Japan National Stadium Becomes MUFG Stadium & ONE PIECE Opens Flagship [Weekly News: Oct 17, 2025]

Here is our roundup of standout corporate oshikatsu (fan support activities) marketing and fan business news from the week of October 10 to October 16, 2025.

This Week’s Highlights

This was a week in which companies lent and borrowed “names” and “places” in partnership with intellectual properties (IP).

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) acquired the naming rights to the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo. Announced on October 15, the new name—“MUFG Stadium”—runs for a five-year contract period from January 2026 through the end of December 2030. Although the contract fee was not disclosed, it was projected to be the largest naming rights agreement in Japan. Just before that, on October 9, the VTuber agency hololive production announced that it would hold “hololive SUPER EXPO 2026.” Scheduled to take place at Makuhari Messe for three days starting March 6, 2026, it marked the first time the event would run for a three-day period.

In the worlds of fashion and manga, a string of major collaboration announcements also rolled out. Vivienne Westwood announced a collaboration with the manga NANA, which celebrated its 25th serialization anniversary, to sell a limited-edition manga volume at its boutiques in Aoyama, Tokyo, and Shinsaibashi, Osaka. Meanwhile, it was announced that the official ONE PIECE flagship store, “ONE PIECE BASE SHOP,” would open at Shinjuku Marui on December 5, featuring approximately 500 store-exclusive new products.

5 Years

MUFG Stadium naming rights contract period (January 2026 to December 2030)

80M+

Combined YouTube channel subscribers across hololive production talents

~500

Store-exclusive original products out of ~800 December items at ONE PIECE BASE SHOP

340,000

Limited-quantity collaborative set meals with visual boards at Ootoya x Haikyu!!

Source: The Oshi Lab’s summary of the article

Heritage Brands and Publishers Placed Japanese IP at the Center of Their Global Strategies

Vivienne Westwood x NANA — A Long-Awaited Collaboration Realized for the 25th Serialization Anniversary

On October 8, the British fashion brand Vivienne Westwood announced a collaboration with the manga NANA as a special project commemorating the series’ 25th serialization anniversary. The brand released a collaborative limited-edition manga volume, NANA 25th Anniversary Edition Vol. 1, featuring a newly illustrated cover drawn by creator Ai Yazawa. In Japan, the volume was sold at the brand’s boutiques in Aoyama, Tokyo, and Shinsaibashi, Osaka. Overseas, it was announced that the edition would go on sale in the United States at the bookstore chain Books-A-Million on October 21, and in the United Kingdom at the bookstore chain Waterstones on November 20. At the time of the initial announcement, the release date at the Japanese boutiques was set for October 31, though it was subsequently postponed to November 14 (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Within the story of NANA, the main characters actually wear Vivienne Westwood pieces. What makes this initiative distinctive is how it connected those in-story details directly to real-world commercialization. Rolling the release out through overseas bookstore networks as well confirms that the fandom for Japanese manga extends well across national borders. Understanding how your company’s IP is worn and read overseas is the very first step in selecting the right collaboration partner.

Magazine House Expo — Celebrating 80 Years with a Vision to Share Magazine IP with the World

On October 10, the publishing house Magazine House kicked off its 80th-anniversary commemorative event, “Magazine House Expo: From Ginza to the World,” in Ginza, Tokyo. Organized as a collaborative project with Ginza Sony Park, the event ran through October 25 and featured attractions such as “Magazine House’s 80-Year Cover Exhibition,” which displayed historical magazine covers from across the publisher’s history. Company president Shuichi Tetsuo set forth “global expansion” and “new business leveraging IP” as the publisher’s vision going forward. As a concrete example, he noted that out of the roughly 800,000 followers on the official Instagram account of the magazine POPEYE, half are overseas fans. He also shared that the English-language editions of POPEYE and BRUTUS released in 2025 were approved for reprinting within two weeks (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: It is fascinating to see a publishing house founded in 1945 redefine its magazines themselves as a “treasure trove of IP.” The fact that half of its Instagram followers are overseas demonstrates that an international fandom had already spread even before the content was translated and exported. Within a company’s own social and publishing data, there may be fan segments waiting to be noticed—a lesson that applies across other industries as well.

