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Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Aug 8, 2025

The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person

At 17, Koichi Tagawa survived Nagasaki’s atomic blast and recording two months of grief, destruction and the loss of his mother in a diary he kept for life.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the Liberal Democratic Party's plenary meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 8, 2025

LDP panel to decide whether to hold party poll that could oust Ishiba

The prime minister, who has long shown a strong appetite to stay in government, has said he will remain despite calls for him to resign.
Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft on board the SpaceX recovery ship Shannon after he and other crew members landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 10, 2025

Four astronauts home from space station after splashdown

The spacecraft carrying U.S. astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down off California's coast at 8:44 a.m.
Doves are released during a ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, at the city's Peace Park on Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2025

Nagasaki marks 80 years since atomic bombing as hibakusha numbers dwindle

The anniversary comes amid frustration among the dwindling number of survivors that their powerful calls for eradicating nuclear arms are falling on deaf ears.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an LDP plenary meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 9, 2025

Ishiba says he will assess his responsibility based on election review

The LDP plans to release a summary report on the results of last month's election at the end of this month.
Terumi Tanaka (left), co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, and Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, hold a news conference in Tokyo on July 27.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2025

Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor calls on young people to inspire movement

"The era of hibakusha themselves working to share their experiences and talking about nuclear weapons is coming to an end," 93-year-old Terumi Tanaka said.
An embankment on the Amikake River that collapsed due to heavy rain in Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Friday. Downpours continued in the Kyushu region over the weekend.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2025

Weather agency warns of landslides and flooding in Kyushu as heavy rain continues

Wide areas of the country also experienced rainfall Sunday due to a large stationary front. Rainfall is projected to continue until at least Tuesday morning.
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Aug 10, 2025

Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer

Giant umbrellas, mist fans and human-sized ice boxes are some of the many ways organizers are offering respite to visitors.
A project to send cram school lecturers to public schools as substitute teachers is under consideration by the education ministry.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2025

Cram school lecturers may teach at public schools in Japan

The ministry plans to include related expenses in its budget request for the fiscal year starting next April.
Heavy rain falls in the city of Kumamoto on Monday morning.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2025

Millions told to evacuate as heavy rain sparks flooding and landslides in Kyushu

Footage from various communities in Kumamoto Prefecture showed houses, stores and vehicles submerged in water while surging rivers swept away vehicles and damaged roads.
Machiko Taniguchi speaks to the memorial marker for her husband who died in the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet at the crash site on Osutaka Ridge in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2025

Woman whose husband died in 1985 plane crash advocates safety to JAL employees

Japan Airlines Flight 123 bound for Osaka crashed in the mountains north of Tokyo on Aug. 12, 1985, killing 520 passengers and crew.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks to reporters in Tokyo after Upper House election voting finished on July 20.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 11, 2025

Komeito struggling after crushing Upper House election defeat

Some have been calling on Komeito to withdraw from costly races in constituencies and put resources into proportional representation.
Visitors to the Osaka Expo line up for pavilions on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2025

Osaka Expo ticket sales exceed break-even point

Before the opening, ticket sales were sluggish and there were concerns that the Expo would end in the red.
A National Personnel Authority official has attributed a dip in the competition ratio for national public service applicants to "the number of successful applicants rising in line with an increase in the number of planned hires by each ministry and agency."
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 12, 2025

Japan marks lowest level of competition on record for civil service applicants

Women made up a record high of 47.1% of all successful applicants, up from 43.0% in the previous year.
Kazuto Uchida, president of the Government Pension Investment Fund, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on July 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2025

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund is hiring amid ballooning assets

GPIF has an unusually small headcount despite being one of the world’s largest retirement funds.
Ralph Edwards (far left), Capt. Robert Lewis (rear left), Bertha Starkey (rear center), Marvin Green (rear right), Kiyoshi (seated, left) and Chisa Tanimoto (seated, right), Koko Kondo (front left) and her three younger siblings, on the show “This Is Your Life,” on May 11, 1955
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
Aug 12, 2025

How an A-bomb survivor found forgiveness for Hiroshima bombers

Koko Kondo’s anger was extinguished when she saw the co-pilot of the Enola Gay bomber recall with regret what he and his crew had done on Aug. 6, 1945.
People offer prayers in front of a monument at the site of the 1985 Japan Airlines jumbo jet crash, in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2025

Victims mourned 40 years after JAL plane crash

At around 6:56 p.m. on Aug. 12, 1985, JAL Flight 123 crashed while on its way to Osaka, killing 520 of the 524 passengers and crew members on board.
Kimi Ozawa, who lost her husband in the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet, prays in front of his memorial marker on Tuesday in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture.
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
Aug 12, 2025

Controversial theories continue to swirl around 1985 JAL jet crash

Some bereaved family members and critics who subscribe to the idea of possible SDF involvement say the initial probe left too many loose ends untied.
People with children walk in the sun as the Japanese government issued a heatstroke alert due to a heat wave, in Tokyo, on Aug. 5
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 12, 2025

Heat waves pose serious health risks for pregnant women, study shows

The Tokyo team found that the risk of serious complications for pregnant women increases the day after a heat wave.
Akio Kuroi holds a photograph of his father, Keijiro, as he speaks during an interview in Tokyo in April about how his father had changed after World War II.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 13, 2025

'War trauma' transformed caring father into a complete stranger

A growing number of family members of former Japanese servicemen are sharing their experiences, prompting the government to launch a survey to document such realities.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura addresses a meeting of Osaka Ishin no Kai on July 30.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 13, 2025

Osaka governor eager to make another bid for metropolis plan

The plan, which has been rejected twice in referendums, would scrap the city of Osaka and reorganize it into special administrative districts under Osaka Prefecture.
Hideo Shimizu, 95, says he cannot forget seeing the prisoners' bloody wills scribbled on the walls of prison cells at Unit 731 in 1945.
JAPAN / History
Aug 13, 2025

The indelible memory of being a part of Unit 731

For 95-year-old Hideo Shimizu, the 4½ months he spent with the biological and chemical warfare unit of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army were just like yesterday.
The Maruti Suzuki India e-Vitara electric vehicle unveiled during the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in New Delhi in January
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 13, 2025

Suzuki’s India unit doubles down on SUVs as small cars slide

The nation’s top carmaker is scrambling to counter slowing demand for its bread-and-butter small cars.
An Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft operated by the Ground Self-Defense Force.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 13, 2025

GSDF completes relocation of Ospreys from Chiba Prefecture to Camp Saga

The Ospreys will be operated to defend remote islands, such as the Nansei island chain in southwestern Japan, with a Taiwan contingency in mind.
The government is considering requiring handheld fans to be recycled, in the wake of a host of fires caused by rechargeable electric devices during disposal work.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2025

Japan may make recycling handheld fans mandatory

The consideration comes in the wake of a host of fires caused by rechargeable electric devices during disposal work.
J-pop idol Kenshin Kamimura leaves the West Kowloon Law Courts on bail in Hong Kong on Wednesday, after he was found guilty of indecent assault of a woman who worked as his interpreter at a restaurant in Mong Kok district in March this year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 14, 2025

Japanese star convicted of indecent assault in Hong Kong

Kenshin Kamimura, a former member of the boy band ONE N' ONLY, harassed a woman who worked as his interpreter at a restaurant earlier this year.
Participants pray during a World War II memorial ceremony held off the coast of the Philippines in June. The program facilitating the services will end due to the aging of participants.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2025

Overseas WWII memorial services for Japanese families set to end

The program has seen dwindling participation as many bereaved families grow older.
Tsukiko Ito shares her experience of the World War II air raid on Akita's Tsuchizaki district, during an interview on July 15 in the prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2025

Akita woman recounts one of the last air raids of WWII

Tsukiko Ito, 84, was 4 years old when Akita's Tsuchizaki district was battered by around 130 bombers from the United States and its allies on the night of Aug. 14, 1945.
Former teacher Satoshi Ito speaks during an interview in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, in June. Ito underwent training for guerrilla warfare at a secret school to prepare for a possible battle in mainland Japan during World War II.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2025

War must never be repeated, says WWII guerrilla commander

Former teacher Satoshi Ito, now 102, said he was a pawn of the military, like many others.
At Yawata Junior High School in Nagoya, there are no more rules on clothing and hairstyles. Students are free to wear either the school's uniform or clothes of their own choosing.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Aug 18, 2025

Schools get students involved in revision of unreasonable ‘black rules’

Positive outcomes have emerged from such revisions, including greater student confidence and stronger trust between students and teachers.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo