Culture Pass

The Japanese drama 'Oretachi no Hakone Ekiden' will premiere with an unusual extended first episode running 40 minutes longer than normal. The show's cast marked the announcement by passing a sash between them, evoking the relay tradition of the Hakone Ekiden university marathon race that the drama centres on. The series ties into the famous New Year relay event, a major fixture of Japanese sports culture.

Columbus residents can now use their public library card to get free admission to local museums, attractions and cultural events through the Culture Pass program. The Columbus Dispatch explains how the pass works, which venues take part, and how cardholders can reserve free entry to participating sites around the city.

The Youth Olympic Games Flame Tour has reached its 13th stage in Louga, a city in northwestern Senegal known as the land of the Ndiambour. The relay celebrates the region's culture as the flame travels the country ahead of the Games. Senegal is hosting the first Youth Olympic Games on African soil, and the torch tour is building excitement across its regions.

A music and arts quiz is making the rounds online, inviting participants to test their knowledge and jokingly promising to send anyone who passes straight to art school. The playful challenge combines questions on music history, visual arts and culture, encouraging readers to see how well they know the creative fields.

Serious Eats has published a guide on how to achieve crisp, crackling chicken skin, shared widely with a joking nod to Hannibal Lecter's famous line about liver and a nice Chianti. The piece walks cooks through techniques for getting skin properly crunchy. Food lovers are passing it around as a handy cooking tip with a side of pop-culture humor.

Encouraging messages aimed at people dealing with ADHD, depression and other mental health struggles are being shared widely, with short affirmations like 'You got this!' paired with supportive quotes. Users are passing along these reminders as small gestures of solidarity, reflecting an ongoing online culture of openly discussing mental health and offering peer encouragement to those having a hard time.

A new Metro Art Culture Pass is being promoted as a way for public transit commuters to explore museums and art. The pass ties transit ridership to cultural access, encouraging people to visit exhibitions and cultural institutions as part of their daily travel. The initiative highlights efforts to connect public transportation with arts engagement in the city.

AGILINK says its dexterous robotic hand has learned Suzhou embroidery, one of China's most intricate traditional crafts, as the company passes 15,000 hands shipped. The demonstration highlights rapid progress in fine-motor robotics, with the firm positioning its hardware for both industrial and delicate cultural applications amid intensifying global competition in humanoid and dexterous manipulation technology.

Avery County native McKinney is using music to preserve and celebrate Appalachian heritage, according to the Watauga Democrat. The story highlights how traditional mountain music remains a living link to the region's cultural history, and why locals see passing it on as increasingly urgent.

Seattle magazine highlights WALKDONTRUN, an initiative offering a different way to experience downtown Seattle. The project invites people to slow down and explore the city core on foot, reframing how residents and visitors engage with downtown spaces. It is being presented as a fresh artistic or cultural lens on an urban area many have seen only in passing.