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Akira Ishiwatari (right), a Nuclear Regulation Authority commissioner, inspects a trench dug on the grounds of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant's No. 2 reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2024

Tsuruga nuclear reactor found noncompliant with safety standards

The Nuclear Regulation Authority will decide whether to formally adopt the report after collecting public comments on it for about a month.
Naoto Ooka inspects a new heat-resistant rice breed called Emihokoro that has been planted at the government-run Saitama Agricultural Technology Center in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on Aug. 7.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2024

As sweltering summers ravage crops, Japan bets on heat-resistant rice

Supermarkets have struggled to keep rice shelves stocked in recent months.
If you're still trying to be active during Japan's record-setting heat, you should also know how best to care for yourself when you inevitably get a sunburn.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 31, 2024

Japan’s nasty summer has left you with a nastier sunburn. Now what?

Aloe facial masks, non-alcohol-based lotions and souped-up sunscreen can take the edge off the pain of getting a sunburn.
Swimmer Takayuki Suzuki celebrates after winning gold at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
PARALYMPICS / Swimming
Aug 30, 2024

Swimmer Takayuki Suzuki wins Japan's first gold medal at Paris Paralympics

Suzuki, who has 10 medals from the past five Paralympic Games, added a gold to his already impressive medal cabinet.
A satellite image from Wednesday shows Typhoon Shanshan south of Kyushu as the storm was rapidly intensifying.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 30, 2024

From tropical storm to 'violent': Japan’s typhoon classifications

Japan's system differs from that used for hurricanes, and there also differences in how the storms are discussed in English versus Japanese.
Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force hold a live-fire exercise at the GSDF's training grounds in the East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May. Japan's Defense Ministry is seeking another record-breaking budget for fiscal 2025.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2024

Japan seeks another record-breaking defense budget for fiscal 2025

The request by the Defense Ministry is expected to send a clear message to both its allies and adversaries.
A Chinese Navy Shupang-class survey ship
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2024

Tokyo protests after Chinese Navy ship enters Japanese territorial waters

The move came just days after Japan strongly protested the first entry into its airspace by a Chinese military aircraft.
Tokyo needs to leverage its political, economic, diplomatic and security strengths to shape Washington's engagement and regional stability in the Asia-Pacific no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 1, 2024

Japan's strategy for navigating an uncertain U.S. election

Japan needs to continue its role as a diplomatic bridge in shaping U.S.-China strategic competition to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
NPB Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara (left) Samurai Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata (second from left) and WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari pose for photos during a news conference on Friday.
BASEBALL
Sep 1, 2024

Hirokazu Ibata looking to keep Japan on top of baseball world by winning Premier12

Japan will enter the Premier12 as the defending champion.
An abandoned house in Urayama, Saitama Prefecture. Buying an <i>akiya</i>, which means empty house in Japanese, can be a rewarding experience that yields a unique space and a livable home, competitively priced. Or it could turn out to be a money pit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

First lesson of Japan’s akiya gold rush: No such thing as a free house.

Renovations are usually the most expensive part of the journey and the laundry list of what needs to be done is long and tends to get longer after the process starts.
The U.S. has been pressuring Japan to impose additional restrictions on the ability of firms to sell advanced chipmaking tools to China, as part of a long-running campaign to curtail China’s semiconductor progress.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

China warns Japan of retaliation over potential new chip curbs

One major concern is that Beijing could cut off Japan’s access to critical minerals that are essential for automotive production.
People at the Sensoji temple in Tokyo in July. The three months between June and August were 1.76 degrees Celsius hotter than average in Japan.
JAPAN / Boiling Point
Sep 2, 2024

Japan sees joint hottest summer on record

The three months between June and August were 1.76 degrees Celsius hotter than average, matching the record set only last year.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has said that Chinese ships passing through the Tokara Strait are exercising the right of transit passage, "which is completely legitimate and legal."
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2024

China says its military ships going through Tokara Strait have right of transit

The sailing was part of a series of recent moves by the Chinese military near Japan that Tokyo has said are “cause for concern.”
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a new conference for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 25.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2024

Africa's rising importance for Japan’s Indo-Pacific goals

Africa is becoming an increasingly important element of Japanese FOIP strategy. It is a work in progress, but it is proceeding.
Kyoto International High Shool's baseball team receives a champion flag after winning the Japanese High School Baseball Championship final at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture on Aug. 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2024

A high school baseball championship and Japan-South Korea relations

The reactions to Kyoto International High School winning the National High School Baseball Championship, both in Japan and South Korea, were intriguing.
Michie Hino, 77, works at an elderly care home in Chiba Prefecture. She is one of a growing number of senior Japanese citizens working into their 70s.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Sep 5, 2024

Working till your 70s — Japan's prospective gift to the world

A struggling pension system and the highest inflation in decades have led more Japanese people to delay retirement until their 70s or later to make ends meet.
One problem with Japan’s investments in African infrastructure compared to other countries is that its projects often lack long-term sustainability and alignment with local development plans, limiting their impact. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2024

Is Japan’s involvement in Africa’s development outdated?

Japan's traditional aid approach is seen as too transactional and insufficiently addressing Africa's broader development challenges.
Japan players celebrate after the team won the gold-medal match of the Paralympic goalball competition on Thursday in Paris.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 6, 2024

Japan takes Paralympic gold in men's goalball for the first time

Yuto Sano scored the golden goal to give Japan victory against Ukraine by a 4-3 scoreline after extra time in the South Paris Arena.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, are welcomed upon their arrival at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea, on Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2024

Never take Japan-South Korea relations for granted

The two leader’s final meeting is both an opportunity to review recent achievements and to underscore the centrality of the Japan-South Korean partnership.
Yui Kamiji celebrates after winning gold in the women's wheelchair tennis singles competition at the Paris Paralympics on Friday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 7, 2024

Japan's Kamiji takes Paralympic gold in wheelchair tennis singles

Kamiji came back to beat longtime rival Diede de Groot of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Sengu Capital, based in Hong Kong, will start a new hedge fund focused on Japanese firms improving management quality.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2024

New hedge fund gains backing for bets on Japan market revival

Investors have been trying to put more money to work in Japan, as the country emerges from more than a decade of deflation.
The Kangei Maru, a 9,300-ton whaling mothership, was launched in May.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2024

Japan shows first commercial fin whale catch in 48 years

The country this year added the fin whale to a catch list that already includes minke, Bryde's and sei whales.
A guest uses chopsticks to grab and taste raw meat from a fin whale at the exhibition and business meeting of domestically produced fin whales hosted by Japan's whaling company Kyodo Senpaku at Tokyo's Toyosu market on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 14, 2024

Hearts, tails and blubber at Japan fin whale tasting

"Once young people eat it and they realize it's good, they will eat it more and more," said Hideki Tokoro, the head of Japan's main whaling firm.
Candidates for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidential election stand together onstage at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 15, 2024

LDP presidential hopefuls outline approach to U.S. and China concerns

The nine candidates jostled over the best way to resolve Nippon Steel's contentious bid for U.S. Steel, while also grappling with the Chinese military challenge.
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 16, 2024

How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition

China has thrown its industrial might behind cleantech, putting Japan in a tough spot as it weighs human rights concerns against its climate targets.
Students sit under a misting system during recess at Hikarigaoka Haru no Kaze Elementary School in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on Sept. 6.
JAPAN / Society / Boiling Point
Sep 16, 2024

Japan’s schools battle to keep kids cool, with or without AC

With extreme heat affecting both health and study, schools are racing to plug AC gaps while experimenting with creative, cheaper solutions.
The World Trade Center's South Tower (left) and the North Tower burn after al-Qaida terrorists flew hijacked airliners into the buildings in New York City on
Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 people died in the incident, including 24 Japanese nationals. 

REUTERS
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 18, 2024

The forgotten impact of 9/11 on Japan

Though an ocean away, 9/11 was a wake up call to the Japanese people that the 21st century would not be an era of everlasting peace.
China's Liaoning aircraft carrier sails in waters near Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2024

Chinese carrier sails between Japanese islands near Taiwan for first time

China's Liaoning aircraft carrier passed through a narrow waterway between Yonaguni and Iriomote islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
The street where a 10-year-old boy is said to have been stabbed with a knife, on Thursday in Shenzhen in southern China.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024

Japanese school student stabbed in Shenzhen dies

The assault echoes an earlier incident of violence in June, when a man attacked a bus used by a Japanese school in Suzhou, China.
Japanese high school teachers visit an elementary school in the Philippines' Caohagan Island that holds classes outside.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Oct 7, 2024

Asia rises as study destination for Japanese students and teachers

Countries in the region are emerging as an attractive alternative to the West amid surging prices and the weak yen.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes