This Month on Maction Planet – July 2025

After the beautiful insanity of March to June 2025, July was suprisingly quiet for Maction Planet. See below to find out what ‘quiet’ means on Maction Planet…

Featured image: You’ve heard of stand-up comedy. Now meet sit-down comedy. Rakugo is a traditional Japanese form of comedic storytelling performed by a solo storyteller. The performer, typically seated on a raised platform in a seiza position, uses only a fan and a small cloth as props to tell a story – often humorous, dramatic, long, complex – characterised by the storyteller’s ability to portray multiple characters through voice, gestures, and facial expressions. 

Katsura Sunshine is one of Rakugo’s modern masters and has brought the artform to the English-speaking masses, with hilarious results. Every month he performs shows with new material in both Tokyo AND New York. I caught the opening night of this month’s stint in Asakusa on 25 July. Highly recommended!

Don’t mind me, just hanging out with master architect Sou Fujimoto, who’s work is the subject of ‘The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest’ a new exhibition at the Mori Art Museum which runs from Wednesday 2 July – Sunday 9 November 2025. Sou is currently in the spotlight for his design of the Grand Ring at Osaka Expo 2025, and part of that structure is recreated in this exhibition! Highly recommended.

Long-time readers of This Month on Maction Planet, and its predecessor, This Week in Tokyo, know that I am a huge fan of Sakamichi Brewing. Just a reminder to the world that I was the most guestingest guest of their podcast, which ran for an auspicious 108 episodes. It had been far too long since I headed down there, so on 2 July I did exactly that, accompanied by none other than Tokyo Comedy Bar GM Sam B. Those smiles say it all. If you are a beer fan, it is a must-visit.

On 4 July 2025, Suntory Hall in Tokyo was the venue for the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra’s Subscription Concert No. 1023. The concert featured conductor Karina Canellakis and pianist Alice-Sara Ott. The program included Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major and was thoroughly enjoyed by my music-loving guests! 

What better way to follow that up than with some drinks at Tokyo Confidential! Holly, Waka and some of Tokyo’s top cocktails. – ‘Nuff said.

Aloha Whisky Rising 24.5: Sherry Baby was held on 5 July! Stefan van Eycken and David Tsujimoto delivered another cracking blind tasting event with 10 devastatingly good sherried drams at Aloha Whisky Bar, the spiritual home of Kanpai Planet videos.

5 July was to get even better as I got to catch up with the one and only Chris Nilghe, the TDR Explorer himself. Chris is an incredible human and a friend of Maction Planet. We are honoured to be the officical recommended Tokyo tour provider to fans of TDR Explorer, and we have had many Disney fans as guests over the years.

On 8 July, I was able to catch up with another old friend and familiar face to Maction Planet and Trash Taste fans – Chef Koji! Thank goodness he was sat next to me because I don’t think I would have been able to handle the Tokyo Yakult Swallow’s 4-0 defeat to the Yokohama DeNA Baystars otherwise!

This was the best of a bunch of photos another guide offered to take of me, Megan and family on 9 July. It reminds me of why there is a section on photography in my guide training course!

A happy tanabata to all our guests from everyone at Maction Planet. The Tanabata (七夕) celebration originates from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The gods are represented by the stars Vega and Altair, respectively. The Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year.

I love Osaka Expo mascot Myaku Myaku and on 10 July we met at the Tanabata Festival in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture!

Lauren and family were my guests on 13 July, and this selfie was taken in our final moments together. Thank you for choosing Maction Planet!

While many focus on the anime, manga and arcades of Akihabara, I like to share some of its heritage, and the amazing people that made it, too.

I was honoured to be invited by the Japan Sake and Shochu Information to an international media gathering on 16 July. The theme of the event was ‘THE ART OF THE DRINKING VESSEL’, during which we explore how people enjoy shochu through different vessels. Kiwako Kurashima, Editor-in-Chief of Koten Sakaba and a Kuma Shochu Ambassador, gave an excelent presentation during which I learnt a huge amount, especially about the regionality of the wide variety of cups and vessels, each reflecting local customs and craftsmanship.

Kiwako is also the host of the Travel Channel program ‘Nippon Sakadokoro Meguri’, and author ‘Tokyo Gubi Gubi Baku Baku Kofuku Nikki’ in which she shares her experiences exploring bars.

Woke up on 18 July to this and other photos of the sake I made being enjoyed by 10 former tour guests! Three generations of the Wright-Brill axis of good gathered in a secret location in New Hampshire to share one of the last surviving bottles of my Gakkogura sake. You can watch the ENTIRE production process for this liquid in the epic documentary series ‘Making Sake on Sado‘. Seeing these photos made my day, my week and indeed my entire month. We continue… and Kanpai!

It is very tough to take wide angle photos with no one in them at teamLab Borderless these day, but that is exactly what my guests were able to take of my on 19 July! What’s the trick? IYKYK. Having been there over 50 times, I know!

On the morning of 23 July I woke up to an email from Tripadvisor, informing me that Maction Planet had once again been recognised in Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards for 2025. Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Award winners are among the top 10% of listings around the world on Tripadvisor. For more info, click here.

The 19 – 21 July weekend was the date of the Baird Beer 25th Anniversary Festiva at Numazu Fishmarket Taproom.

This year marks a major milestone — the 25th anniversary of Baird Beer… and they held a special anniversary event
at the very place where Baird Beer was born — the Numazu Fishmarket Taproom! A lineup of nostalgic, fan-favorite beers made a someback, including special collaboration beers with some of their legendary former brewers.

I attended on 20 July and was able to hang out with Bryan Baird and Baird ‘Mr 1.5’ John Chesen. Thank you for all you have done for Japan’s craft beer scene. We continue… and Kanpai!

Another draw to make the trek down to Numazu was to hear the comedy stylings of Sam B, performing stand up comedy in Japanese! How will he react to TWO mentions in This Month on Maction Planet? I suspect the information will become the central part of his next act!

Hokusai’s masterpiece, The Great Wave off Kanagawa is without a doubt the most famous artwork in Japanese history, a strong contender for the most co-opted image in art history. Supporting my latter point – Exhibit D: Mikimoto.

Carrie, Carol, Sharon and Natalie spent a full 14 hours with me on 24 July. They came via word of mouth recommendation, as so many of our guests do nowadays, via Mindy and Don. We experienced a full spectrum of Tokyo… err… experiences, culminating in a visit to Shibuya and its infamous Scramble Crossing.

After leaving Katsura Sunshine’s show on 25 July, we walked through Sensoji on our way to Asakusa Station. Sensoji is the oldest Buddhist Temple in Tokyo, having been founded in 645 AD. The crowds throng here in the daytime but at night the site is a lot more peaceful, and brightly lit up too!

Oh, and my T-shirt? A Tokyo Yakult Swallows homage to the Great Wave off Kanagawa featuring Tsubakuro!

My final tour of July took me and my guests to the Ebisu Bon Odori. Bon Odori (AKA Bon Dance) is a traditional dance performed across the country during the summer aroudn the time of the Obon festival, which honours the spirits of ancestors. It’s a lively and communal event, with dancers typically circling a central platform where musicians play traditional music. The dances have simple movements which sometimes mimic actions like harvesting rice. The Ebisu Bon Odori celebrated its 70th running this year! Thank you to my amazing guests for snapping this unfiltered shot!

And finally… I released a NEW KANPAI PLANET VIDEO! Join me at Tokyo’s legendary Aloha Whisky Bar for an incredible deep-dive conversation with Dave Broom – one of the world’s most respected whisky writers and the man behind “The World Atlas of Whisky.” Dave shares his unfiltered thoughts on the current state of Japanese whisky and drops some serious truth bombs about the industry!

The feedback on my last two videos (‘Part 1‘ was released last month) featuring Dave has been LARGE. Everyone from distillers to brand ambassadors to journalists to long-time Kanpai Planet fans have reached out or commented to say that this is one of the most honest, incisive conversations about the past, present and future of Japanese Whisky in the last 10 years.

Don’t believe them? Watch for yourselves and judge

Maction Planet runs bespoke Private Tours and Experiences in Tokyo, and beyond. To book yours, or to purchase a gift card, contact us at info@mactionplanet.com

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