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Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters about Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations at his official residence on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 5, 2025

Tariff talks with U.S. seen influencing Japan's Upper House election

The outcome of the ongoing bilateral negotiations will have a major impact on this summer's election in the Upper House.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from the media at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2025

Trump administration to announce trade deal with Britain

The agreement would be the first deal announced since Trump imposed stiff tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners.
Shinzo Abe, then the Chief Cabinet Secretary, shakes hands with former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage during a symposium in Tokyo in July 2006.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 9, 2025

Remembering two titans in Japan-U.S. relations

Their good humor, unflagging optimism and commitment to building a stronger Japan-U.S. alliance continues to shape that partnership.
French President Emmanuel Macron (right) and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pose after signing the French-Polish Friendship and Strategy Pact following their meeting at the Nancy's town hall on Stanislas square in Nancy, eastern France, on Friday.
WORLD
May 10, 2025

Poland edges toward pact on French nuclear-missile shield

A treaty signed Friday includes a pledge of mutual military assistance in an event of an armed conflict and extends into defense industry cooperation.
A former nonregular government employee, who cooked lunch for a public school in the Tohoku region, says she was dismissed after she was made to take an open recruitment exam.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
May 19, 2025

Civil service contract workers fear lack of job security

Contracted civil servants are paid about half the salaries of regular staff or even less, and a fear of being dismissed hangs over their heads.
The beach on Aka Island, Okinawa Prefecture, where U.S. forces first landed in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
May 26, 2025

How a remote island escaped mass suicide in Battle of Okinawa

Residents had been told that, if captured, women would be assaulted and men mutilated by U.S. soldiers.
A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is tugged toward a thermal power station in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, in 2017.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2025

Japan under pressure from U.S. to invest in Alaska LNG pipeline

Doubts over the pipeline's profitability and viability leaves Japan's participation in the $44 billion (nearly ¥6.7 trillion) project uncertain.
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

Internal resistance from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party toward certain proposals in the draft bill led to the delay.
Shipping containers in Oakland, California, on May 12
WORLD
May 20, 2025

Even on nontariff issues G7 finance leaders may still face U.S. pushback

A source briefed on U.S. positions in the talks in Canada has said that any consensus needs to align with Trump administration priorities.
Former inmates work as trainees in the forestry industry in Nara Prefecture under the prefecture's fully funded rehabilitation program.
JAPAN / Society
May 20, 2025

Nara initiative offers second chances to former prison inmates

Since 2020, nine people have participated in a first-of-its-kind reintegration program, with job training, housing and life skills classes.
Kimihiro Matsuzaki prepares dishes at his half-century-old restaurant, Yanagi, in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 2, 2025

Profitable Fukushima companies closing due to lack of successors

According to Teikoku Databank, more than a third of the companies that went out of business in the prefecture in 2024 were in the black.
Canadian Finance Minister Franiis-Philippe Champagne (left), and Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko hold a news conference during the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting in Banff, Alberta, Canada on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2025

Canada seeks to send 'strong message' with Ukraine at G7 finance talks

In meetings through Thursday, leaders will discuss global economic conditions and seek a common position on Ukraine.
The entrance to a cave on Okinawa’s main island where a former Japanese soldier confessed to having killed a mother and child during World War II
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 2, 2025

How the scars of war in Okinawa are being healed by a psychologist

A clinical psychologist has formed grief care groups for survivors of war across Okinawa to help try to heal their emotional scars.
Drawn to tea ceremony while volunteering at a Japanese garden in Phoenix, Arizona, Michele Laudig (right) came to learn a “common language of movement and ritual” that brought her into new communities in New York City and Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
May 26, 2025

A moving meditation: Finding serenity in tea ceremony across space and time

After an American writer ventured into the world of tea ceremony, its lessons transformed her relationship to Japan and brought her into communities bonded by movement and ritual.
South Korean presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung (left), of the Democratic Party,  and Kim Moon-soo, of the People Power Party, shake hands as they prepare for the second televised debate for the upcoming presidential election in Seoul on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 24, 2025

South Korean presidential race tightens sharply after TV debate

The Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung's support rate fell to 45%, while backing for the People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo rose to 36%, according to a poll released Friday.
Shu Yamamoto runs a ramen shop in the city of Hiroshima by renting a barbecue restaurant during its off hours.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
May 26, 2025

