

Shikoku: New Anpanman Ekiben Boxed Meal on Sail; Shaped Like Anpanman Train

TAKAMATSU — Shikoku Railway Co. (JR Shikoku) has started to offer a boxed meal, or ekiben, in a case modeled after one of the famous Anpanman Trains. The meal can be purchased at JR Takamatsu and Kochi stations as well as on Anpanman Trains. The introduction of the new Anpanman ekiben was made to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first Anpanman Train. There are now several Anpanman Train designs, with the new meal's box modeled after the most popular 8000 Series Anpanman Train, which has served Okayama, Takamatsu and Matsuyama stations since 2016. The meal includes omelet rice with an Anpanman brand, a hamburger steak, fried shrimp and potato salad. It is sold at ¥1,800, including tax. 'We want people to enjoy a special trip [on the Anpanman Train] with the boxed meal,' JR Shikoku President Kazuyuki Shinomiya said. In addition to the latest 8000 Series ekiben, JR Shikoku offers a meal in a box shaped like Anpanman's face, including meatballs and fried egg. They can be reserved online at Japanese.

Living in Japan -- an exchange student's view: Time and seasonality (Pt. 2)
Living in Japan -- an exchange student's view: Time and seasonality (Pt. 2)

The Mainichi

timea day ago

  • The Mainichi

Living in Japan -- an exchange student's view: Time and seasonality (Pt. 2)

When I came to Japan, I brought with me a stack of various academic interests: U.S.-Japan relations, democratization, constitutional law, and political thought. As a student of international relations, I was more than eager to understand Japan's role on the world stage. My coursework was nothing less than full of theories of power, global structures, policy, and diplomacy. But being here, I gained a perspective extending beyond geopolitics. I also carried with me expectations others had told me about studying abroad: that my time here would be fast and exciting. Telling others I came to Tokyo to study, there was this sense that my time was limited. "Make the most of it," I was told. "You only have a year. Go everywhere, try everything, make it count." Things like taking photos at shrines, eating ramen, going shopping at Donki (as the discount store Don Quijote is familiarly known), playing at Tokyo Disneyland, traveling as much as possible, and experiencing the curated fantasy of Japan sold in study abroad brochures -- maybe to some, studying abroad should feel like an extended vacation with classes added in. It was expected I would return home with souvenirs and some insight into global and regional diplomacy. Instead, what has changed me the most during my time here has not been what I saw or what places I ticked off a checklist, but what I learned to notice. I marked time not by my deadlines or upcoming holidays, but instead by an awareness of the rhythm of the seasons, or "kisetsukan" in Japanese. Seasonality in Japan and the US Coming from California, where winters are marked by a few days' rain and the rest of the year is sunny and mild, the only indicators I had of the change of time were consumer events and holidays: the arrival of summer vacation, Halloween and Christmas, fireworks during New Year's Eve, a day off of school for Memorial Day weekend, or Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving in November. In contrast, I can recall each season of my life in Japan not by what exams I had coming up or what holiday I was desperately awaiting, but by my surroundings. I remember the illuminations during Christmas time and the carp banners in May. I remember what months I started seeing more tour groups in Harajuku and when the humidity started to rise again. I noticed the arrival of autumn leaves, cherry blossoms, hydrangeas, the rainy season, and the sound of cicadas. At my university's ikebana club, each week I could see the little ways in which the world changed through what we used for that week's arrangements: carnations, curly willow branches, blooming peonies, wreaths of evergreens. I began to notice that people I talked to would mention a particular flower blooming, or say things like, "It's starting to feel like summer." Living here, I started to anticipate these shifts too -- learning, slowly, to see time differently. It's how nature, meals, and feelings are tied to the shifting rhythms of the year. I think I gained a very different sense of "seasonality" that I didn't have at home. Time, politics, and cultural understanding Japan, from my perspective as an international student, essentially gave me a new clock to leave with. I came to Japan to study diplomacy, borders, and macro-politics. As a student of global affairs, I often study overarching global systems and fast-changing events. But what I learned living in a foreign culture has informed my thinking in a different way. It didn't just give me a new perspective on Japan; it helped me recognize how America's emphasis on productivity and consumption shapes even how we experience time. It has reminded me that culture is as essential to international understanding as policy is. Sometimes, it can even come down to just learning how another society eats, moves, marks time, and finds meaning. In our time of accelerated globalization, where cultural exchange is often reduced to tourism and superficial fusion, learning to inhabit the temporality of another place -- its rhythms, its rituals, its markers of change -- seems to be one of the most intimate and transformative forms of cross-cultural understanding and exchange to me. (By Kacey "Kei" Douglas) Profile: Kacey "Kei" Douglas is originally from San Francisco, California. She has been studying international relations, political science, and economics in Japan since 2024. She is currently participating in a study abroad exchange program between her home university in California and her host university in Tokyo. Her interests are in the Asia-Pacific region, comparative politics, and constitutional law. (This is Pt. 2 of a series. Subsequent parts will be published intermittently.)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store