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The Upper House passes a revised budget bill for fiscal 2025 on Monday, before sending it back to the Lower House for approval.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

Japan's fiscal 2025 budget enacted just in time

The budget bill, which calls for general account spending of ¥115 trillion, was enacted in time for the start of the next fiscal year on Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi says Japan has sent officials to Myanmar to coordinate on the planned dispatch of an emergency relief team.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2025

Japan sends coordinating officials to Myanmar after earthquake

The officials are to arrange for the planned dispatch of an emergency relief team to the Southeast Asian nation hit by a magnitude-7.7 earthquake.
According to a survey by international nongovernmental organization Save the Children Japan, 74.6% of respondents said they changed diapers less often when they couldn't buy diapers.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2025

Half of needy households in Japan unable to buy diapers

An inability to buy baby formula has been experienced by 39.6%.
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%

The higher "reciprocal” rates are based on a government tally of levies and nontariff barriers that countries impose on U.S. goods.
New students of the University of Tokyo attend an entrance ceremony at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo in April 2023.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2025

Half of college students in Japan worry about living costs

Some students have said they refrain from buying things more often than they have previously.
Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shinsuke Yamanaka
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2025

Japan to revise nuclear disaster response guidelines

Under current guidelines, the shelter-in-place period after a nuclear disaster and the timing of its lifting are not specified.
Fuji Television Network President Kenji Shimizu (center) visits the communications ministry in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2025

Japan's government warns Fuji TV over handling of scandal

Dalton Investments, a major shareholder in Fuji Media, said Thursday that it has demanded the resignation of executives at the media group over the scandal.
Vehicles used for ride-hailing services in the city of Kiryu, in Gunma Prefecture
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2025

Ride-hailing services spreading in Japan

About 3,300 people have registered as ride-hailing drivers in central Tokyo and other areas.
At the launch ceremony on Sunday of the Self-Defense Forces Maritime Transport Group in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani presents the unit's group flag.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2025

Inaugural ceremony held for Japan SDF's Maritime Transport Group

The Maritime Transport Group was launched on March 24 as a unit jointly run by the Ground, Maritime and Air Self Defense Forces under the direct oversight of the defense minister.
Commuters in Tokyo. ARIs are infectious diseases with respiratory symptoms, such as COVID-19 and influenza.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 8, 2025

Japan begins monitoring acute respiratory infections

The number of patients with ARIs will be published to help the public protect themselves from infections.
Former Kanto Rengo member Tetsuya Yamaguchi arrives at Haneda Airport in Tokyo's Ota Ward on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 9, 2025

Ex-member of 'Kanto Rengo' quasi-gang group arrested

Tetsuya Yamaguchi, 46, was arrested for his alleged involvement in a phone scam operation in Cambodia.
Stockpiled rice at a rice-polishing factory in Saitama Prefecture in March
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2025

Japan to release stockpiled rice monthly amid record high prices

The move comes after two previous releases appeared to have had little effect in stabilizing prices.
Scrambles against Chinese military aircraft account for 464, or 65.9%, down by 15, according to the Defense Ministry.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2025

Japan defense force scrambled fighter jets 704 times in fiscal 2024

Scrambles against Chinese military aircraft accounted for 65.9% of the total, and the number of Chinese drones detected by the ministry more than tripled to 30.
Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks at a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2025

Japanese national confirmed dead in Myanmar quake

The Foreign Ministry had asked local authorities to search for the individual, and the person's body was found at the site of a collapsed building Saturday.
The head of a child dummy hits the ground after falling from a balance bike on a slope during a simulation conducted by the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025

Consumer watchdog warns about the dangers of balance bikes for children

Between April 2019 and December 2024, there were 101 reported accidents involving such bikes.
The suspects used free AI software to create images of naked adult women, who do not exist in the real world, using prompts that included terms such as "legs open," according to NHK.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 16, 2025

