of the Democratic Party of Japan takes part in an event to promote Internet election campaigning in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on June 15. HIROKO NAKATA PHOTO

Recent years have seen Internet election campaigning become widespread overseas. Not so in Japan, where such activities are banned even though 85 million people — more than 60 percent of the population — are online.

Our Planet

Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past