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August 31, 2025
 

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Sakura Murakami
Reuters
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2018
Tokyo's Toyosu market opens doors to eager public
The Toyosu wholesale food market opened its doors to the public for the first time Saturday, allowing tourists to wander the massive complex, browse exhibits and dine at some of the famous restaurants that relocated from the Tsukiji district last week.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2018
Officials express optimism as Tokyo's Toyosu market opens doors for first time since Tsukiji closure
The noisy clanging of bells that had once sounded at the famed Tsukiji market marked the first tuna auction for fishmongers at the Toyosu wholesale market Thursday at a newly built facility in Tokyo’s Koto Ward.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2018
History on ice: Workers and tourists say 'sayonara' to Tokyo's Tsukiji market
With scores of plump tuna lining the floor, auctioneers rhythmically called out prices and bidders signaled with their hands. It was before daybreak, and the Tsukiji fish market looked like it was starting a normal business day.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 19, 2018
What does Japan's Nationality Act really mean for its dual citizens?
Given the present 'don't ask, don't tell' attitude of the Justice Ministry, it would be highly unusual if Naomi Osaka was forced to relinquish her U.S. citizenship at the age of 22.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2018
New app identifies underwater creatures at Japan aquariums with the tap of a finger
Ever struggled to identify the name of a fish when visiting an aquarium?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Deep Dive
Sep 18, 2018
Japan's 'danchi': Public housing blocks highlight the complexity of interculturalism
Stroll through Shibazono Danchi in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, on a weekend and you will find children shrieking with glee. They run across its communal playground or splash about in the fountain of the public housing complex as elderly residents enjoy leisurely walks in the background. Apartment...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2018
Online map plots the many spots that boast a view of Mount Fuji
The Japan Map Center on Monday released an online guide to locations where Mount Fuji can be viewed, showing that the nation's renowned 3,776-meter volcano can be observed from as far as 300 km away.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2018
Justice Ministry to enforce rule designating number of weeks Japanese-language schools must be in session
The measure is intended to ensure that students who enter Japan to learn the language do not spend the majority of their stay working.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 28, 2018
Japan will overhaul Immigration Bureau to create agency for expected surge of blue-collar workers under new status
The move comes as the government seeks to accept more foreign workers and introduce a new status of residence amid a serious labor crunch.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2018
Saitama starts recruiting homestay hosts for Tokyo 2020 athletes' families
The prefecture's project is intended to help the families and others involved in the games secure lodging and offer opportunities for them to experience Japanese culture and cuisine.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Aug 20, 2018
As summer vacations end, grass-roots movements in Japan work on counseling suicidal students and truants
The first day of September is the deadliest day for troubled young people in Japan, according to a 2015 Cabinet Office white paper.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Aug 16, 2018
Bucking superstition, Japanese woman tunnels way to top of civil-engineering world
For civil engineer Reiko Abe, 55, being competent at her job was never enough. Her sex and the superstitions surrounding it caused her to be turned away from job interviews and construction sites in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2018
Hostage Jumpei Yasuda's wife speaks of hope for his release in first public appearance since his detention
Journalist's spouse said she is grateful for the help provided by the government and apologized to the public for the trouble caused by her husband's captivity.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2018
Katsura Imperial Villa to allow more visitors, charge ¥1,000 from November
The Katsura Imperial Villa, or Katsura-Rikyu, located in Kyoto and originally built as a holiday home for the Imperial family, will welcome more visitors from Nov. 1 at a charge of ¥1,000 for those aged 18 or older, the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 27, 2018
Wife of Nepalese man who died during interrogation sues state, Tokyo Metropolitan Government
The wife of a 39-year-old Nepalese man who died in March last year while being interrogated by prosecutors filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court on Friday, demanding about ¥7 million in damages from the central government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 26, 2018
Female leaders encourage women to be confident and believe in themselves at Tokyo conference
With "womenomics" often touted as a key policy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the government has been working to increase women's participation in the workforce, politics and other areas in recent years.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 26, 2018
Japan sends last six Aum death row inmates to the gallows
Some speculate the Justice Ministry wanted to draw a curtain on the shocking crimes before the end of the Heisei Era, set for next April.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 20, 2018
Former president of bankrupt travel agency Tellmeclub gets six years for fraud
The Tokyo District Court on Friday found Chikako Yamada, the former president of failed travel agency Tellmeclub, guilty of falsifying her company's financial records to fraudulently receive funding from two banks. She was sentenced to six years in prison.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2018
Non-Japanese speakers turned to employers for help in aftermath of west Japan flooding disaster
With basic necessities interrupted, homes evacuated and infrastructure badly in need of repair, surviving a disaster is challenging enough, but for non-Japanese speakers there is the added worry of getting important information in a language they can understand.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2018
Tokyo to provide free housing for those displaced by floods in western Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has said it will provide free public housing for victims of the torrential rains and floods that recently inundated western Japan, and will start accepting applications from prospective residents Wednesday.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Most Trump tariffs are not legal, U.S. appeals court rules
Workers hang a large poster of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington on Wednesday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.

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