In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 forced the Yuwaku Bonbori Festival to go on a two-year break, with the onsen town forced into looking at other ways to bring in some money to fill the tourism void left by the disease.
He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.
This led to an annual tradition where the Bonbori Festival is held in October that mixed the fictional festival seen in the anime with traditional Japanese festivals.