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August 12, 2025
 

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History
Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
JAPAN / History / Longform
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person
At 17, Koichi Tagawa survived Nagasaki’s atomic blast and recording two months of grief, destruction and the loss of his mother in a diary he kept for life.
JAPAN / History / Longform
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped
As a 7-year-old boy in Hiroshima, Howard Kakita was hoping to catch the vapor trail of a B-29 bomber. A sudden blast knocked him out.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Japan Times 1950: Hiroshima peace festival canceled
In August 1950, the fifth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the city’s annual ceremony praying for peace was canceled due to ongoing combat on the Korean Peninsula.
Kunshiro Kiyozumi, 97, who was the youngest crew member of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 in World War II, on his way to a restaurant to have lunch in Matsuyama, Japan, on April 29.
JAPAN / History
Jul 29, 2025
Last soldiers of Imperial Japanese Army have a warning for younger generations
By Martin Fackler
"In their last breaths, no one shouted for the long life of the emperor,” said one veteran about his comrades. "They called out for their mothers, whom they would never see again.”
Mutsuko Sano shows a booklet containing her wartime experiences during an interview in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / History
Jul 28, 2025
80 years on, Iwate woman recalls naval bombardment
More than 5,000 shells were fired into Kamaishi, which had a large iron mill, on July 17 and Aug. 9, 1945, killing a total of 782 people, mostly civilians.
Fumiko Takayama speaks in the city of Chiba on May 20 about her experience of escaping two 1945 air raids on the city.
JAPAN / History
Jul 23, 2025
Woman recounts deadly U.S. bombings of Chiba 80 years ago
About 10 years ago, Fumiko Takayama, a former teacher, started to share her experience of having survived two separate war raids, noting that "there's nothing good about war."
Mahatma Gandhi led the Indian independence movement with an unshakable faith in nonviolence that arguably dovetailed with Zen philosophy in some respects.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jul 19, 2025
Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence — and Zen?
By Michael Hoffman
The Indian nationalist’s beliefs hewed close to certain aspects of Zen thought, particularly his fearlessness in the face of death.
The remains of about 70,000 atomic bomb victims are enshrined in a vault under the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
JAPAN / History
Jul 16, 2025
Vault for Hiroshima A-bomb victims shown to media
The ashes of about 70,000 victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city in August 1945 in the closing days of World War II are inside the vault.
Ex-serviceman Izumi Murakami speaks of his experience during World War II, when he was still a child, in an interview in Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jul 14, 2025
Man inspired as a boy by WWII-era commando questions Japan's past actions
Izumi Murakami, now 92, joined the Air Self-Defense Force, but he concedes now that "there is nothing good that comes out of war."
Former soldier Shuzo Yamada recounts his experience of being detained in Mongolia after World War II, in Nanto, Toyama Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / History
Jul 6, 2025
Memory of detention in Mongolia still fresh for 107-year-old Japanese man
As they make a state visit to Mongolia, the imperial couple will offer flowers at a memorial for Japanese who were captured and detained in Mongolia after World War II.

Millions told to evacuate as heavy rain sparks flooding and landslides in Kyushu
Heavy rain falls in the city of Kumamoto on Monday morning.
Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
Chinese vessels collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea
This handout video grab released and taken on August 11, 2025 by the Philippine Coast Guard shows an incident between a Chinese Navy vessel (left) and a Chinese Coast Guard ship as seen from a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
Weather agency warns of landslides and flooding in Kyushu as heavy rain continues
An embankment on the Amikake River that collapsed due to heavy rain in Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Friday. Downpours continued in the Kyushu region over the weekend.
Tokyo’s WWII museums hold diverse views on war and peace
A carrier-based Type 52 Zero fighter marks the entrance foyer of Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan, a museum that tells a more nuanced story of Japan's experience in World War II than the controversies around the shrine might suggest.
Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
At Himawari Shokudo 2, Italian food with a Japanese soul
At Himawari Shokudo 2, chef Hozumi Tanaka serves Italian-inspired fare with a focus on Toyama produce, such as this appetizer of lightly blanched "hotaru ika" (firefly squid) served atop mixed wild plants and a crepe prepared from "yamato-imo" yam.
Cheer with caution: Expert advises sports fans have game plan for extreme heat
A Cardinals fan fans himself during the seventh inning of a game against the Pirates in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 2022.
Australia's warship selection signals Japanese defense industry's arrival
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate. Australia's selection of an upgraded version of the Mogami-class warship for its next frigate class could prove to be a watershed moment for Japan’s defense industry.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.

Podcast

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

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person
By Naoko Abe

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