07/26, Arts Culture Tourism from Tokyo (Katsushika Fireworks Festival)

Renowned Japanese author Seiichi Morimura, known for works including the novel "Ningen no Shomei" (Proof of the Man) and his nonfiction work "Akuma no Hoshoku" (The Devil's Gluttony), has died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo aged 90. The head of a man found dead in a Sapporo hotel earlier this month has been recovered from the home of a doctor who was arrested along with his daughter on suspicion of murder. And a giant maze made from 50,000 sunflowers has opened in the city of Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture north of Tokyo. Meanwhile, the 57th Katsushika Noryo hanabi taikai, or fireworks festival, returned to the east of Tokyo for the first time in 4 years. Notebook visited and looked on as people clung to lampposts clambering to catch sight of the sky filling with explosions, one deafening boom at a time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to NOTEBOOK, a cultural guide to art, design and architecture, along with local views and travel news in English giving a realistic view of Tokyo from two perspectives, one from Japan and the other from abroad. Substack: notebookpodcast.substack.com Instagram: @NOTEBOOK_pod Twitter: @NOTEBOOK_pod Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook Photo: Getty Images