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Visitors taste sake from Fukushima Prefecture at a Japan-South Korea exchange festival held in Seoul on Sunday.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2024

Japan-South Korea exchange festival held in Seoul

The event comes at a time where more and more South Koreans are visiting Japan as relations improve and the yen remains weak.
A town hall meeting with residents of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the municipalities evacuated in the aftermath of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. More dialogue is needed to foster truly participatory energy democracy in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2025

Japan needs collective public support to reach its nuclear goals

Over a decade after 3/11, Japan has the chance to foster truly participatory energy democracy by engaging its civic environmental organizations in nuclear policymaking processes.
In a statement on their official website, Tokio said it had decided to disband following a compliance violation by Taichi Kokubun, without providing details as to what the violation entailed.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 26, 2025

Japanese pop-rock band Tokio announces disbandment after 31 years

The group said it will bring an end to its activities as Tokio following a compliance violation by member Taichi Kokubun but did not disclose details.
Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima speaks during an interview on Jun. 27 at the Diet building.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 3, 2025

SDP campaign to focus on inflation and opposing military expansion, leader says

The SDP exists to prevent people from starving and the country from going into war, said party leader Mizuho Fukushima.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 24, 2023

One month on, Chinese import ban hits Japanese food exports

Food exports to China plunged 41.2% in August from a year before — but the full effect of the ban after the Fukushima water release has yet to be felt.
Storage tanks for radioactive water at Tokyo Electric Power Co's tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2023

No change in plan to release treated water, minister says

Japan's industry minister says there is no change to plan to start releasing treated water from Fukushima nuclear plant this summer.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 1, 2023

China banned seafood from Japan. Some tourists are eating it in Tokyo.

Travelers from China seem largely unfazed despite the ban, with many local seafood restaurants seeing little impact so far.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Monday in New York.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 19, 2023

Japan’s new top diplomat makes international debut

On the sidelines to the U.N. General Assembly sidelines, new Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa gets off to a quick start.
Blair Masters and Talisker Scott Hunter pose for a photo with their kei truck, nicknamed “KT,” outside Ebisu Circuit in Fukushima Prefecture.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Nov 6, 2023

The little truck that could: A fresh way to tour Japan's north

Travelers have documented almost every corner of Japan. Perhaps a new kind of adventure would be doing those same journeys by different means.
Glen Fukushima, former deputy assistant to the U.S. Trade Representative for Japan and China, is interviewed in New York last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2024

U.S. Steel buyout may be approved if Biden reelected, former U.S. official says

Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel's headquarters is located, is regarded as one of the swing states that will decide the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
The Ukedo fishing port in the town of Namie in Fukushima Prefecture in March. In 2022, Taiwan lifted most of its import restrictions on food produced in five prefectures including Fukushima.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 24, 2024

Taiwan set to lift remaining import restrictions on Japanese food

The latest measure will cover products such as mushrooms and the meat of wild animals.
Japanese government officials explain the decommissioning work at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to attendees of an event held on Tuesday on the sidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual general conference in Vienna.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 18, 2024

Japan briefs international community on release of treated water

The briefing was conducted on the sidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual general conference in Vienna.
The town of Futaba is still dealing with the effects of 3/11, but that isn't stopping some residents from looking forward.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 7, 2024

Futaba pivots to 'hope tourism' to revive its fortunes

Whether you’re a long-term resident of Japan or flying in for a holiday, the message is clear: Futaba welcomes you.
Michi Saito touches a piece of a dummy atomic bomb that took away her brother's life in 1945, during an interview at Zuiryu Temple in Fukushima on July 14.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Aug 18, 2025

98-year-old woman recalls brother's death from dummy atomic bomb

A U.S. military unit dropped dummy bombs in various parts of Japan as part of exercises aimed at training forces to gain the high skills required to drop nuclear weapons.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 5, 2023

Japan OKs additional fisheries aid and ups pressure on China

Support for the industry now tops ¥100 billion, as the government struggles to soothe fears over contaminated water at home and abroad.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, alongside Fukushima fisheries cooperative chief Tetsu Nozaki (far right), inspects fish caught off Fukushima Prefecture during a visit to Iwaki on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 24, 2024

Japan to compile additional measures to support fisheries industry

The additional measures will be put in place to help fishery operators hurt by China's blanket ban on imports of Japanese marine products.
Satoyo Kojika, who has run a barbershop inside the parliament building for more than half a century
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 23, 2024

Woman who ran a parliament barbershop for half a century retires

The shop has been run by Satoyo Kojika, 85, a native of the village of Kawauchi in Fukushima Prefecture.
Junko Yagi, a professor at Iwate Medical University, speaks during an interview on Jan. 10 in the town of Yahaba, Iwate Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025

Experts urge ongoing mental health care for families in 3/11 disaster areas

"Parents and children alike are carrying heavy emotional burdens," one expert said.
Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi waits ahead of a high-level meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in December 2017.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2023

Japan ruling bloc lawmakers facing hurdles to China visit plans

Trips to China by Komeito leader and senior LDP official both put on ice over Chinese anger at planned release of treated Fukushima water.
A customer shops at a sushi counter at the Food Le Parc supermarket in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 24, 2023

Hong Kong restaurants brace for cost jump after Japan seafood ban

The saga is yet another headache for the city’s restaurant industry, which is still suffering from the effects from pandemic curbs and a worker shortage.
A sign reading "suspend the sale of all fish products imported from Japan" in an area of Japanese restaurants in Beijing
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2023

China’s actions on Japan and religion are cut from the same cloth

Beijing’s stoking of anti-Japanese sentiment based on unscientific accusations mirrors its suppression of religious freedom in Xinjiang.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 31, 2023

Japan announces new fishing industry aid after China ban

The new aid follows a ¥30 billion fund aimed at countering reputational damage. Another ¥50 billion had been earmarked to support the fishing industry.
Scallops shipped from Hokkaido are served at the Anuga food trade fair held in Cologne, Germany, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2023

Snubbed by China, Japan tries to sell Europe on its seafood

The scallop industry was hit particularly hard, as Japanese exports to China in August fell 71.3% from a year earlier.
Samples of The Japan Times winning news coverage, recognized by the World Association of News Publishers Asian Media Awards.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2023

Japan Times wins awards for breaking news and feature reporting

The Japan Times receives gold awards for breaking news coverage and feature writing at the World Association of News Publishers Asian Media Awards.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 26, 2023

Kamikawa conveys ‘comfort women’ stance to South Korean envoy

Kamikawa urged Seoul to "immediately take appropriate measures" to rectify the situation.
Eiko Takeuchi talks about a traffic jam during last winter’s heavy snow along National Route 8 in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, on Sept. 18.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Dec 11, 2023

Evacuation plans for nuclear incidents called into question

Effectiveness of preparations as a “last line of defense” to save residents in the event of a nuclear disaster are in doubt.
Schoolchildren wearing padded hoods to protect themselves from falling debris take part in an earthquake simulation drill at an elementary school in Tokyo in August 2018.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 10, 2024

13 years after 3/11, Japan's readiness for complex disasters remains inadequate

The Noto Peninsula earthquake has highlighted gaps in Japan's preparedness for a complex disaster, experts warn.
People shop for food during sunset hours in Taipei. Taiwan has lifted its import ban on Japanese foods.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2024

Taiwan lifts import ban on Japanese foods

Taiwan eased its import restrictions further, allowing all Japanese food products to be shipped there in principle.
Imports of Japanese koi were suspended in November 2023, when Chinese authorities stopped renewing import permits to fish farms once they expired from the end of October 2023.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2024

China resumes imports of Japanese koi fish

Imports were suspended in November 2023, when Chinese authorities stopped renewing import permits to fish farms once they expired.
The Ukedo Elementary School Ruins in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in January. The Fukushima Prefectural Government offers training sessions for new prefectural government recruits to visit the school, the prefecture's sole preserved disaster-hit structure.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025

14 years on, prefectural governments work to pass on lessons to new hires

Many prefectural officials who were involved in front-line operations in the immediate aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami are retiring.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?