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October 08, 2025
The Independent Voice in Asia
October 08, 2025
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Sanae Takaichi speaks to reporters on Aug. 15, the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, following her visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Takaichi may skip Yasukuni visit during Autumn Festival
The new LDP chief is apparently taking into account the impact a visit might have ahead of busy diplomatic schedule and how it could hurt relations with coalition partner Komeito.

More coverage

Lawyers protest Takaichi's 'work like workhorses' remarks
In hometown of Japan's 'Iron Lady', supporters stress a softer side
Sanae Takaichi speaks to reporters on Aug. 15, the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, following her visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
The Jingei, the third of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Taigei-class submarines, was commissioned in March last year. It is equipped with lithium-ion batteries, enabling it to have a longer diving time and cruising distance than older models with lead-acid batteries.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
With nuclear sub proposal, Japan faces array of political and tech challenges
By Gabriel Dominguez
An expert panel has called for Japan’s next-generation subs to be able to operate longer and strike targets from farther way, a shift from current policy.
The Asahi Group headquarters complex in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Qilin cybercrime gang claims hack on Japan's Asahi
By A.J. Vicens
The ransomware group has a track record of intrusions against major entities around the world.
As of Friday, a total of about 22 million admission tickets had been sold for the Osaka Expo, surpassing the break-even level of 18 million.
JAPAN
Osaka Expo expected to post profit of up to ¥28 billion
Robust sales of admission tickets and goods related to the Expo's official mascot, Myaku-Myaku, have pushed up revenue.
OpenAI has rolled out a social app powered by Sora 2, its artificial intelligence video generator, which was quickly flooded with videos featuring iconic Japanese intellectual property.
BUSINESS / Tech
OpenAI’s Sora 2 is drowning in Japanese 'AI slop'
By Elizabeth Beattie
Iconic Japanese characters are prevalent across Sora 2, but legally, this places the company on shaky ground.
OpenAI has rolled out a social app powered by Sora 2, its artificial intelligence video generator, which was quickly flooded with videos featuring iconic Japanese intellectual property.

JAPAN

A bear seen in security camera footage taken Tuesday inside a supermarket in Numata, Gunma Prefecture
Bear injures two in Japan supermarket, man killed in separate attack
More and more wild bears have been spotted in Japan in recent years, even in residential areas, due to factors including a declining human population and climate change.
Typhoon Halong is moving north near the Izu Islands, with strong winds, high waves and heavy rain expected as it passes early on Thursday, prompting warnings from the weather agency.
Typhoon Halong to cause windstorms, heavy rain and high waves on the Izu islands
Japan's weather agency is forecasting up to 300 millimeters of rain on the Izu islands in the 24 hours through Thursday noon, with a linear precipitation zone possibly forming.
Top Pentagon nominee says Japan has 'long underemphasized' defense spending
By Jesse Johnson
Mie eyes Japan's first penalty against customer abuse
Police launch talks on stricter drone rules in Japan
New products created to save Wakayama ume from hail damage

BUSINESS

Nominal wages rose 1.5% in August from a year earlier, decelerating from 3.4% in the previous month, according to a report from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Japan’s wage growth slows, underscoring challenge for Takaichi
By Toru Fujioka
Nominal wages increased 1.5% in August from a year earlier, decelerating from 3.4% in the previous month and falling below economist expectations.
JR East's Shinkansen inspection train East-i
JR East to introduce new inspection shinkansen in fiscal 2029
The next-generation model's design will be finalized around next summer after ideas are sought from employees across JR East group companies.
Japanese chemical firms seeking partnerships over next-gen chips
Toyota supplier’s management buyout plan stokes investor rebuke of Japan rules
By Alice French
Data center boom at risk of overbuilding, says asset management giant Ares
By Meg Short
Toyota arm that keeps 150 million cars on road also top earning
By Nicholas Takahashi

WORLD

A demonstrator wrapped in a U.S. flag stands amid smoke during a protest at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday.
Trump's Insurrection Act threat escalates showdown with Democratic cities
By Emily Schmall, Andrea Shalal and Joseph Ax
President Donald Trump again left open the possibility of using the Insurrection Act to sidestep any court rulings blocking the dispatch of guard troops into Democratic-led cities.
A Royal Australian Navy submarine during a maritime exercise in Darwin, Australia
Pentagon conducting ‘brass-tack’ review of AUKUS, nominee says
By Tony Capaccio
The comments from John Noh, Trump’s pick for assistant secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs, mark a rare moment that the administration has acknowledged the review.
Modi to open airport and metro-line projects worth $4 billion in Mumbai
By P R Sanjai and Mihir Mishra
Virtual Jesus? People of faith divided as AI enters religion
By Thomas URBAIN and Julie JAMMOT
Greta Thunberg alleges torture in Israeli detention after Gaza flotilla arrest
In Bangladesh’s flooded plains, school boats keep learning afloat
By Sam Jahan and Ruma Paul

Sports

Top sumo stars, including yokozuna Hoshoryu, perform the goningakari contest, which pits five top-division wrestlers against one yokozuna.
Japan Sumo Association’s 100th anniversary bash mixes the ancient with the modern
By John Gunning
A multitude of historical ceremonies and arcane aspects of the sport, each one rarely performed, were all on display over the space of a few hours at Tokyo’s Kokugikan.
Yankees erase Jays' five-run lead to stay alive in ALDS
NBA back in China after six-year absence sparked by democracy tweet
By Holmes Chan
Mariners club three homers to push Tigers to brink of elimination
Italy to propose global ceasefire for 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics

