The number of people still wearing masks remains high, despite guidelines being relaxed on Monday. Japanese novelist and pacifist Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature, died peacefully in the early hours of March 3rd aged 88. While in Nara prefecture, torches were lit for the annual 'Shuni-e' ceremony and two-week Omizutori ritual which reaches its climax with water drawn from a well near Todaiji temple. And in Shimbashi, we focus on the sound of people enjoying the warm weather and the beginning of spring. — Get in touch: notebook.podcast@gmail.com Leave a message: speakpipe.com/notebook Instagram: @notebook_pod Twitter: @notebook_pod —