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Tom Bateman
Water is seen at the bottom of the No.1 shaft, which maintains and controls the inflow and discharge channel as part of a complex of underground tunnels at the Metropolitan Outer Area Underground Discharge Channel in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, which protect Tokyo and its suburbs against floods.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2024
Japan expands underground complex to counter climate change rains
The Metropolitan Outer Area Underground Discharge Channel has already prevented more than ¥150 billion in flood damage.
Yasuyuki Kurosawa at his paddy fields in Meiwa, Gunma Prefecture. Tending the crops "is something that we cannot avoid, so we must do what we must do even if it's hot," the 77-year-old farmer said.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2024
Heatstroke risk won't stop Japan's aging farmers as temperatures soar
Agriculture accounts for about 1% of Japan's economy and almost 70% of its 1.4 million farmers are age 65 and above.
Naoto Ooka inspects a new heat-resistant rice breed called Emihokoro that has been planted at the government-run Saitama Agricultural Technology Center in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on Aug. 7.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2024
As sweltering summers ravage crops, Japan bets on heat-resistant rice
Supermarkets have struggled to keep rice shelves stocked in recent months.
Diaper products for babies and adults are displayed at a factory of Daio Paper's subsidiary Elleair in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, in June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024
Japan's diaper-makers look to adult market for revenue as births fall
Japan's population is likely to decline by about 30% to 87 million by 2070, with 4 people in every 10 at the age of 65 or more, estimates show.
A family prepares to plant eelgrass seedlings during a project to restore the natural ecosystem in Yokohama on April 13.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 25, 2024
Battling climate change, Japan looks to seagrass for carbon capture
Japan, the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has some of the longest coastlines in the world.
A recent surge in Tokyo share prices has been driven by foreign investors' enthusiasm for rising corporate profits, with Japanese investors still wary after more than three decades of market malaise.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2024
Japanese investors raise a glass to Nikkei record at Stock Pickers bar
Excitement among regulars at the intimate bar in Tokyo's Ginza district had been brewing since last week as the Nikkei approached its all-time high.
Koji Suzuki rides on his surfboard in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2023
Fukushima surfer hangs loose about treated water release
Koji Suzuki, 68, fled the tsunami in his car but was back riding the waves off Minamisoma four months after the disaster.
Supermarket owner Takashi Nakajima, 67, prepares raw fish to sell at his store, near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 22, 2023
For Fukushima shop owner, water release spells battle for survival
Japan said on Tuesday it would start discharging more than 1 million metric tons of the treated water on Thursday
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 16, 2023
In her own words: A Hiroshima bomb survivor learns English to tell her story
While talks by hibakusha have become a regular feature of Hiroshima's memorial sites, Teruko Yahata stands out for her presentations in English.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2023
School closures continue as Japan’s population declines
As Japan's birthrate drops quicker than expected, more schools in rural areas are closing their doors.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2022
Japan liquor businesses turn to nonalcoholic drinks to attract Gen Z
The global market value for low- and nonalcoholic drinks rose to just under $10 billion in 2021 from $7.8 billion in 2018.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2022
Dream job: The Japanese man who gets paid to do nothing
'Basically, I rent myself out,' says Shoji Morimoto, who rents himself out as a companion for u00a510,000 a booking.

Longform

Capsule hotels were created as a way to deal with the amount of overwork employees tend to do in Japan. Can't commute home? Then spend the night in an tiny, affordable sleeping space.
Japan wakes up to the market for a proper sleep