A Stadium and a VTuber Agency Put Up Their Largest Signboards Yet

Japan National Stadium x MUFG — Naming Rights Deal Projected to Be Japan’s Largest Gets Underway

On October 15, it was announced that Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) had acquired the naming rights to the Japan National Stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Under the new name “MUFG Stadium,” the five-year contract runs from January 2026 through the end of December 2030. While the financial terms of the contract were not disclosed, it was expected to be the largest naming rights deal in Japan. The venue’s official name remains “Japan National Stadium” (Kokuritsu Kyogijo) and will be used when required by applicable clean-venue rules, while aiming to establish the abbreviated nickname “MUFG Kokuritsu” in everyday use. As its vision for the future, the stadium’s operating company introduced a co-creation platform called “KOKURITSU NEXT,” planning local excursion programs in partnership with surrounding shopping districts as well as educational programs for schools on days when no commercial events are held (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: At the press conference, MUFG positioned the naming rights agreement as an initiative that goes beyond mere corporate brand awareness. The five-year deal encompasses startup support and stronger distribution of entertainment content, serving as an ongoing effort to build continuous touchpoints with fans through the stadium. The approach of sharing a physical venue over multiple years rather than stopping at a one-off sponsorship can also be applied to sponsorships of other sports and cultural facilities.

hololive SUPER EXPO 2026 — First Three-Day Run at Makuhari Messe, with Over 80 Million Combined Channel Subscriptions

On October 9, the VTuber agency hololive production announced the upcoming “hololive SUPER EXPO 2026” alongside “hololive 7th fes. Ridin’ on Dreams.” Scheduled for three days from March 6 to March 8, 2026, at Makuhari Messe, this marked the first three-day run in the event’s history. Across hololive production, the combined number of YouTube channel subscribers had surpassed 80 million, with more than 80 talents active primarily across Japanese-, Indonesian-, and English-speaking regions (4Gamer.net (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: The figure of over 80 million represents combined channel subscriptions, rather than a count of unique fans directly comparable with a musical artist’s fan base. The extension from two days to three can be interpreted as a bet that the existing fan base can support a venue and schedule of that magnitude. In many cases, the timing for expanding an event’s scale is determined less by fan enthusiasm than by capacity-side constraints such as venue size and available days. The Lab reads this announcement through that lens.

Convenience Stores and Restaurant Chains Created Reasons to Visit with Limited-Edition Menus

Jujutsu Kaisen x FamilyMart — Special Wrapped Store Timed to a Revival Screening

A collaboration project between the anime Jujutsu Kaisen and the convenience store chain FamilyMart launched on October 15. The first wave was timed to the revival theatrical screening of Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie, which began on October 17. FamilyMart’s Ginza Kobikicho-dori store in Tokyo was transformed into a specially wrapped collaborative storefront. Inside stores, the “Famima Print” multi-copy machine service offered bromide photo prints of famous scenes from the film (200 yen for L-size, 300 yen for 2L-size, with 30 designs in total). FamilyMart also announced that starting October 17, the first collaborative merchandise with the “Nmahoppe Series” would go on sale at approximately 2,200 stores nationwide (PR TIMES (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: A defining feature of this rollout is how it simultaneously paired an initiative concentrated in a single specially wrapped storefront with a merchandise release across 2,200 stores nationwide. Buzz is concentrated at a single flagship location, while purchasing opportunities are distributed across the country. Retail formats with extensive store networks, such as convenience stores, have the unique strength of being able to design this kind of “concentration and distribution” at the same time.

HD-2D Dragon Quest x Lawson Store 100 & Haikyu!! x Ootoya — Limited-Time Collaborative Menus

Lawson Store 100 announced that it would hold a collaborative campaign with the HD-2D remake Dragon Quest I & II from October 22 to November 11. Featured products included bread and onigiri (rice balls) decorated with the Emblem of Erdrick (Roto no Monsho). The campaign also included a receipt-stamp rally where shoppers earned stamps with purchases to enter a lottery for Dragon Quest merchandise (Inside (in Japanese)). Meanwhile, the teishoku (Japanese set meal) restaurant chain Ootoya launched a collaborative campaign with Haikyu!! starting October 15. Ootoya rolled out a “Set Meal with Visual Board” (1,880 yen each), limited to 340,000 meals, featuring designs of six team captains including Karasuno High School’s Daichi Sawamura. Eligible collaborative drinks were also prepared in a limited quantity of 140,000 bottles (Cho! Animedia (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: What both campaigns share is an explicit emphasis on limited quantities. By announcing concrete figures—340,000 meals and 140,000 bottles—in advance, the campaign gives fans a clear reason to act now before supplies run out. For collaborations in everyday retail and dining formats like convenience stores and restaurant chains, setting a cap on quantity in addition to a time limit helps raise the priority of a store visit in fans’ schedules.

Apparel Brands and Retailers Put Characters on Everyday Store Shelves

Sanrio x MOUSSY — Second Wave of Hello Kitty Knitwear Collaboration

A second collaborative collection between Sanrio’s popular character Hello Kitty and the high-casual fashion brand MOUSSY came to fruition, with items going on sale starting October 9. The three-item lineup consisted of the “HELLO KITTY CHUNKY SWEATER” (11,000 yen) crafted with a hand-knit-style texture, the original-patterned cardigan “HELLO KITTY RETRO STRIPE CD” (13,970 yen), and a matching stole in the same pattern (7,480 yen). In addition to MOUSSY stores, the items were also carried on the online fashion marketplace ZOZOTOWN (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: The continuity of a second collaboration shows that this is being operated not as a one-off buzz campaign, but as a recurring seasonal line that refreshes its products each season. Narrowing the focus to knitwear—a staple autumn/winter material—also makes the pieces easier to pick up for shoppers who might otherwise hesitate to wear character goods. Designing IP collaborations as seasonal programs rather than one-time events is a perspective shared by brands with staying power.

Pokémon x Don Quijote — Reaching New Customer Segments with Character Costume Hoodies

Pokémon apparel went on sale sequentially starting October 11 at Don Quijote, Apita, and Piago stores. The “BIG Costume Hoodie” (BIG Kigurumi Parka, 4,399 yen) features character faces built into the hood for Psyduck, Snorlax, Pikachu, and Gengar. A 10-design lineup of fleece top-and-bottom sets (“Boa Set,” 4,399 yen) was also prepared (Inside (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Choosing discount stores and general merchandise supermarkets as the retail channel allows these products to be seen by customer segments who do not normally visit specialty shops like Animate or Pokémon Center. The 4,399-yen price point is also slightly more accessible than specialty-store figures or boutique collaborative apparel. When the goal is to expand an IP’s “surface area of exposure,” selecting stores situated along everyday shopping routes rather than specialty shops is an effective call.

VTubers and Toymakers Put New Experiences into Fans’ Hands

NIJISANJI 3SKM x Sanrio — Cross-Industry Pairing Through the “3KUMA” Teddy Bear

The three-member unit “3SKM” belonging to the VTuber group NIJISANJI announced collaborative merchandise with Sanrio Characters. Made-to-order sales ran on the NIJISANJI Official Store from October 9 to October 26. Alongside merchandise featuring the 3SKM members themselves, the rollout also included collaborative items pairing “3KUMA”—teddy bears inspired by 3SKM—with Sanrio Characters, for a total lineup of 15 items (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Connecting a digital-native IP like VTubers with Sanrio through the medium of a tangible teddy bear mascot character is a clever structural choice. Preparing a dedicated mascot alongside merchandise of the VTuber talents themselves makes it much easier for the collaboration to blend naturally into the partner brand’s visual world. Whenever a cross-industry collaboration risks feeling incongruous, designing an intermediary character to bridge the two worlds proves especially effective.

