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July 22, 2025
 

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New and strengthened rules aim to make street drinking a thing of the past in Shibuya's nightlife center — but the reality may not be that simple.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Oct 21, 2024

Can you drink in Shibuya and Shinjuku this Halloween? It depends.

Shibuya and Shinjuku are both planning on cracking down on street drinking this Halloween and beyond. But the problem might be bigger than a night of drunken revelry.
Located in the Otemachi neighborhood, the 'skull mound' of Taira no Masakado is said to be the source of ills and misfortunes of any who would disturb the site.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2024

Take a Halloween stroll through Tokyo’s dark history

Tokyo has no shortage of creepy places to check out this Halloween, and the good news is that many are conveniently accessible.
Motohiko Saito makes a speech following his reelection Sunday as governor of Hyogo Prefecture, a position he lost after the prefectural assembly unanimously passed a no-confidence vote against him in September.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 18, 2024

Hyogo governor reelected following ouster by assembly over harassment

Motohiko Saito garnered popular support despite strong opposition from political parties and a majority of Hyogo’s city mayors.
Sanae Takaichi (left) celebrates Shigeru Ishiba’s victory in becoming the head of the Liberal Democratic Party along with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo in September. Takaichi appears to be the only woman in any party who is close to breaking the glass ceiling to become the nation’s first female leader. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2024

The derailing of potential female prime ministers

Sanae Takaichi stands as the closest woman to breaking the glass ceiling and becoming Japan's first female prime minister.
While FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong contender for game of the year, Black Myth: Wukong, the first AAA game made by a Chinese developer, offers some stiff competition.
LIFE / Digital / 2024 in Review
Dec 6, 2024

It’s Japan versus China for 2024’s game of the year

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Black Myth: Wukong both have a claim to the best game of 2024, a year marked by cultural scandals and lawsuits.
Keidanren chief Masakazu Tokura speaks to reporters in the city of Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture on Nov. 20.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 10, 2024

Keidanren urges tax hike for rich with eye on ¥1 quadrillion GDP

Such a move will help the nation achieve a “virtuous cycle of growth and distribution,” Keidanren chief Masakazu Tokura says.
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 28, 2024

How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024

Food trucks, morsels with cutesy cues from nature and more helped Japan’s northernmost island have a stellar year.
The Toyama City Library, designed by Kengo Kuma, in November. The library is part of a building called Toyama Kirari that also houses the Glass Art Museum.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 8, 2025

New York Times chooses Toyama and Osaka as top places to go in 2025

The city of Toyama was praised by the Times as a place where tourists could “enjoy cultural wonders and culinary delights while skipping the crowds.”
Economists, legal experts and business leaders concur that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to implement fresh tariffs — whether directly aimed at Japan or not — could hurt the country's export-reliant machinery and automobiles industries while shattering the global economy.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jan 20, 2025

Japanese firms weigh fallout from Trump tariff pledges

Additional tariffs — whether directly aimed at Japan or not — could hurt its export-reliant machinery and automobiles industries while shattering the global economy.
Upon the release of Dragon Quest VII in 2000, hundreds of customers lined up outside stores in Tokyo to secure a copy of the new game. With a remake of a 1988 title, the rest of the world is understanding why Japanese gamers love the series so much.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 25, 2025

Japan’s love affair with Dragon Quest spreads worldwide

The remake of a 1988 game serves as the latest chance for the rest of the world to learn why Japan loves Dragon Quest so much.
The mural that artist Jonas Never painted during Kobe Bryant's last NBA season is seen on Jan. 19.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jan 27, 2025

Kobe Bryant still reigns over Los Angeles on hundreds of murals

Artists behind some of the murals say that they illustrate how Bryant captivated everyday people.
Masako Akagi, wife of late Toshio Akagi, holds Toshio's picture and his glasses during a news conference in Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 7, 2025

Government accepts ruling backing disclosure of Moritomo documents

Moritomo Gakuen was once linked to the wife of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba receives fruit from tangerine farmers of Shizuoka Prefecture in Tokyo on Jan. 22. The government's new regional revitalization plan focuses on convincing younger workers to choose a career and life somewhere other than a major urban center such as Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

Can Ishiba's 'joyful Japan' policy revitalize the nation's rural regions?