Opinion

Sanae Takaichi celebrates in Tokyo on Saturday with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election.
From radical to Rihanna: Myths about the new LDP leader
Gearoid Reidy
When Shinzo Abe returned as LDP leader in 2012, there was a similar flood of coverage attempting to cast him as a radical conservative.
Trump weaponizes American trade policy
By Kazuto Suzuki
Russia’s hybrid war looks increasingly like the real thing
By Brad Glosserman
Hegseth tries turning back 94 years of press freedom
By John Authers
Without Jane Goodall, chimps need new champions — us
By Lara Williams

ENVIRONMENT

Jane Goodall spun her love of wildlife into a lifelong campaign that took her from a seaside English village to Africa and then across the globe in a quest to better understand chimpanzees.
Wildlife advocate and primate expert Jane Goodall dies at 91
By Susan Heavey
The scientist and global activist was a pioneer in her field, both as a female scientist in the 1960s and for her work studying the behavior of primates.
Trump calls climate change a con; science braces for more
By David Sherfinski
Global renewable power output overtakes coal for the first time, report says
Swiss glaciers hit by light snowfall and heat wave, scientists say
By Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers
By Eric Margolis

CULTURE

Anshul Chauhan’s Japanese film “Tiger” won the Hylife Vision Award for independent films at this year’s Busan International Film Festival.
Japanese films win crowds but few prizes at Busan festival
By Mark Schilling
From art house cinema to commercial hits, 24 films showcased Japan’s range at the 30th edition of the Busan International Film Festival.
Artists turn Okayama into Murakami-esque city of wonder
By Mike Fu
With Hollywood facing headwinds, Netflix looks eastward
By Erik Augustin Palm
‘Cinderella Grey’ gallops past the other sports documentaries
By Patrick St. Michel
The summer kabuki came roaring back
By Kris Kosaka

LIFE

Avant-garde chef Grant Achatz and his team from Alinea are in Tokyo for a three-week residency.
Eat your balloons: The culinary theater of Grant Achatz comes to Tokyo
By Weiwen Lin
The man behind Chicago’s iconic Alinea restaurant shares insights on modernist cuisine and his Tokyo pop-up.
Roasted green tea gets a milky makeover
By Simon Daly
Japan’s first foreign wine investor plants its roots in Hokkaido
By Weiwen Lin
Don’t poke the bear: Learn how to sort your garbage the right way
By Yuko Tamura
Tokyo's newest stationery store sells 'a slower, more human rhythm'
By Gendel Gento

COMMUNITY

Through the Japan-Korea Summer Exchange Conference, undergraduate students have sustained an ongoing cultural and academic dialogue for 40 years.
Student groups nurture Japan-South Korea dialogue and cultural ties
By Moe Shimizu
Since 1985, the Japan-Korea Summer Exchange Conference has provided a platform for students to discuss bilateral relations and build cultural bridges along the way.
Chipper Yorkie-Maltese mix still young at heart
Scaredy-cat Kashata is searching for a friend
Linda Joyce: ‘We hope people recognize the benefits of exploring rural areas’
By Louise George Kittaka
Stirred, not shaken: Kyoto business platform blends local and global
By Samantha Seghers

Editors' Picks

WORLD
Trump has his eyes on the prize — but a Nobel win looks unlikely
By Jesse Johnson
A protester holds a sign with an image depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and the words "Nobel" written on it, as supporters and family members of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, demonstrate to demand the immediate end of the war and the release of all hostages, outside the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv, on Sept. 2.
BUSINESS
‘Takaichi trade’ stalls as political reality calls for wait-and-see approach
By Francis Tang
Tokyo stocks staged a powerful rally on Monday. On Tuesday, they rallied again, then retreated.
ASIA PACIFIC
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
By Gabriel Dominguez
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
LIFE
How a family-run landscaper turned the Osaka Expo green
By Edward Hewes
The team at Ryokukou Garden consists primarily of a single family, including Toshiki Tanisaki (second from right), who led the company's efforts at the Osaka Expo, Chikako Tanisaki (fifth from right), who performs daily maintanence at the expo, and Takeshi Tanisaki (fourth from right), who added a nursery to the family farm more than 50 years ago.
LIFE
Eat your balloons: The culinary theater of Grant Achatz comes to Tokyo
By Weiwen Lin
Avant-garde chef Grant Achatz and his team from Alinea are in Tokyo for a three-week residency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

JT Directory Service

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WHAT’S TRENDING

ASIA PACIFIC
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
By Gabriel Dominguez
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
JAPAN
Japanese immunologist among three Nobel medicine prize winners
By Tomoko Otake
Shimon Sakaguchi, an immunologist and distinguished professor at Osaka University, attends a news conference after winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in medicine, in Osaka Prefecture on Monday.
JAPAN
Spanish tourist injured in latest bear attack
Shirakawago, a U.N. World Heritage site in Gifu Prefecture
WORLD
Americans and Canadians unite in battling 'eating machine' carp
A Fisheries and Oceans Canada team patrols the Grand River in Dunnville, Ontario, in search of invasive grass carp specimens on Sept. 25.
JAPAN
Trump hails 'wisdom and strength' of Japan's incoming prime minister
Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, gives a news conference after the LDP presidential election in Tokyo on Saturday.