BitSummit 2023 Celebrates Indie Games in Kyoto

BitSummit, held in Kyoto’s Miyako Messe, had its biggest showcase yet in July, featuring over 100 game titles alongside their developers, publishers and associated businesses who came together to promote the magic of independently made video games.

“We wanted to do something that was different from the big shows like PAX,” says John Davis, co-founder of BitSummit. “It all started in 2012 as an intimate gathering to promote Japanese indies. People in the industry weren’t really talking to each other and we wanted to raise the profile of the indie industry in Japan as a whole.”

BitSummit took up the entire first floor of Miyako Messe, with several smaller breakout rooms below as private meeting spaces and resting areas. Continuing with the successful format of 2022, Friday remained a business day for industry-related individuals to meet and try out each other’s video games. At the weekend, domestic and international gamers

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Kitten travel 300 kilometers in car wheel

Young, playful and full of adventure, Xena the small but mighty warrior is one brave feline.

The kitten hitched a 300 kilometer, 3 hour ride from Woodstock, New Brunswick, all the way to Dieppe in the wheel well of a Subaru Forester.

“We had to get right up under the rear of the car and finally could see it’s little face up in there,” said Angela MacIntyre Harris, who found Xena in her car.

“I was worried it was going to be quite injured and honestly, it came out. It did take us quite a while, over 30 minutes, but it came out without a mark, it was not dirty, it was, as I said, like a miracle, quite unbelievable.”

Although the cat was uninvited and unexpected, Xena joined the Harris family on their way home from a seven day road trip.

“We had stopped in Woodstock, it was our

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Chris Broad Celebrates 10 Years in Japan With His First Book

Ten years is a long time to be doing anything — let alone stay relevant on the internet, an arena of notorious trends that explode and then diffuse within a matter of days. But that’s exactly what the Abroad in Japan YouTube channel has done and continues to do. Helmed by filmmaker and host Chris Broad, his content has introduced a global audience to Japan through his natural affinity for videography and his own brand of British wit. Broad now adds author to his list of accolades, with an eponymous memoir, a culmination of over a decade spent living life in Japan.

The Early Years

There are 29 chapters in this book and each one is written in the style of a personal essay. Many of the chapters document brod’s time in Yamagata Prefecture as an assistant language teacher (ALT), a gig he received via the Japanese government-sponsored JET

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Europe is packed with tourists finally taking post-pandemic trips

VENICE, Italy — Tourists are waiting more than two hours to visit the Acropolis in Athens. Taxi lines at Rome’s main train station are running just as long. And so many visitors are concentrating around St. Mark’s Square in Venice that crowds get backed up crossing bridges – even on weekdays.

After three years of pandemic limitations, tourism is expected to exceed 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations this summer, from Barcelona and Rome, Athens and Venice to the scenic islands of Santorini in Greece, Capri in Italy and Mallorca in Spain.

While European tourists edged the industry toward recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, boosted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. Many arrive motivated by “revenge tourism” – so eager to explore again that they’re undaunted by higher airfares and hotel costs.

Lauren Gonzalez, 25, landed

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Gigi Hadid Has 5 Words To Say After the Cayman Islands ‘Ganja’ Arrest

Gigi Hadid attends a British Vogue party in 2022.

Gigi Hadid attends a British Vogue party in 2022.

Gigi Hadid attends a British Vogue party in 2022.

Shortly after news broke Tuesday that Gigi Hadid had been arrested for “possession of marijuana” while visiting the Cayman Islands last week, the model decided to post an Instagram slideshow of herself and a few buds living the high life for the duration of their Caribbean vacation.

Hadid captioned a slideshow brimming with bikini pics and snaps of delicious-looking food with five words that implied the arrest was anything but a buzzkill.

“All’s well that ends well🌅,” she wrote.

