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May 25, 2025
 

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Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lawmakers meet to discuss a pension reform bill at the Diet in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Bill that would raise Japanese pension benefits on track to pass parliament
The ruling bloc will back the CDP's amendment, which includes a plan to raise basic pension benefits.
JAPAN / Politics
LDP holds meeting to let proponents of tax cut blow off steam
The LDP leadership has decided not to include a consumption tax reduction in its campaign pledges for the upcoming Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Three Upper House candidates are creating headaches for DPP
The DPP hopes to win more seats this summer, but keeping every candidate on-message could be a challenge for leader Yuichiro Tamaki.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 23, 2025
Ishiba and Guterres agree to deepen Japan-U.N. cooperation
Ishiba stressed the importance of the role played by the United Nations at a time when the international community faces a host of challenges.
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena speaks during an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 23, 2025
As Taiwan looks to boost ‘unofficial ties,’ Paraguay’s leader offers facilitator role
By Gabriel Dominguez
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena stressed his government is “more than willing to support and be a strong ally” to Taiwan.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet saw its approval rate rewriting the lowest level in May since he took office last October last year.
JAPAN / Politics
May 22, 2025
Ishiba Cabinet approval falls to 20.9% in new poll
The Cabinet's disapproval rating rose 1.7 points to 52.9%.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba walks past members of the Philippine Coast Guard at the coast guard's headquarters in Manila on April 30.
JAPAN / Politics
May 22, 2025
Ishiba doubles down on weapons cooperation, saying no country can go it alone
By Jesse Johnson
Japan has sealed a spate of defense equipment and technology transfer deals in recent years while also looking to build up its homegrown defense industry.
An Upper House committee approves new rules drawn up following a revision of the law governing lawmaker allowances, in April.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 22, 2025
Parliament moves to boost transparency in lawmaker allowances
Both chambers have adopted new rules mandating the disclosure of how the allowances are spent and requiring the return of unused funds to government coffers.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto (left), who resigned on Wednesday, and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2025
Shinjiro Koizumi takes farm ministry reins after predecessor's rice gaffe
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
Taku Eto resigned from the post after coming under fire for bragging about how much rice his supporters give him.
Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 21, 2025
Nippon Ishin grapples with poor governance ahead of Upper House election
By Eric Johnston
Scandals, resignations and local election losses have left it far short of becoming Japan’s largest opposition force or a ruling party.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic Party, gestures during an election campaign rally in Seoul on Monday. Officials in Tokyo are closely watching Lee’s remarks for hints of how bilateral relations could shift if he is elected.
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2025
South Korean presidential front-runner says he's not hostile toward Japan
By Jesse Johnson
Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung has in recent months sought to highlight a more centrist agenda ahead of the presidential election.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, apologized on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office to Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki over LDP member Shoji Nishida's inappropriate remark about war-related exhibits in the prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
May 20, 2025
Ishiba apologizes over LDP member's remark on World War II exhibits
LDP lawmaker Shoji Nishida called descriptions on a monument commemorating the Himeyuri corps of female students who died in the Battle of Okinawa "a revision of history."
Agriculture minister Taku Eto responds to questions from reporters on Monday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
May 20, 2025
Ishiba won't sack farm minister over rice gaffe
The prime minister wants agriculture minister Taku Eto to focus on finding a solution for soaring rice prices.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto has come under fire for saying at the weekend that he receives so much rice from his supporters that he has enough to sell it.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Amid rice shortage, farm minister comes under fire for saying he gets plenty
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
Agriculture minister Taku Eto reportedly said at a fundraiser that he gets so much rice from supporters, he has enough to sell it.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Ishiba rebuffs tax cut demands with Greek debt comparison
By Yoshiaki Nohara
The premier said he disagrees with the idea of funding tax cuts with Japanese government bonds, signaling caution over additional government spending.
Nipppon Ishin no Kai members submit to the Lower House on Monday a bill to give legal validity to maiden names.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Nippon Ishin submits bill to give legal validity to maiden names
The DPP is preparing its own bill and Komeito plans to wait for the LDP to consolidate party opinion on the issue.
Public opinion polls published over the weekend show that support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet is weakening.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Ishiba’s support falls, but likely no ouster before July election
By Alastair Gale
Polls published over the weekend showed support for Ishiba’s Cabinet ranging from 22% to 31%.
Support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government was at 27.4%, down from 32.6% a month ago, a Kyodo poll showed.
JAPAN / Politics
May 18, 2025
Support for Japan PM Ishiba hits record low as rice price soars, poll shows
Support for Ishiba's government was at 27.4%, down from 32.6% a month ago, a Kyodo poll showed.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025
Pension bill makes it to parliament after two-month delay
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
Internal resistance from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party toward certain proposals in the draft bill led to the delay.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and other ministers ahead of a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025
Japan enacts bills to make criminal procedures digital
The revised laws will make trial records digital to allow lawyers to view them online.
The Upper House passed the active cyberdefense bill on Friday with majority support spanning the ruling bloc and the major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025
Japan enacts active cyberdefense law
Through the law, the government aims to set up defenses against cyberattacks that are on par with or better than major Western countries.
The draft of the government's defense white paper says China's moves to strengthen its cooperation with Russia are a serious concern for Japan's security, describing Beijing's military moves as the biggest strategic challenge ever.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2025
Japan government paper to express concern over China-Russia ties
A draft of the defense white paper described Beijing's military moves as the biggest strategic challenge ever.
Aso serves as the head of the LDP's task force on Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2025
Conservative heavyweights join forces in LDP panel on Indo-Pacific
By Gabriele Ninivaggi
The panel has prompted speculation it could serve as an occasion to coalesce support against the government in the upcoming months.

From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Trump announces Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel ‘partnership’ deal
U.S. President Donald Trump points as he boards Air Force One en route to New Jersey, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Friday.
Travelers avoid trips to Japan over viral comic book’s quake prediction
Visitors walk along Nakamise-dori as they visit Sensoji Temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district in March.
Tokyo's Yamanote Line resumes suspended train operations
All services on East Japan Railway's Yamanote Line in Tokyo were suspended for early Friday morning due to wire trouble.
AI fiction is already here. Are humans ready?
After last year’s controversy over using AI to write about 5% of her novel, Rie Qudan was asked by an advertising magazine to write a short story where she uses AI for 95% of it. The resulting short story, “Kage no ame” (“Rain Shadow”), was published March 25.  
Six short films that capture our world in mere minutes
“Marion” provides a glimpse into the lives of bull dodgers, who perform a nonlethal version of bullfighting.
As Taiwan looks to boost ‘unofficial ties,’ Paraguay’s leader offers facilitator role
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena speaks during an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo on Thursday.
GCAP next-gen fighter joint venture likely to be running by this summer
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program's fighter jet is displayed during the DSEI Japan defense exhibition in the city of Chiba on Wednesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb
By Alex K.T. Martin

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