Vibe Check #31 (April 2026)

Hello, everyone! Welcome to our 31st edition of our Vibe Check, where we talk about anything dealing with Japan, Japanese culture, pop culture (such as anime and manga), or anything that's on the top of our heads for April. Sit back and let's see what's been going on in April. 

Check #1: Iran War and Japan Travel

This is dealing with the war in the Middle East, so this information is from the outside looking in. Please do not send any misinformation or hate when dealing with this topic.

Ever since the US-Iran war started, everything from groceries to gas to international travel has become expensive to deal with. For some people, it would be a quick fight for two weeks, and it'll be back to normal. That aged too poorly, too quickly...

For me, living in the state of Louisiana, gas prices are considered to be one of the most affordable in the nation. Then again, Louisiana is one of the most affordable states in the country. So, seeing gas prices going from $3.30 to almost $3.67 was a shocker for newbies and veteran drivers. Plus, it's a rollercoaster effect where it would slightly go down, and it jumped back up for the entire month. 

Although it does hit the wallet a little bit harder than expected, it made me realize one thing about international travel: I dodged a bullet for the price spikes.

The reason I said that was in February 2026, I booked the ticket back to Japan, and the overall cost for flight and hotel (with added insurance) is about $2500, whereas last year's package cost was barely into $2000. Yes, the insurance did increase the price; however, I had a hunch and checked.

I checked on Travelocity at the end of the month and did the same exact itinerary for the one I have as of now. With everything in place, the costs were around $3300. So, almost a $ 1,000 increase compared to when I booked the trip last year.

So I dodged a huge price spike from the war because if I booked the trip during the war, then it would definitely hit my wallet a lot harder than I thought.

Check #2: Birthday Celebration

As I am getting older, having a more subtle way to celebrate a birthday is a lot better than having a huge celebration. For my birthday, I went to a Louisiana State University (LSU) baseball game with my dad. It was a nice way to celebrate my birthday since spending time with family has become more important as you get older.

Surprisingly, baseball is an underrated sport I like to watch (playing the sport is a little difficult...^^'), and spending time with my dad at a baseball game is the best of both worlds. I was surprised that my dad and I would talk about the sport a lot more than I thought we would. 

Although LSU barely won 4-2 (LSU hasn't been that good in baseball this year... ^^'), I had a great time with my dad, and hopefully we'll be going to more baseball games later on down the line. We just need to make sure to beat parking more often since LSU baseball tends to be popular in Baton Rouge, especially if they're doing extremely well.

Check #3: World Cup Controversy

As the days gone by and the 2026 World Cup is getting closer, nothing beats the World Cup without controversy. Something the sports world either tries to cover or says it like it is without covering themselves. As someone that's passionate to the sport of soccer, it sucks that I tend to expect controversy on the biggest sporting event in the world.

The very first one I could think of in the top of my head was the prices. I love the United States of America, but the prices compared to most of the international tournaments are night and day. The cheapest ticket for the World Cup is similar to luxury suites in some English Premier League clubs. Plus, the World Cup final's prices is a lot more expensive than even the Super Bowl prices. So most of the seats are priced out for the average fan.

The second one was the locations of the tournament. Some of the venues weren't in the competition that would make a lot of sense, or they won't even try some stadiums out that's out of the normal cities. For example, The Little Caesar's Superdome in New Orleans wasn't even in the first round of stadiums to host the World Cup. To me, it would be a great experience because it can help out with Louisiana's economy, and plus if it turns out to be a success, it might even make New Orleans have a professional soccer team in their city. 

Plus, with the recent events of how certain Mexican cities are deemed unsafe for even the civilians, I am concerned if something even small can happened that it'll be a domino effect of something violent would happen.

The third and final controversy I can think of is the amount of teams going to be in the finals tournament. Back when I was younger, I always remember out of 200 countries in the world, only 36 teams can make it. Now it's 48 teams where it's just asking for a controversy to happen when it comes to scoring, amount of red card, etc.

Now, I am not saying that I won't watch the World Cup. I will (in the comfort of my home), but I won't be surprised it can showcase some type of controversy during and after the tournament. Of course, I would be cheering for the Japanese national team because now, even some countries in Europe and South America are taking a look at them more. I would predict they will make it to the Round of 8, their best mark ever, and work their way up.

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That's it for this month's Vibe Check. Tune in the end of next month to see what's been going on to talk about. I'll see you guys later~