Four arrested over obscene AI images in Japan first

Concern is growing worldwide over the use of AI for malicious purposes including through deepfakes, which turn genuine photos, video or audio of people into false likenesses.
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative condition in which motor function is impaired due to a decrease in nerve cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that works in the brain.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 17, 2025

Japan succeeds in improving Parkinson's symptoms with iPS cells

A trial saw nerve cells made from iPS cells transplanted into patients' brains.
The bus stop in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, where a Japanese mother, her child, and a Chinese woman were attacked in June 2024
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 17, 2025

China executes man over Japanese school bus stop murder

The Chinese Foreign Ministry informed the Japanese Embassy in China of the execution on Wednesday.
With more wild bears entering human areas across Japan in recent years, the revised law is aimed at making it possible to deal with them promptly and prevent casualties.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

Japan enacts bill allowing urban bears to be shot

The law designates animals with a high risk of harming people as "dangerous wildlife animals" that can be shot.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions as the House of Councilors begins deliberations on an active cyberdefense bill on Friday at the Diet.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2025

Japan Upper House begins debates on active cyberdefense bill

The bill is aimed at allowing the government to monitor online communication in order to neutralize threats if it detects any sign of a major cyberattack.
Japanese Ambassador to India Keiichi Ono (right) and others during the "Miss Sake India" event in New Delhi.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2025

'Miss Sake India' contest held in New Delhi to promote the Japanese drink

The winner, Aakansha, who works in the marketing industry, said she was very excited to be chosen for the one-year role of promoting sake.
A doughnut shop originating in Fukuoka Prefecture will open in New York on Tuesday, featuring its signature soft and moist doughnuts.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2025

Fukuoka doughnut shop set for debut in New York

The shop, I'm donut, will sell doughnuts with a teriyaki chicken filling and cream fillings using green tea powder.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (right) and Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, in Beijing on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2025

Komeito leader Saito makes first visit to China

Carrying a letter from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Saito will meet with senior Chinese officials before returning home on Thursday.
Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application in Kyoto
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 23, 2025

Japan team treats chronic kidney disease with iPS cells in mice

The hope is such an achievement leads to the development of an effective therapy for chronic kidney disease.
Emissions from industry in fiscal 2023 declined 4.0% from the previous year, and those from households fell 6.8%, according to the Environment Ministry.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions fall to a record low in fiscal 2023

The decrease came as the proportion of renewable and nuclear energy exceeded 30% of overall power sources and manufacturing activities slowed.
U.S. President Donald Trump has touted the $44 billion Alaska liquefied natural gas project, which would deliver gas from the state's North Slope fields via a 1,300 kilometer pipeline for domestic use and send it to customers in Asia as LNG, bypassing the Panama Canal.
WORLD
Apr 25, 2025

U.S. expected to press Japan and South Korea for support of Alaska LNG project

The $44 billion Alaska liquefied natural gas project would send gas to customers in Asia as LNG, bypassing the Panama Canal.
An Environment Ministry survey found that PFAS in groundwater and river water exceeded the provisional standard at 242 locations nationwide.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025

Potentially carcinogenic PFAS chemicals over standard at 242 sites in Japan

Japan banned the production and import of PFOS and PFOA, both of which are main components of PFAS, by 2021.
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 28, 2025

Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’

Some 45% of full-time employees are doing just the bare minimum at work, according to a survey by job-matching company Mynavi.
In Japan, 35% of students graduate with a degree in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — compared with 38% in the U.S., 42% in South Korea and Germany and 45% in Britain.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 21, 2023

Japan to give ¥300 billion to universities expanding science education

As the country's R&D status continues to drop, the ministry’s new program aims to fund schools pivoting toward STEM subjects.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jul 21, 2023

Bike, scooter, taxi? Here are your options for nonrail transit in Japan

Here's a rundown on your options and how best to utilize them — whether your a tourist or long-time resident.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami