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A Toyota plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. The management-led offer to take a Toyota supplier private at ¥2,050 per share is too low and highlights shortfalls in Japan’s MBO regulations, said a portfolio manager and head of Japan equity at investment firm GMO.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 8, 2025

Toyota supplier’s management buyout plan stokes investor rebuke of Japan rules

The tension around Pacific Industrial’s MBO proposal highlights the debate over the TSE’s rules requiring companies to provide more disclosures on price fairness and procedures.
Ume plums with scratches caused by a hailstorm
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2025

New products created to save Wakayama ume from hail damage

Amid a poor crop, some companies have adopted a marketing tactic of highlighting hail-damaged ume>.
Typhoon Halong is moving north near the Izu Islands, with strong winds, high waves and heavy rain expected as it passes early on Thursday, prompting warnings from the weather agency.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2025

Typhoon Halong to cause windstorms, heavy rain and high waves on the Izu islands

Japan's weather agency is forecasting up to 300 millimeters of rain on the Izu islands in the 24 hours through Thursday noon, with a linear precipitation zone possibly forming.
Officials from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People in the Diet building on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 8, 2025

CDP proposes DPP head Tamaki as unified opposition PM candidate

The proposal is believed to be aimed at putting a brake on the LDP's intensified outreach to the DPP as a potential coalition partner.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (left) and LDP counterpart Sanae Takaichi meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2025

After 26 years, Komeito may be showing signs it will break with LDP

Komeito not immediately endorsing Takaichi reflects deep concerns among Soka Gakkai members, the party’s main supporters in the lay Buddhist group, about her ideology and policies.
Masayoshi Matsumoto, chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation and deputy chairperson of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, speaks during an interview on Wednesday in the city of Osaka.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2025

Local business leader vows to discuss Osaka Expo legacies

The new technologies shown off at the expo include flying cars.
In September alone, the number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan rose 8.1% from a year earlier to 873.
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2025

Japan's April-September business failures hit 12-year high

In the first half of fiscal 2025, business failures rose 1.5% from a year earlier to 5,172, up for the fourth consecutive year.
Empress Nagako, posthumously known as Empress Kojun, fixes the hair of Emperor Hirohito, known posthumously as Emperor Showa, at the Nasu Imperial Villa in Tochigi Prefecture in August 1947.
JAPAN / History
Oct 9, 2025

Official records of late Empress Kojun's life include her experiences in World War II

The empress spent Aug. 15, 1945, when Emperor Showa declared Japan's surrender in World War II, inside a bunker facility that had served as her home, the records state.
Legal scholar Shigeto Hozumi conducted some 250 lecture sessions for Empress Nagako, posthumously known as Empress Kojun, between 1924 and 1950.
JAPAN / History
Oct 9, 2025

Late Empress Kojun received lectures on World War II from experts, records show

In a lecture in February 1942, after Japan went to war with the United States, one scholar explained to Empress Kojun speeches delivered to parliament by the then prime minister.
Shuichi Tachihara, director of the forecast division at the Japan Meteorological Agency, holds a news conference regarding the special warnings for heavy rain and high waves due to the approach of Typhoon Halong, on Wednesday at the agency's office in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2025

Typhoon Halong brings strong winds and heavy rain to southern Izu islands

The national weather agency issued its highest-level emergency alert for the Izu islands before downgrading the warning after the rain passed.
PayPay has taken a 40% stake in Binance’s Japan unit.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 9, 2025

SoftBank’s PayPay invests in Binance Japan to expand in crypto

The companies plan to launch a service that will allow users to buy crypto through Binance using their PayPay accounts, they said.
Komeito head Tetsuo Saito and the party's executives (left) meet with the LDP's Sanae Takaichi and counterparts in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 9, 2025

LDP and Komeito's shaky ties throw doubt on Takaichi becoming prime minister

The inability of the LDP and Komeito to forge a quick agreement and vote for Takaichi to become prime minister has created uncertainty at a busy time on the political calendar.
Even if you don’t get your exact wishes across, younger Japanese hair dressers tend to know a smattering of English and, of course, you can always use hand gestures.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 9, 2025

From straight to curly: Getting your hair done in Japanese

From perms to straightening, navigating a Japanese salon isn’t difficult when you know the right words.
Japan's top financial leaders are working to ease fears that AI will cost jobs, emphasizing its role in boosting efficiency and transforming work.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 10, 2025

Japan’s top bank CEOs push for AI, soothing worry over human work

In Japan, where the financial sector employs hundreds of thousands of people, the conversation over AI and its impact on work is picking up pace.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to decommission some reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, excluding the No. 6 and No. 7 units.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025

Tepco mulls decommissioning some Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors

It would mark the first reactor decommissioning at the plant, which straddles the city of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki speaks during an interview on Thursday at the parliament building.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2025

DPP leader Tamaki negative on joining LDP-led coalition for now

The DPP chief noted that his party would not form a coalition with the LDP if it lacks Komeito.
The prospect of faster inflation and rising asset prices under Sanae Takaichi, who’s likely to become the next prime minister, is seen as favoring loose monetary policy that would probably further boost paper gains in corporate property, luring activist funds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 10, 2025

Japan’s political shakeup opens door for real estate activism

The prospect of faster inflation and rising asset prices is seen as favoring loose monetary policy that would probably further boost paper gains in corporate property.
The University of Tokyo in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025

University of Tokyo lands its highest spot ever in global higher education ranking

Rising to 26th from 28th last year, the University of Tokyo remains the sole Japanese university to crack the top 50 in the Times Higher Education's World University Rankings.
A conceptual image of Dassai, a Japanese sake, brewed in space
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025

Sake brewing to be tested on International Space Station

The goal is to produce sake on the moon in the future.
In the reporting year that ended in March, per-capita consumption of rice — which is 99% self-sufficient — and domestic production of sugar beets and sugarcane grew from the previous year.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025

Japan's food self-sufficiency rate remains at 38%

The calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate stood at 38% for fiscal 2024, unchanged for the fourth year in a row, the agriculture ministry said Friday.
There has been a rapid rise in the number of business manager visa holders in recent years, triggering concerns that some are using it as an easy route to long-term residency rather than for genuine entrepreneurship.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025

Business management visa requirements to be tightened from next week

There has been a rapid rise in the number of business manager visa holders in recent years, triggering concerns some are merely using it as an easy route to long-term residency.
Visitors lounge on the grassy hill on the top of the Grand Ring during the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka in May.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 10, 2025

‘Save the Ring’ calls intensify as Osaka Expo’s end nears

The prefectural and city governments of Osaka have announced they will retain just a 200-meter portion of the world's largest wooden structure.
LDP leader Sanae Takaichi and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito attend a party leaders' meeting on Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2025

Takaichi's PM bid faces further headwinds with coalition split

Komeito’s decision to end the 26-year partnership with the LDP means the ruling party will need to court opposition parties to vote Takaichi in as prime minister.
People observe a moment of silence on March 11, the 14th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, near the ruins of the former disaster prevention center in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025

Remains identified as 6-year-old missing after 2011 tsunami

The victim was at home in Iwate Prefecture and was washed away by the tsunami that came following the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The city of Izumisano, in Osaka Prefecture, has successfully challenged a decision by the central government to cut special tax grants based on its revenues under the <i>furusato nōzei</i> (hometown tax donation) system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 10, 2025

Government cuts to Izumisano's tax grants illegal, Osaka High Court rules

The city in Osaka Prefecture raised about ¥49.8 billion in donations in fiscal 2018, the most among the local governments under the hometown tax donation program.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda speaks to reporters at the Diet in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 11, 2025

After ruling bloc breakup, CDP and Komeito eye unified PM candidate

The move comes as the Democratic Party for the People appears no longer willing to hold coalition talks with the LDP, putting new ruling party chief Sanae Takaichi in a tough spot.
Representatives from Nihon Hidankyo, formally known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, speak during a news conference in Tokyo in October last year after winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2025

Nuclear risk continues to rise, 80 years after atomic bombings

The risk of nuclear attack is at an extreme level despite the robust efforts of Nihon Hidankyo, which received the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers remarks at a memorial service for Self-Defense Forces personnel who died in the line of duty, on Saturday at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 11, 2025

Ishiba attends memorial for fallen SDF members

The prime minister pledged to "do everything we can to protect the lives and the peace of the people of Japan."
Ichiro Ozawa (left), leader of the Liberal Party, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (center) and Takenori Kanzaki, leader of Komeito, hold hands ahead of a three-party summit toward forming a coalition government, at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo in October 1999.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025

LDP-Komeito coalition marked by twists and turns over 26 years

The two parties have been in a mutually dependent relationship centered on electoral cooperation.
Natsuki Kai, a high school student who attended last year's Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony as a student peace messenger, is interviewed in Hiroshima in September.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2025

One year after Hidankyo's Nobel Prize, student remains true to the cause

Natsuki Kai's great-grandparents were among those exposed to the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

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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