Off-hours property rentals take off in Hiroshima

The renter can cut down on startup costs for their business while the owner can earn extra income, though it means sharing responsibilities.
A broker in the city of Osaka displays a sign for religious corporation deals.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jun 9, 2025

Religious corporation sales rising in Japan amid tax evasion concerns

There are increasing concerns that buyers may exploit the tax privileges granted to religious corporations.
A notice sent from the Sendai Municipal Government to those denied entry to an after-school care facility
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jun 16, 2025

Sendai faces growing waitlist at after-school care facilities

The Sendai government has been working to expand the capacity of such programs, but many of them are still full.
Dancers perform ahead of Lee Jae-myung's campaign event in Incheon on May 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2025

K-pop and breakdance power South Korea’s high-stakes presidential race

Both major parties are leaning on Korean pop hits to energize voters, blending choreography and catchy lyrics with political messaging.
A screen shows the Muchu College metaverse school, with avatars and the face of Hiroaki Tsujita, CEO of operator Wowfull.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 16, 2025

Metaverse and local subsidies help children in alternative learning

Municipalities are subsidizing the use of alternative educational institutions to help families with children who are not attending regular schools.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday. Schoof has resigned as prime minister after the far-right Freedom Party pulled out of the government.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

Dutch prime minister resigns after far-right party pulls out of coalition

The Freedom Party withdrew from the Dutch government over the refusal of three coalition partners to agree to its plans to curb migration.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Ishiba agrees to strengthen ties with South Korea's Lee in call

Reaffirming the significance of bilateral ties, the two leaders agreed to meet in person to further develop relations.
Experts are calling on people not to miss children's signs of trouble, particularly in June after fatigue can accumulate over the two months since the beginning of the school year in April.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 9, 2025

Experts warn of 'June syndrome' among children in Japan

Much like the better-known May syndrome, or May blues, June syndrome is a general term for mental and physical disorders and is medically classified as adjustment disorder.
Expectant parents Masataka and Saki Ohita look at ultrasound images of their unborn twins.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 23, 2025

Childbirth facilities disappearing from Fukushima towns

With just 26 facilities in the prefecture that can handle deliveries, there is concern that the trend could accelerate population decline.
Japanese pension funds are moving to appoint chief investment officers with expertise to improve risk management and help make more effective market deals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025

Japanese pension funds holding $400 billion hire their first CIOs

Until recently, senior administrators often with limited experience doing deals in financial markets were responsible for making investment decisions.
Yoshiko Goya speaks of her wartime experience during an interview in Nishihara, Okinawa Prefecture, on May 23.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 23, 2025

Battle of Okinawa 1945: Memories of fire, flight and loss

As an 8-year-old, Yoshiko Goya fled her birthplace with six other family members and relatives. In the end, only three survived.
Politics find a way into the bedroom as a stay-at-home wife (Ami Chong, left) clandestinely tends to a series of johns (including Kenji Iwaya, right) in “A Unique Country in Asia.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2025

‘A Unique Country in Asia’: Sex and politics make for strange bedfellows

With sex work and small talk, Kenji Yamauchi’s politically sharp film paints a complex portrait of modern Japan.
Tokyo Rainbow Pride is wrapping up for the year, but a slew of events in cities all over the country, from Hokkaido to Kyushu, lies in store in the second half of 2025.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 12, 2025

The persistence of Pride: LGBTQ+ events in Tokyo and beyond

Pride isn’t just a one-off weekend — a slate of activities and programs in support of the queer community continues in full force, from Hokkaido to Kyushu.
Shingo Kato, assistant manager at Homechigiru Driving School in Ise, Mie Prefecture, rides in a training vehicle with a smartphone equipped with the school’s translation app.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jun 30, 2025

Translation apps help break language barriers at Chubu driving schools

Some driving schools have refused enrollment of foreign nationals with limited Japanese skills, sources have said.
Firefighters at the site of Russian drone and missile strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2025

Trump administration disbands group focused on pressuring Russia, sources say

The effort lost steam as it became clear to participants that Trump was not interested in adopting a more confrontational stance toward Moscow.

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