The prime minister may be taking cues from the mistakes of past efforts, but ultimately, even the best rural revitalization plan is tough to realize in practice.
Yamanote Jijosha has a long history of staging Shakespeare plays, and in celebration of its 40th anniversary, the company will present “Othello” and “Macbeth.” Previously, it toured productions like “Titus Andronicus,” which premiered in Tokyo in 1999, saw multiple revivals and had a homecoming in 2015.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 21, 2025

Directing is never a monologue at the experimental Yamanote Jijosha theater company

To mark its four decades of existence, the company stages two Shakespearean tragedies for a triumph.
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2025

Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations

A supportive ecosystem and eager audiences — both domestic and global — are boosting the soft power of illustrated narratives from Taiwan.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions at a session of the Upper House Budget Committee in Tokyo. Approval ratings for Ishiba's government have dropped sharply, polls showed Monday, as the leader faces a backlash for distributing gift vouchers to rookie lawmakers in his ruling party.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 17, 2025

Approval rates for Ishiba's Cabinet plunge amid gift voucher snafu

Polls conducted by several newspapers over the weekend show public support tumbling to record lows.
Motoaki Tanigo, whom fans affectionately refer to as “Yagoo,” is the CEO and founder of tech company Cover Corporation, which runs Hololive, an industry-leading virtual YouTuber talent agency.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2025

Virtual idols, real fans: Hololive’s bet on the future of pop

Hololive CEO Motoaki Tanigo, whom fans affectionately refer to as “Yagoo,” has global ambitions for his virtual YouTuber sensations.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Pentagon eyeing plan to halt U.S. Forces Japan upgrade, reports say

The move could create “political risk” for Washington with Tokyo and reduce the scope of command and control in the Indo-Pacific region as the U.S.-China rivalry heats up.
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 16, 2025

Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal

Japan has realized the U.S. has no intention of seriously talking about duties on automobiles now.
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.  
CULTURE / Books
May 24, 2025

AI fiction is already here. Are humans ready?

Last year, Rie Qudan faced controversy after admitting that chatGPT wrote 5% of her novel. Now she’s published a story she only wrote 5% herself, leaving 95% to AI.
Momentum appears to be building toward what Osaka Expo organizers hope will be a boom period for the event as they try to recoup ballooning costs via ticket sales. But long lines are making some guests weary.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2025

Two months in, Osaka Expo organizer struggles to improve experience as crowds grow

Even before the expo reaches its peak attendance, some visitors are already growing weary of the long lines.
Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter Princess Aiko visit the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in Itoman on June 4.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 19, 2025

Parties are still arguing about the rules on imperial succession

Allowing female members to remain royalty after marriage, starting a maternal lineage, adoptions — there are a slew of ideas but a shortage of answers.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends tactical training by military special forces and a firing drill by tank units at an unknown location in North Korea on May 13.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2025

Russia could soon get up to 30,000 more North Korean troops, reports say

The addition would almost triple the total number of North Korean soldiers directly fighting alongside Russia in its war against Ukraine.
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 15, 2025

With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’

The annual defense white paper says that U.S. actions under Trump will “significantly impact” the Indo-Pacific region and “will require continued attention.”
Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
Foreign residents closely follow Japan's election and party pledges
A police officer walks past posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates, as well as one showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, outside the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. As Japan’s foreign population continues to rise, one of the talking points during Sunday’s election was how the country should deal with the increase of international residents.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Hitomi Obara, 2012 Olympic champion in wrestling, dies at 44
Hitomi Obara competes at the London Olympics in August 2012.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
In microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food
You don't need an oven to make Kenji Morimoto's easy and delicious Miso Sticky Toffee Crepe Cake.
Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood

Podcast

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

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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