A customs screen discovered “marijuana and utensils used for the consumption of marijuana” in Hadid’s luggage shortly after she landed by private aircraft at Owen Roberts International Airport in the Caymans on July 10, according to local news site Cayman Marl Road. The outlet reported that Hadid’s stash was “relatively small” and “seemingly

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Tokyo Midtown Events To Get You Through the Hottest Months

Summer in Tokyo is in full swing. Check out these six Tokyo Midtown events to stay breezy in the upcoming months, featuring a cold foot bath and a new 21_21 Design Sight exhibition.

Summertime in the City

Asimizu

Cool down with Tokyo Midtown this summer at the urban development’s Ashimizu event. At the event, you’ll be able to soak your feet in a gently flowing stream set up in Midtown Garden. The partially covered stream area, which will also feature a cooling mist, is the perfect spot to escape the summer heat and bustling city. Enjoy the sight of sunlight filtering through the leaves of the garden’s trees and glistening on the water’s surface or sit back with a book or a drink for a relaxing break. In the evening, the area is illuminated with soft-colored lights, creating a mystical atmosphere where you can savor the cool evening breeze. As

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Paul Jacoulet: An Exquisite Fusion of East and West

We see the world in shapes and colors, but to draw it we need lines. By keeping the colors from spilling into one another and the shapes from becoming amorphous blobs, lines carry out an essential function, but remain mysteriously absent from our visual perception. An ability to first recognize and then replicate these invisible physical boundaries is what drawing is all about. If you can do it with some precision, and a bit of style, then something truly magical happens.

Western focus on painting over other art forms, has often meant that sketching, so long as it is done in scribbly and hasty strokes, carries an air of just-permissible artistic respectability not afforded to the deliberate use of an outline, long considered childish, eccentric or (worst of all) commercial. In Japan, this practice has enjoyed a higher reputation, especially in the world of ukiyo-e printmaking, where admirably precise and

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Why The Best Caribbean Vacation Doesn’t Even Require A Passport

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Did you know there’s an incredibly beautiful Caribbean island that Americans can go to without a passport?

Americans looking for the ultimate Caribbean destination have an amazing option that’s highly accessible — Puerto Rican. Since Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, US citizens don’t need a passport to travel there.

But don’t let the convenience of this destination fool you into thinking it is anything less than stunning.

Puerto Rico is surrounded by gorgeous turquoise waters, is brimming with historical architecture, and offers a tropical paradise on land — it is perfect for every type of traveler.

woman under straw umbrella looking at ocean

Families, foodies, nightlife seekers, beach lovers, adventurers, you name it — Puerto Rico has it.

And when you aren’t out exploring all the island has to offer, you can rest easy in one of the many amazing hotels in Puerto Rico,

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Power outage at Calgary airport results in travel delays, passenger frustration

Several flights headed out of Calgary’s international airport were delayed on Tuesday following a temporary power outage that started earlier that afternoon.

The Calgary Airport Authority said on social media around 2 pm that a temporary power interruption was affecting the baggage system and the International Terminal Building.

It was said later that “all flights” had been delayed and asked guests to coordinate with airlines regarding flight information.

A number of passengers took to social media, posting messages about the hold up, with some saying they were stuck in airplanes on the tarmac for hours.

“This is insane,” wrote Kamran Aslam on Twitter. “Does this airport not have emergency power backup generators and some sort of business continuity plan?”

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8am Coffee With Ashley Ogawa Clarke

Japan has seen its fair share of great English-language fashion writers over the last 20 years or so. Martin Webb, Misha Janette and Samuel Thomas have all played their own part in bringing Japanese fashion to the world. Grimsby-born Ashley Ogawa Clarke is the latest writer to take on the fashion mantle and his work with Vogue, GQ, WSJ and several other prestigious publications sees him firmly in the media spotlight. I didn’t know Ogawa Clarke until we met up at the popular Higashi-Nagasaki coffee shop Mia Mia in mid-June to talk about his life in fashion, his background and his thoughts on Tokyo. We got along famously and shared a lot in common. Below is a snippet of the conversation that took place in the latest installment of our 8am Coffee series.

Ashley and his wife, stylist Reina Ogawa Clarke

What do you think about the rise

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