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April 25, 2025
 

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Yukana Inoue
Japan is planning to implement by March 2029 a new online screening system in which foreign visitors who don’t need a visa apply for a certification before entering the country.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2025
Japan brings forward deadline for electronic travel authorization system
In fiscal 2028, Japan aims to introduce the system for certifying foreign visitors who don't need a visa ahead of their arrival in the country.
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
The government hopes an import quota will give them more cards to play in tariff negotiations with the U.S.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a government meeting on crime prevention measures at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025
In fight against fraud, Japan seeks new weapon: undercover bank accounts
The government is looking to allow the police to set up bank accounts under false names to track the movement of funds obtained by fraudsters.
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 22, 2025
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
More demand for epidurals may place a strain on the nation's anesthesiologists, who are already facing staffing shortages.
A revised child welfare bill passed the Upper House plenary session on Friday as cases of child abuse rise.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 18, 2025
New bill blocks visitations for parents suspected of child abuse
The revision to the child welfare law is intended to protect children in cases where contact with their parents could cause emotional or physical harm.
SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao speaks during a news conference on Thursday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2025
SBI Holdings CEO to 'fight to the end' if Fuji Media resists leadership rethink
Yoshitaka Kitao said he will increase SBI Holdings’ stake in Fuji Media Holdings depending on how the TV network responds.
Ryoko Hirosue was being detained at the Hamamatsu West Police Station in the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 16, 2025
Actor Ryoko Hirosue released from custody after alleged kicking incident
The 44-year-old actor was arrested for allegedly kicking and scratching a medical staff member while in a “panicked state” following a car accident.
The Google logo is seen at the company's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Japanese authorities on Tuesday issued a cease-and-desist order to Google over an alleged violation of the country's anti-monopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2025
In a first, Japan issues cease-and-desist order against Google
The Japan Fair Trade Commission has accused the U.S. tech giant of violating the country's anti-monopoly law by forcing manufacturers to preinstall its apps in smartphones.
Ride-sharing vehicles in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, in March
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025
One year in, ride-hailing in Japan has room for improvement
Japan has lagged in adopting ride-hailing services, largely due to opposition from the country's powerful taxi industry.
Shinji Ishimaru in June 2024
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 11, 2025
Tokyo hopeful's campaign team accused of election law violation
The complaint alleges that Ishimaru's election team paid a company to livestream a gathering on YouTube that was held two days before the gubernatorial election.
Cherry blossoms in full bloom at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on March 30
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 10, 2025
AI app helps monitor cherry tree health and keep hanami tradition blooming
As Japan celebrates cherry blossom season, aging trees pose safety risks — and a new AI app is helping track their condition.
Stockpiled rice at a rice-polishing factory in Saitama Prefecture in March
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2025
Japan to release stockpiled rice monthly amid record high prices
The move comes after two previous releases appeared to have had little effect in stabilizing prices.
Ryoko Hirosue
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2025
Actor Ryoko Hirosue arrested for allegedly injuring medical staffer
Hirosue was in a “panicked state” and injured the medical staff member, her agency said in a statement.
A Fuchu expressway entrance in western Tokyo is closed Sunday due to a glitch in the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2025
Tollbooths now operational after ETC malfunction causes mass confusion
It was the first time such a large-scale problem involving the ETC system has occurred since Japanese expressways were privatized in 2005.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Syndicates are increasingly targeting middle- to upper-class individuals from across the world through something as harmless as online video games.
Lawyer Akira Takeuchi (center), the head of a third-party panel commissioned by Fuji TV to investigate a series of scandals at the broadcaster, fields questions along with other panel members at a news conference on Monday in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2025
What the Fuji TV third-party probe uncovered
The panel concluded that TV personality Masahiro Nakai committed "sexual violence" against a female newscaster and that there is a culture of harassment at the broadcaster.
The headquarters of Fuji Media Holdings, Fuji TV's parent, in Tokyo's Minato Ward
JAPAN / Media
Mar 31, 2025
Fuji TV bears heavy responsibility over Nakai's 'sexual violence': panel
A third party panel's probe on a series of scandals involving the broadcaster and the TV star acknowledged the nature of his "trouble" with a woman for the first time.
How Fuji TV responds to the results of a third-party probe will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors, whose TV ads are the company's main source of revenue, choose to return.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025
Fuji TV returns to spotlight as deadline for scandal probe looms
How Fuji TV responds to the report will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors choose to return.
Hisashi Hieda, a 41-year veteran of Fuji TV’s board of directors and dubbed the broadcaster’s “emperor,” has stepped down.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025
In the wake of several scandals, Fuji TV ‘emperor’ Hieda steps down
Hieda, a 41-year veteran of Fuji TV’s board of directors, also plans to step down as chairman of the Fujisankei Communications Group, of which the broadcaster's parent is a part.
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
The estimate is 22.2% higher than last year's ¥1.14 trillion, according to an annual report compiled by Kansai University economist Katsuhiro Miyamoto.
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.

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