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September 20, 2025
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September 20, 2025
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Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a news conference announcing his formal entry into the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Koizumi makes economic growth top priority in bid for LDP presidency
By Himari Semans
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi used a news conference Saturday in Tokyo to unveil a raft of policies as he sought to appeal to his party’s conservative wing.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a news conference announcing his formal entry into the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race in Tokyo on Saturday.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about trade at the Granite City Works steel coil warehouse in Granite City, Illinois, in July 2018.
BUSINESS / Companies
Trump officials used 'golden share' to block U.S. Steel from stopping work at plant
The move highlighed the federal government’s continued influence over an iconic American firm after approving its takeover by Japan-based Nippon Steel.
Hard-line conservative lawmaker Sanae Takaichi has consistently been a public favorite in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election scheduled for Oct. 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Japan may see its first female PM despite limited progress on gender gap
By Erica Yokoyama
For a country that has seen limited progress on gender equality, a win by Takaichi could represent a watershed moment.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Trump to impose $100,000 fee per year for H-1B visas, in likely blow to tech
Trump's threat to crack down on H-1B visas has become a major flash point with the tech industry, which contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign.
Filled with red bean paste and covered in "kinako" soy flour, green "zunda" soybean mash and black sesame, "o-hagi" sticky rice balls offer a delicious interplay of sweet and savory flavors.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Washoku Essentials
Celebrating autumn with timeless sticky rice balls
By Elizabeth Andoh
Filled with red bean paste and sheathed in various coatings, the spherical sweets evoke the gentle mood of the season.
Filled with red bean paste and covered in "kinako" soy flour, green "zunda" soybean mash and black sesame, "o-hagi" sticky rice balls offer a delicious interplay of sweet and savory flavors.

JAPAN

While not specifying what percentage of foreign residents should make up the total population, “we conveyed the message that the ratio should be kept as low as possible and that the current rapid pace of increase must be properly curbed,” said Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Fumitake Fujita.
Nippon Ishin urges cap on foreign residents in Japan
By Yukana Inoue
In its proposal to the government, it warns that Japanese society is at risk of being fundamentally altered if the proportion of foreign nationals exceeds 10%.
Visitors at the Osaka Expo on Thursday.
Osaka Expo visitors top 20 million as crowds surge
Ahead of the Oct. 13 closing of the event, the Osaka Expo is attracting visitors at a rapid pace, with the daily turnout exceeding 200,000.
Humanity's tales of creation, cataclysm and kami
By Michael Hoffman
Man gets nine years after fatal drunken driving crash in Saitama
ASDF plane strays off runway at Niigata Airport
Japan completes full records of Empress Kojun

BUSINESS

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Chequers, in Aylesbury, central England, on Thursday.
Trump’s economic team is short some key players amid staff churn
By Nancy Cook
Vacancies stretch across agencies from the Internal Revenue Service to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both of which are without permanent leaders.
Tours are being offered in Tokyo using a shoulder-mounted robot equipped with a camera, speaker and microphone. The robot twitches its wing-like arms, which it can fold together as if in prayer when visiting a temple.
Robot tour guides in Tokyo offer way for those with disabilities to work
By Elizabeth Beattie
OriHime, a robot remotely controlled by people with disabilities, is offering tours in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district.
Apple iPhone 17 launches in Japan
Sumitomo Mitsui mulls raising stake in Jefferies to 20%
By Cathy Chan, Katherine Doherty, Manuel Baigorri and Hideki Suzuki
SoftBank's Vision Fund mulls 20% job cuts after Son’s pivot to AI
By Min Jeong Lee, Ed Ludlow and Anto Antony
Bank of Japan to start unloading ETFs in surprise move that rattles market
By Francis Tang

WORLD

A screen grab from video posted to U.S. President Donald Trump's Truth Social account shows what he said is a U.S. military strike on a boat carrying alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea on Monday.
Trump says U.S. struck alleged drug vessel in latest operation
The latest strike — at least the third against alleged drug vessels — comes amid a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean.
Then-Taiwanese Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Yui — who is currently the island's de facto ambassador to the U.S. — speaks during a news conference in Taipei in July 2023.
Trump intelligence advisers met with Taiwanese official
By Gram Slattery and Trevor Hunnicutt
The meeting with Alexander Yui, Taiwan's de facto U.S. ambassador, amounted to one of the higher-level Taiwan-U.S. contacts to date during Trump's second term.
Top U.S. prosecutor overseeing Letitia James case resigns after Trump threat
Saudi pact puts Pakistan's nuclear umbrella into Middle East security picture
By Saeed Shah and Maha El Dahan
Taiwan running out of time for satellite communications, space chief says
Trump predicts U.S. government could ‘very well’ shut down on Oct. 1

Sports

Yuki Joseph Nakajima after finishing sixth in the men's 400-meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.
How Yuki Joseph Nakajima turned failures into breakout success at Tokyo worlds
By Sam Byford
Nakajima was the first Japanese runner to make the 400 final since Susumu Takano in 1991 and he even managed to finish one place higher than his senior compatriot.
Japan’s hopes too much for Haruka Kitaguchi’s elbow to bear at world championships
By Jason Coskrey
Noah Lyles and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden win 200-meter titles on golden night for U.S.
By Jason Coskrey
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw to retire at season’s end
Reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi fails to qualify for women's javelin final
By Jason Coskrey

Opinion

Candidates take part in the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership race in September 2024 at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, including many of the contenders for next month’s contest. 
LDP candidates through a 'Japanese conservative' lens
Edo Naito
The three key elements of Japanese conservatism are preserving national identity and traditions, sustaining the imperial succession and affirming the Self-Defense Forces’ role.
Netanyahu’s impunity threatens Israel
Anime’s ‘Demon Slayer’ hit is a watershed for Japan
By Gearoid Reidy
Nepal’s Gen Z protests and humanity’s shared future
By Brabim Karki
Why is Trump killing programs designed to prevent terrorism?
By Michael Duffin

ENVIRONMENT

Workers operate heavy machinery to stabilize Wamberal Beach as a low-pressure cyclone lashes Australia's Central Coast, forcing residents to evacuate beachfront homes amid growing erosion fears, in July.
International treaty protecting world's oceans to take effect
The move by Morocco and Sierra Leone to join the U.N. treaty on the high seas clinched the threshold needed to enact it as international law.
Climate change led to at least 16,500 heat deaths in Europe this summer
By Emma Court
Malaysia's largest island state aims to be region's 'green battery'
By Jan HENNOP
Rising oceans to threaten 1.5 million Australians by 2050, report says
By Laura Chung
U.S. moves to scrap emissions reporting by polluters

CULTURE

Shuji Nakagawa created a teahouse using the same technique for making traditional wooden buckets.
A bucket becomes a house in the hands of craftsman Shuji Nakagawa
By Thu-Huong Ha
At Go for Kogei 2025, a third-generation woodworker envisions new forms for a humble vessel.
YouTuber Gigguk shifts from talking anime to making anime
By Patrick St. Michel
Park Chan-wook’s sharp satire ‘No Other Choice’ opens Busan festival
By Erik Augustin Palm
‘Ranshima Bound’: Family fractures and buried truths collide in Hokkaido chill
By Mark Schilling
‘Prism of the Real’ makes two turbulent decades tangible with art
By Jennifer Pastore

LIFE

Filled with red bean paste and covered in "kinako" soy flour, green "zunda" soybean mash and black sesame, "o-hagi" sticky rice balls offer a delicious interplay of sweet and savory flavors.
Celebrating autumn with timeless sticky rice balls
By Elizabeth Andoh
Filled with red bean paste and sheathed in various coatings, the spherical sweets evoke the gentle mood of the season.
‘Pluriversal’ Singapore Design Week brings solution-oriented works
By John L. Tran
How Japanese captures the subtle shift into autumn
By Yaeko Kabe
From tofu to teriyaki: Japanese essentials for the home cook
By Simon Daly
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
By Erik Augustin Palm

COMMUNITY

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swastika Jajoo (fourth from right) began attending the daily radio calisthenics routine at Sendai’s Kitasanbancho Park and struck up unexpected friendships with a group of elderly residents.
Calisthenic companions bridge cultures and generations
By Swastika Jajoo
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a doctoral student in Sendai found friendship in unexpected places.
Melos Han-Tani: ‘Figuring out what you value is valuable for any artist’
By Gendel Gento
Gentle care is the key to Cymbal’s heart
Canadian-born politician tackles Ibaraki’s issues big and small
By Gendel Gento
Smiley, spirited Hampen will run into your arms

Editors' Picks

LIFE
Behold the glory of Japan’s fruit boxes
By Thu-Huong Ha
Otherwise common sights in Japan's supermarkets, the country's fruit and veggie boxes can hide surprising symbols of local pride.
MORE SPORTS
World Athletics stars relish Tokyo atmosphere after COVID-hit Olympics
By Jason Coskrey
Organizers of the World Athletics Championships said over 500,000 tickets had been sold and that they are expecting to end the event in front of large crowds this weekend.
JAPAN
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
By Tomoko Otake
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
Still plenty to fight for, says Japan’s team leader at worlds
By Jason Coskrey
Race walker Hayato Katsuki earned bronze for Japan on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.
BUSINESS
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
By Elizabeth Beattie
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo

Podcast

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

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

JT Directory Service

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SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
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WHAT’S TRENDING

BUSINESS
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
By Elizabeth Beattie
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Bank of Japan to start unloading ETFs in surprise move that rattles market
By Francis Tang
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda said it would take a century for the bank to sell all its ETFs at the pace proposed.
JAPAN
Over 90% of low-income families in Japan struggling to feed children
By Yukana Inoue
Save the Children Japan domestic program chief Sonoko Kawakami speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in July. A survey conducted by the group in June has found that over 90% of low-income households with children face food insecurity.
JAPAN
JAL to punish president and 36 others over pilot drinking scandal
Japan Airlines Managing Executive Officer Yukio Nakagawa (center) and others apologize after one of the airline's pilots was found to have been drinking alcohol, during a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 4.
JAPAN
After seven decades, is it finally time for the LDP to split up?
By Eric Johnston
Signage atop the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo. Japan’s ruling party faces a tough decision over its future as it searches for a new leader to replace outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, reverse its waning popularity and reassure investors