Shueisha Games — the gaming arm of Japan's iconic Weekly Shonen Jump publisher — has reopened a worldwide pitch program with one striking condition: you don't need to be a game developer. Just a proposal and a portfolio. Here's what the deal actually looks like.
Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder Haruomi Hosono will release his 23rd studio album 'Yours Sincerely' on September 11, 2026, via Ghostly International, and play his first U.S. shows in seven years: Radio City Music Hall in New York on September 16 and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on September 20, with Toro y Moi guesting in LA. Here's why a Japanese musician in his late seventies is one of the most quietly influential figures in global pop.
Number_i has signed a label deal with Atlantic Records, completing the global infrastructure they started building with WME in February. Here's what the Atlantic deal adds, why being labelmates with Bruno Mars matters, and what the trio is actually planning.
Free iOS collection ONE-DOT GAMES, built on the minimalist concept Kenji Eno (D, Enemy Zero) left behind in 2009, launched on May 17, 2026. University students who never knew him are now carrying the torch.
Researchers at Kyoto University used Japan's near-total medical insurance database to trace esotropia (inward-turning eyes) cases from 2014 to 2019, the years smartphones swept the country. Incidence rose from 32.26 to 36.61 per 100,000 person-years; surgeries climbed from 3,061 to 3,743. The link with smartphone penetration is strong, the absolute rise is small.
Nintendo's first-party Switch 2 title 'Yoshi and the Mysterious Book' is reportedly built on Unreal Engine 5, a first for any Nintendo-published game. We unpack how dataminers cracked the case, why Switch 2's UE5 performance has been a worry, what this means for future ports, and whether this small platformer is quietly Nintendo's biggest engine pivot yet.
Japanese toy, video and game distributor Happinet reported its FY26 results, with video game segment profit surging 772% year-over-year to 2.2 billion yen (about $14 million). Behind the spike: Nintendo Switch 2 and its software lineup, plus the ripple effect of a console generation transition through Japan's entire game distribution ecosystem. Here's what was happening behind Nintendo's 19.86 million unit sell-through.
Tokyo's 19.7-meter Unicorn Gundam statue, an Odaiba landmark since 2017, will be dismantled at the end of August 2026, leaving Japan's capital without a life-sized Gundam for the first time in nearly two decades.
Esports expands to a record 11 disciplines and 13 titles at September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. With KONAMI just signed as an official supplier, here's the full lineup (Pokémon UNITE, eFootball, Gran Turismo 7, the SF6/Tekken/KOF team event) plus why the IOC's 2027 Olympic Esports Games just unraveled.
Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya Tenkai-hen launched May 14, 2026 in Weekly Shonen Champion #24 with a cover and color opening. Chapter 1 featured Saori, Seiya, and a new figure called Kale. The six-chapter first series wrapped in issue #29 on June 18, with the next series set to resume in winter, and a 40th anniversary art exhibition confirmed for 2027. Official English and Spanish editions remain unannounced, since the title runs at Akita Shoten rather than Shueisha.
Japan's sailor-uniformed quartet ATARASHII GAKKO! heads to Latin America for the first time in December 2026. The tour spans Santiago's Teatro Caupolican, a debut at Brazil's Primavera Sound Sao Paulo, and a 6,800-capacity solo show at Mexico City's Velodromo Olimpico, their largest overseas headline date yet. A look at how the 88rising-signed group got from Coachella to Interlagos.