Gunpla x 3D Scanning — A New Experience from BANDAI SPIRITS and Sony Music

BANDAI SPIRITS and Sony Music Entertainment held the second trial of their “High-Quality Gunpla Scan” service from November 15 to December 14 at THE GUNDAM BASE TOKYO in Odaiba, Tokyo, with reservations opening at 3:00 p.m. on October 15. Priced at a basic fee of 2,200 yen, the service converted users’ own personal Gunpla (Gundam plastic models) into 3D digital data using “SCANOSYS,” a high-definition 3D scanning booth developed under the leadership of Sony Music Entertainment. For this second trial, additional digital content purchases allowed participants to generate diorama movies in a digital space and pilot their scanned Gunpla in an action simulator, defeating enemies to compete for points (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: What is fresh here is how plastic models—traditionally objects meant to be displayed on a shelf—are transformed through scanning into an experience where fans can move and pilot them. Expanding the venue from its February 2025 run in Fukuoka to Tokyo shows that the companies are advancing step-by-step toward commercialization rather than stopping at a one-off proof-of-concept experiment. Services that convert physical possessions accumulated by fans over many years into digital assets could become a new revenue opportunity for toymakers.

Flagship Stores and Pop-Ups Multiplied Fan Sanctuaries Across Japan

ONE PIECE Flagship Store — Official Shop with 500 New Exclusive Items at Shinjuku Marui

It was announced that the official ONE PIECE flagship store, “ONE PIECE BASE SHOP,” would open on December 5, 2025, on the fourth floor of the Shinjuku Marui Main Building in Tokyo. Spanning a floor area of 1,185 square meters, the large-scale facility was slated to make approximately 500 of the roughly 800 items releasing in December store-exclusive original products available only at this location. The shop also planned to offer an on-the-spot T-shirt printing service where visitors can choose designs from over 400 characters, along with crane games and other attractions designed to provide an experience that goes beyond simply browsing and buying. For the time being following its opening, admission was set to operate by advance lottery reservation (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: In recent years, the Bandai Namco Group has been expanding “experiential retail facilities” that go beyond simple merchandise sales. Making roughly 500 out of 800 items exclusive to the physical store creates a compelling reason to visit in person that cannot be fulfilled through online shopping. Precisely because e-commerce purchasing has become so widespread, deliberately increasing the ratio of inventory available only at physical storefronts is an increasingly effective retail design.

Capcom Store POP UP — Touring Life-Size Figures from Tokyo Dome City to Two Locations in Aichi

Capcom held limited-time pop-up shops of its directly managed “Capcom Store” at two locations in Aichi Prefecture starting in November 2025: AEON Mall Okazaki (November 1–3) and AEON Mall Toyokawa (November 8–9). The pop-ups sold character merchandise from Monster Hunter, Resident Evil (Biohazard), and Street Fighter, and also displayed three life-size figures of Street Fighter characters Jamie, Akuma (Gouki), and A.K.I. Those three life-size figures had originally debuted at a pop-up event at Tokyo Dome City (GAME Watch (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Touring display pieces originally built for a Tokyo Dome City event out to regional shopping malls is a highly efficient approach. Rather than letting a large upfront investment end after a single event, reusing the same fixtures and life-size figures across multiple venues allows a company to deliver the exact same experience to fans in regional areas. How to repurpose assets from major metropolitan events for regional rollouts is a shared challenge for companies operating nationwide retail networks.

The Demon Girl Next Door VR Exhibition — A Virtual Experience with Shamiko and Momo in Yokohama

An exhibition for the manga The Demon Girl Next Door (Machikado Mazoku), titled “Machikado Mazoku Double Anniversary Exhibition Mini in Yokohama,” was held from November 14 to November 30, 2025, at Marui City Yokohama. At the venue, newly produced footage featuring 3D models of main characters Shamiko and Momo was unveiled using “Matrix One,” a virtual live system developed by NTT QONOQ. VR viewing was not available to children aged 10 and under, and advance tickets for admission to the VR area were priced at 2,000 yen (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: A VR exhibition with a clearly stated age restriction stands out for how it also creates a sense of experiential exclusivity along age lines. By separating the exhibition area and merchandise area by floor and setting a separate ticket fee for the premium VR experience, this pricing structure secures a revenue stream that cannot be captured through free-admission merchandise sales alone.

A Local Government Met Fans Inside a Gaming Platform

Saitama City x Fortnite — Linking “Tamapon” Local Points with a 3D Urban Model

On October 4, Mondrian Inc. released an esports game titled “City SPEED TRIAL: SAITAMA SUPER ARENA” on the gaming platform Fortnite. Built using “PLATEAU”—the 3D urban data development project led by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)—the game recreated the Saitama Shintoshin district in a time-trial racing format. Regional points called “Tamapon” were announced for event participants and high scorers in the game. Participation in the December event would require downloading Saitama City’s official municipal app, “Saitama City Minna no App.” A free hands-on experience event was also scheduled to take place at AEON Mall Yono on December 14 (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Taking an unassuming municipal asset like urban 3D data and placing it onto Fortnite—a platform with a massive existing fandom—is a fresh approach. Awarding regional points to event participants and high scorers aims to encourage local visits and spending. For local government fan marketing, this case illustrates that riding alongside a platform where people already gather is often faster than building a standalone custom app from scratch.

Time Horizon Design

• Long-term commitment: MUFG's 5-year stadium naming rights and hololive's 3-day Makuhari Messe expo secure multi-year or multi-day timeframes
• Short-term rotation: FamilyMart, Lawson Store 100, and Ootoya use strict quantity caps (such as 340,000 meals) and limited campaign windows to drive immediate visits

Experience Location Design

• Monetizing owned and virtual experiences: Gunpla 3D scanning (2,200 yen) and Machikado Mazoku VR (2,000 yen) turn fan items and 3D models into paid venue experiences
• Bringing assets to existing platforms: Saitama City and Mondrian brought municipal 3D city data directly onto Fortnite rather than building a venue from scratch

Source: The Oshi Lab’s summary of the article

This Week’s Reflections

This was a week in which companies lent and borrowed “names” and “places” in partnership with IP.

MUFG put its own name on one of Japan’s largest stadiums, the Japan National Stadium, under a five-year contract. hololive production secured a three-day schedule at Makuhari Messe. Both decisions represent a choice to buy “time”—spanning multiple years or multiple days—rather than stopping at transient one-off advertising. On the other hand, everyday retail and dining formats like FamilyMart, Lawson Store 100, and Ootoya created immediate reasons for fans to visit stores through short, clearly defined windows of limited quantities and limited time periods. Between companies that lock in a venue for the long term and companies that drive rapid short-term turnover, the design of the time horizon differs completely even within the same field of oshikatsu marketing.

Another key axis is the “location of the experience.” Both the Gunpla 3D scanning trial and The Demon Girl Next Door VR exhibition were announced as paid experiential programs built around physical items or specialized hardware. Mondrian’s release of a game on Fortnite utilizing the 3D urban model developed by Saitama City follows the exact same philosophy: rather than building a new venue from scratch on your own, you bring your existing assets into places and platforms where fans are already gathered. This trend is well worth examining alongside our guides on the Design Principles of Oshikatsu Marketing and the Fundamentals of Fan Marketing.

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Weekly Oshikatsu News brings you a weekly roundup of the intersection between fandom and business. You can browse past issues in the Oshikatsu x News category.