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A Lawson convenience store in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture. A new service from the company comes amid the rise in inbound tourists, making hotels and inns harder to book and more expensive.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2025

Lawson to let visitors use larger parking lots as paid car campsites

The convenience store operator hopes to capitalize on demand from out-of-town visitors in places where overnight accommodations are limited.
Tobias Bieker settled in Osaka in 2018 and started "Unpacking Japan" as a side project with ZenGroup five years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2025

Tobias Bieker: ‘A good interviewer helps the guest shine’

The host of the "Unpacking Japan" podcast offers his take on Osaka life, Japanese jazz and writing fiction.
Jung Yong-sun, a local official tasked with pest-control duties, poses while wearing a plastic netted onion bag for protection from "lovebugs" on the peak of Gyeyangsan Mountain in Incheon, west of Seoul.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 9, 2025

South Korea battles 'lovebug' invasion amid climate change

Seoul is now annually hit by a weeks-long infestation of a type of March fly whose distinctive mating behavior earned it the nickname.
Search and rescue crews look through piles of debris in Kerrville, Texas, on Sunday following a flash flood.
WORLD
Jul 10, 2025

Rescuers search for 160 missing Texas flood victims

Officials say no one has been found alive since July 4, when the flash flood arrived in the predawn hours.
Grok, a chatbot made by xAI, on Tuesday made antisemitic comments on billionaire owner Elon Musk's social media platform, X.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 10, 2025

Europe’s clash with Musk’s xAI escalates after Grok’s rants

The chatbot on Tuesday made antisemitic comments on social media platform X.
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 12, 2025

‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’

The Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society almost shuttered earlier this year, but a flood of support has buoyed efforts to save games on extinct media.
48.0% of respondents living in the earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture said there was a gap between those who could access information after the January 2024 quake and those who could not, a survey has shown.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2025

Nearly half in quake-hit Noto area felt digital divide

A survey found that some people described a gap between those who could access information and those who could not after the January 2024 disaster.
The growing prevalence of AI-generated child abuse material has alarmed law enforcement worldwide.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 11, 2025

AI-generated child abuse webpages surge 400%, alarming watchdog

Some content is so realistic it has to be treated under U.K. law as if it were actual footage, the Internet Watch Foundation has said.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (left) and Japanese Communist Party leader Tomoko Tamura and their parties are stepping up efforts to reach out beyond their traditional organizational base.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 11, 2025

Komeito and JCP struggle with aging support base as Upper House poll approaches

Both parties are stepping up efforts to reach out beyond their traditional support base by turning to social media.
Bullet trains at Tokyo Station earlier this year
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2025

Summer vacation budget for Japanese hits record high

The average budget grew 26.4% to mark an increase for the fourth straight year.
Residential buildings in Cairo. The Japan Foundation will begin distributing Japanese movies online for free in all 54 countries in Africa on Tuesday, with many users in north African countries such as Egypt.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2025

Japan Foundation to distribute Japanese movies in Africa

The move comes ahead of the ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD 9, to be held in the city of Yokohama Aug. 20-22.
After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Longform
Jul 14, 2025

How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan

Remote work is reshaping how Indian professionals navigate life, family and identity in a post-pandemic Japan.
Megan Myungwon Lee, head of Panasonic's North American operations, says the company's newest battery plant in Kansas will reach full production this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2025

Panasonic aims for full output at Kansas battery plant this year

The new factory will ship battery cells to Tesla as well as several other EV makers, including Lucid and Hexagon Purus.
Then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a news conference in Tokyo in December 2023 where he addressed the political fundraising scandal and announced plans to replace several implicated ministers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2025

Cost of living trumps corruption as Japan heads to the polls

A recent NHK poll asked that question to prospective voters, and the majority answered “measures to deal with rising prices” and “social security and the declining birthrate.”
Shizuku Urata, a fixed-net fishery worker in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2025

Women in Japan's fishery sector on the rise

Efforts to attract women into the industry reflect the struggles of many fishery businesses in finding young workers who can continue operations in the future.
Attorney General Pam Bondi participates in a Cabinet meeting sy the White House in Washington or July 8.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Jul 16, 2025

'Epstein files' explained: Why Trump is under pressure

U.S. President Donald Trump has struggled to quell his supporters' obsessions with the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which continues to generate outrage.
A recent case involving teachers sharing voyeuristic images of schoolgirls has sparked national outrage.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025

Teachers sharing illicit student images raises question of systemic failure

Japan’s sluggish policy response and deep-rooted cultural resistance to the concept of consent sets it apart from other countries.
A man holds Nazi-related material after crates containing them were rediscovered at the Supreme Court in Buenos Aires in this picture released on May 11.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025

A Nazi document trove raises questions for Argentina

A dozen boxes of Nazi documents were recently discovered in a basement archive of Argentina's Supreme Court.
The Tokyo district has the highest number of candidates in the 2025 Upper House election with 32 people in the running for seven seats.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 18, 2025

In Upper House race, younger voters in Tokyo turn to DPP for new direction

Many younger voters, especially in the capital, are drawn to the party's idea that the working generation must be supported for the sake of everyone.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito takes part in a debate with the heads of other political parties at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on July 2.
COMMENTARY / Japan / From Party Leaders
Jul 17, 2025

Komeito hears those hit hardest by rising prices

“To stand forever with common citizens.” Our party has faithfully abided by that founding principle for over six decades
A former company employee who posts highlight videos on YouTube prepares to livestream Shinji Ishimaru's stump speech in Tokyo in June. Jiji
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2025

Highlight videos online playing big role in Upper House election

Social media is increasingly impacting election results in Japan amid the growing popularity of YouTube and other video-sharing sites.
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
CULTURE
Jul 17, 2025

Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation

The idol-pop project's main producer, Misa Kimura — a former idol herself — is giving her performers more control over their image and sound.
Pham Thi Bich Hau (fifth from left) began translating and interpreting for the Vietnamese community in Japan in 2013, when she was working for a trainee management organization. She went on to found the Vietnam Women's Union in Japan, organizing activities like the Tet festival pictured here.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jul 21, 2025

The mothers holding up Japan's Vietnamese community

Online support groups and in-person events are helping Vietnamese women from all walks of life manage motherhood abroad.
A migrant is detained by federal immigration officers at a U.S. immigration court in Manhattan, in New York City on June 6.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2025

Trump's approval on immigration falls to lowest level of term, poll shows

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a nationwide campaign to arrest migrants in the country illegally, executing raids featuring masked officials at work sites.
Sega's first brick-and-mortar store in Japan is an example of how the country's video game industry is thinking of its digital products as tangible experiences.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 18, 2025

Sega’s first Japan store signals ‘immersive entertainment’ push

Opened on July 18 in the Shibuya Parco building, the video game company’s brick-and-mortar venture hints at a broader trend in Japan’s gaming landscape.
Just 17% of Americans approve of U.S. President Donald Trump's handling of the Jeffery Epstein case, a weaker rating than the president received on any other issue in the poll.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2025

Trump faces backlash as 69% believe Epstein details concealed, poll finds

Close to two-thirds of Republicans surveyed think the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is hiding details on Jeffrey Epstein's business.
A think tank researcher said anti-government propaganda by Russian bot accounts was what has made the small far-right party Sanseito so popular leading up to the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025

Concerns grow in Japan over possible Russian interference in Sunday’s election

A blog post from a member of the Japan Institute of Law and Information Systems went viral for stating Russian bots were interfering in the upcoming Upper House election.
Microsoft used Chinese engineers to work on U.S. military cloud computing systems under the supervision of U.S. "digital escorts" hired through subcontractors who have security clearances but often lacked the technical skills to assess whether the work of the Chinese engineers posed a cybersecurity threat, a media report said.
WORLD
Jul 19, 2025

Microsoft to stop using engineers in China for U.S. military tech support

The revelations also prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to order a two-week review of Pentagon cloud deals.
Temporary shelters for abused or at-risk children in Japan's major cities are overwhelmed, as staff shortages and prolonged stays strain the child welfare system.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2025

Temporary child protection facilities in major cities hit capacity as staff shortages deepen

Extended stays by children who have nowhere else to go also compound the problem.
The Microsoft logo is seen at the Hannover Messe, one of the world's largest industrial trade fairs in Hanover, Germany, on March 31.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 22, 2025

Microsoft rushes to stop hackers from wreaking global havoc

Unidentified hackers are exploiting a flaw in the SharePoint document management software to break into the systems of governments, businesses and other organizations.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear