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June 06, 2025
 

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Karin Kaneko
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during ministerial meeting meeting on foreign residents in Japan on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry
There have been growing calls for legislative reform to address unpaid medical fees and health care premiums — deficits filled by taxpayers' money.
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2025
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
A driving school owner points out that traffic signs could carry different meanings in other countries, and driving standards might vary significantly.
If Japan Post loses its general cargo vehicle license, it would be barred from reapplying for a new one for five years.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 5, 2025
Japan Post may lose cargo license over widespread driver check failures
A transport ministry audit in April revealed enough instances of missed checks in the Kanto region to surpass the threshold for license revocation.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Prison labor is no longer mandatory, which allows more time for educational and rehabilitative programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
Then-<i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs the New Year's ring-entering rite in 2018. The Japan Sumo Association has accepted his resignation and he will officially leave the association on June 9.
SUMO
Jun 2, 2025
Former yokozuna Hakuho to leave sumo association
Hakuho's departure comes more than a year after his stable closed down over a physical abuse incident involving one of its wrestlers.
People hold up signs during a rally in support of international students at the Harvard University campus in Boston on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025
Halt of U.S. visa process puts Japanese students' futures in question
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has confirmed that the embassy and U.S. consulate offices in Japan have suspended scheduling new interviews for student visa applicants.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera (fourth from left) visits a driver's license center in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday to see how foreign driver's licenses are converted into Japanese ones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025
Japan considers toughening rules on driver's license conversions
The National Police Agency revealed the plan amid concerns that the system for converting a foreign license is too easy.
A female Osaka prosecutor in her 50s speaks about how she was sexually assaulted, at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 21, 2025
Female prosecutor says she experienced secondary victimization in rape case
The prosecutor said the prosecutors office where she worked turned a blind eye after she reported the case, and slanderous comments about her spread at work.
Police have arrested a senior official of Nippon Kakekomidera, a nonprofit organization that helps vulnerable people in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, for cocaine possession.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 20, 2025
Youth support group official arrested for cocaine possession
A senior official of a group that helps youth in Tokyo's red-light district was arrested along with a woman in her 20s who is believed to have sought help from the nonprofit.
Police officers stand guard on May 7 outside Todaimae Station in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward after a random stabbing that injured a University of Tokyo student.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 19, 2025
Random stabbing cases in Japan raise fears: Could the next victim be me?
Experts say these incidents often reflect a deeper issue at the societal level.
In a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, Tokie Tanaka, 64, details her allegations of sexual abuse against a Catholic priest.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 2, 2025
Woman says archbishop of Tokyo ignored her pleas after priest allegedly raped her
The woman's lawyer blamed the archbishop for failing to take appropriate actions after the woman told the congregation about the alleged abuse.
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2025
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
The guesthouse said the purpose of the document was to ensure a safe stay for other guests and not due to discrimination.
Takahiro Fujii (center), the president of Try and E, and his lawyers speak during a news conference on Friday in Tokyo after a ruling was handed down in a case against Amazon Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2025
Tokyo court fines Amazon Japan ¥35 million over counterfeit products
Presiding Judge Yuko Shintani deemed Amazon’s response to the issue to be “indicative of willful misconduct, or at the very least, gross negligence.”
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2025
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Until now, police have usually responded to cycling violations by issuing verbal warnings or handing out red tickets that can lead to prosecution.
The logo of Jetstar Airways on an aircraft parked outside a maintenance hangar in Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 27.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025
Jetstar Japan fined for failing to provide adequate cabin crew breaks
This is the first time a ruling has been handed down in Japan regarding flight attendants' rest time, according to the plaintiffs.
Plaintiff Satoshi Egura, 67, stands near the former site of the now-defunct Sumida Maternity Hospital in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on April 16. A mix-up at the hospital in 1958 led to Egura being raised by a couple who are not his biological parents.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2025
Tokyo government ordered to find man's birth parents 67 years after mix-up
The mix-up in 1958 at the now-defunct Sumida Maternity Hospital led to plaintiff Satoshi Egura being raised by another couple.
Foreign tourists gather on a platform at Kyoto Station on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 17, 2025
Tokyo hotel operators face possible warnings over suspected price cartel
It is believed that information sharing among the hotels, such as occupancy rates and average room prices, may have influenced pricing.
Under the Economic Security Promotion Act, the government implements a range of measures to secure vital supply chains, from providing subsidies and low-interest loans to coordinating regulations, stockpiling essential goods and protecting advanced technologies.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 16, 2025
METI may list undersea cables and satellites as critical for economic security
The move comes amid an increasingly uncertain geo-economic climate, with global powers becoming more protectionist.
An 80-year-old man was arrested at the Osaka Expo on Monday after he allegedly told a security guard he had a bomb in his backpack.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 15, 2025
Man arrested over bomb threat at Osaka Expo
Suspect Jun Noguchi, 80, allegedly told a security guard he had explosives in his backpack, which led to the evacuation of about 200 people.
Japan’s population has been falling year on year since 2011 after peaking in 2008.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 14, 2025
Japan’s population shrinks for the 14th consecutive year
Japan’s population has been falling year on year since 2011 after peaking in 2008.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

Podcast

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

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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