This Month on Maction Planet – March 2025

From 10 March I have guided every single day for between 8 to 14 hours per day. Sometimes two tours in one day. And, as you can see from the below, it wasn’t like I was slacking before that. Good job I absolutely love what I do!

Featured image: Bill Murray x Maction Planet in Tokyo. This photo was taken at Game 2 of the Chicago Cubs vs LA Dodgers series as part of the 2025 MLB World Tour.

I had the most incredible seats courtesy of a former Maction Planet tour guest, and enjoyed watching both games of this MLB display, which featured a lot of Japanese baseball talent. The spike and subsequent decline of Dodgers caps being paraded around the city has been palpable!

Normally, Kanpai Planet news rounds out This Month of Maction Planet, but this month it is front and centre.

On 2 March, I was honoured to co-host two pre-launch events for the Ghost Series #23 tryptych alongside Stefan van Eycken and Tatsuya Ishirhara from Kanosuke Distillery, with David Tsujimoto’s Aloha Whisky Bar providing the perfect venue.

What is the Ghost Series #23 triptych? Well, it’s a project that has been two years in the making, and it is truly special. The first-ever single cask bottlings from Hioki Distillery’s Grain Whisky operation – one from a Virgin American White Oak puncheon and one from an ex-Bourbon barrel, selected by me, Stefan and @whiskysifu alongside the Kanosuke team. PLUS a unique blended whisky combining both Hioki grains with Kanosuke Single Malt, finished in an ex-umeshu cask.

You can watch the genesis of the project and the selecting and tasting of the casks, and much more in this epic saga, EXCLUSIVELY on Kanpai Planet!

… and watch me review them here:

If you’re a Japanese whisky enthusiast, look for these unique, historic bottles at select bars globally. We continue… and Kanpai!

This was one of the most fascinating basketball games I have ever attended. Luckily, Tokyo Alvark just clinched it against the Utsunomiya Brex after a very strange match dynamic.

10 March was the 80th anniversary of the Great Tokyo Firebombing. May all the civilian victims of war around the world rest in peace, and may those of us alive learn the lessons to ensure such tragedies never happen again.

Even before the some yoshino bloom, there is plenty of Cherry Blossom to find if you know where to look!

Joe got a word-of-mouth recommendation and decided to bring the gang, and now he has just referred me to another of his friends and so the cycle continues! Here we are enjoying the Plum Blossoms of Yushima Tenjin, Amazake in hand.

Paula and families’ trip to Japan was 5 years in the making, and boy, did we make up for lost time. Thank you for your energy! This is us at the start of our third and final day together, about to head to Hakone. Clearly, the sun was out, actually and metaphorically!

Last year, I guided the Pretsch-es. This year, they sent this related gang my way!

It was so good to see these guys again after 7 years! Thank you Sachin for booking Maction Planet again. We absolutely love our repeat guests!

The weather has been volatile, to say the least. On 19 March, unseasonal snow hit Tokyo. One week later, I was guiding in a T-shirt, wishing I was wearing shorts!

The very next day, it was bright sunshine as Sam, Hilary, and I began our two days together!

Robert was one of my first guests on Maction Planet back in April 2017. Fast forward 8 years and he has returned with his wife, kid and parents. I was humbled when the next morning he wrote to me saying that our time together was exactly what his parents wanted.

To break up the shots of me plus my amazing guests, here is a photo I took at Meiji Jingu on 21 March. ‘Nuff said.

Thank you Teri for booking Maction Planet. When you only have 15 hours of tourism time in the World’s Greatest Metrpolis, and want to see as much as possible catered to your interests without feeling rushed… who you gonna call?

That right there is the definition of a rhetorical question.

Burt, Jill and Godzilla… three legends in this photo. Two of them chose Maction Planet!

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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