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August 30, 2025
 

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The health ministry is considering allowing nationwide pharmacy sales of emergency contraceptive pills without requiring age restrictions or parental approval.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Japan weighs OTC sales of emergency contraceptive pills without age limit
To ensure proper use, the plan would require that the morning-after pill be taken in the presence of a pharmacist.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Japan and India to use joint crediting mechanism in emission-cutting plan
The yet-to-be-announced plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in India using Japanese technologies will allow Japan to count part of the reductions as its own.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Japan to launch new ISS resupply vehicle in October
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said that it will launch the first HTV-X new resupply vehicle to the International Space Station on Oct. 21.
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2025
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
By Tomoko Otake
Experts believe a recent surge in infections is due to relaxed hygiene measures, drug-resistant bacteria and lowered immunity levels amid extreme heat.
The My Number health insurance card enables online verification of a patient's eligibility via card readers installed at medical institutions.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2025
My Number health insurance card uptake remains persistently low
Confusion and doubts over the new system have stalled the government's push to digitalize medical records and services.
A research team from Kyoto University has announced that it is the first in the world to create 3D jawbone-like organoids from human induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 19, 2025
Kyoto University group successfully creates jawbone from iPS cells
The team expects that its method will be applied to regenerative medicine and drug discovery.
Among the middle school students who admitted to abusing over-the-counter medication, the majority — around 64% — said they got them from pharmacies while a third said they had access to them in their own households.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 13, 2025
1 in 55 Japanese middle schoolers abuse over-the-counter drugs, survey shows
By Yukana Inoue
Most of them got the drugs from pharmacies and their own households.
People with children walk in the sun as the Japanese government issued a heatstroke alert due to a heat wave, in Tokyo, on Aug. 5
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 12, 2025
Heat waves pose serious health risks for pregnant women, study shows
The Tokyo team found that the risk of serious complications for pregnant women increases the day after a heat wave.
Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft on board the SpaceX recovery ship Shannon after he and other crew members landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 10, 2025
Four astronauts home from space station after splashdown
The spacecraft carrying U.S. astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down off California's coast at 8:44 a.m.
The price of Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab, codeveloped by Japanese drugmaker Eisai and U.S. industry peer Biogen, will be lowered to ¥97,277 for a 500-milligram bottle.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 7, 2025
Japan approves price cut for Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab
The drug's price will be lowered to ¥97,277 for a 500-milligram bottle starting on Nov. 1.

Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series “Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.”
In pictures: Koenji Awa Odori 2025
Japan Times
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.

Podcast

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

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

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