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One month after the cyberattack, Asahi Group Holdings faces an inevitable hit to profits, while competitors scramble to meet rising demand for substitutes.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 29, 2025

A month after Asahi cyberattack, Japan's beverage industry still high and dry

Asahi’s output remains well below pre-incident levels and competitors are also feeling the strain as they scramble to meet surging demand for substitutes.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi speaks to reporters at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 29, 2025

LDP and JIP to set up joint policy conference

The LDP aims to make it clear that JIP is responsible for running the government as a member of the ruling coalition even though it has no Cabinet posts.
SoftBank shortstop Imamiya (right) celebrates after making a catch off Hanshin's Sakamoto's hit in the sixth inning at Koshien Stadium on Tuesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 29, 2025

Imamiya's spectacular Game 3 catch may live on in SoftBank lore

​The veteran shortstop said the key to his performance is preparation, especially when it comes to playing on a surface as unfamiliar as Koshien Stadium’s all-dirt infield.
Lawyer Hidetoshi Masunaga (front, left) and others seeking the invalidation of the July Upper House election walk to the Nagoya High Court's Kanazawa branch on Oct. 1.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 29, 2025

Court finds July poll was held in an unconstitutional state

A group of lawyers sought the invalidation of the Upper House election.
According to the education ministry, an increase in nonattendance at elementary and junior high schools may have reflected, in part, widespread views on the need for children to take time off.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2025

Elementary and junior high schools see record nonattendance figure

The figure of 353,970, in an education ministry survey, marked the 12th straight year of increase.
Despite responders to a Japan Press Research Institute survey ranking newspapers as among the most trustworthy sources, readership was in decline.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2025

Online news increasingly consumed despite being viewed with skepticism

While online news was the most accessed news source, in terms of trustworthiness, it trails behind traditional media sources.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday that the central bank has no timeline in mind for the next rate increase.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 30, 2025

BOJ keeps policy rate at 0.5% as lack of U.S. data makes forecasting difficult

The central bank stuck to a wait-and-see approach owing to continued uncertainty.
Sotatsu Yanase, a 46-year-old tatami shop owner, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison by the Tokyo District Court on Thursday for burning his girlfriend's body and dumping it in the sea off Izu Oshima.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 30, 2025

Tokyo court sentences man to 30 months in prison for burning girlfriend’s body

According to the indictment, Sotatsu Yanase abandoned his girlfriend's remains in 2024 near Izu Oshima's southwest coast, with police still investigating how she died.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to discharge 7,800 tons of treated water after diluting it with large amounts of seawater in the ongoing operation, set to run until Nov. 17.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2025

Nuclear plant in Fukushima starts fifth round of treated water discharge

This is the 16th time that water containing small amounts of radioactive tritium has been released since the discharge began in August 2023.
A bear roams around a field in the town of Kuzumaki, Iwate Prefecture, on Oct. 12.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 30, 2025

Japan’s government ramps up bear control efforts amid rise in attacks

With the move, which pulls together more agencies than have previously been involved, authorities hope to cull bears that enter residential areas more quickly and accurately.
Despite the advance of synthetic alternatives and declines in the available workforce, some textile workers still see the potential of traditional persimmon dyeing.
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 1, 2025

Sun-dried and sustainable, Japan’s persimmon dye lives on

Thanks to Japan's largest freshwater lake, Shiga Prefecture has long thrived as a production center of persimmon tannin dyeing.
Former Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano speaks at a meeting in Saitama on Oct. 25.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2025

CDP signals change of position on security legislation

Former leader Edano's remarks surprised some party members and supporters because they affect the party's foundation.
The mother of a deceased male inmate of a juvenile detention facility who filed a lawsuit over the medical treatment he had received while detained speaks during a news conference in Tokyo Thursday following a ruling ordering the state to pay damages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 31, 2025

Tokyo court orders state to pay damages following inmate’s death

The dispute centered on whether a medical exam conducted in January 2020 at the juvenile detention branch had been appropriate given the man was later diagnosed with cancer.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama issued her first clear warning on currency moves in noting the government is monitoring the yen with a strong sense of urgency.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025

Japan’s Katayama warns on FX as yen hits eight-month low

The yen traded around an eight-month low after the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged, with markets unconvinced by Gov. Kazuo Ueda offering hints a rate hike is coming.
Shuri Castle in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday with the reconstruction work on its exterior completed six years after the October 2019 fire
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2025

Shuri Castle’s bright red hall is finally restored six years after fire

The vivid vermilion wooden palace, long regarded as a symbol of the island, is finally visible again as crews move on to interior painting and decorative work.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara (center) and other ministers prior to a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 31, 2025

Japan to introduce joint child custody system in April 2026

A system of statutory child support will also be introduced on the same date.
Maki Takubo, mayor of Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, after the city assembly passed a second no-confidence motion against her, in the city on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2025

Scandal-hit mayor of Ito in Shizuoka finally ousted

Maki Takubo had claimed to have graduated from Toyo University but admitted in July that she had actually been expelled.
Prices of 143 products from major Japanese food and beverage makers will rise in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025

Prices of 143 food items to rise in Japan in November

The figure is down 58.4% from a year earlier and marks the first decline in 11 months, according to research firm Teikoku Databank.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 1, 2025

U.S. tariffs on heavy trucks and buses come into effect

Fresh U.S. tariffs on imports of medium- and heavy-duty trucks took effect Saturday, raising the levy on such vehicles from Japan to 50%.
Forever Young trains with American Stage ahead of the 2025 Breeders Cup Championship at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club on Oct. 29.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Nov 2, 2025

Forever Young gives Japan first Breeders' Cup Classic triumph

The globe-trotting Forever Young got his nose in front coming off the final turn and had enough to hold off late closing Sierra Leone and Fierceness — last year's runner-up.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara speaks in an interview at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2025

Kihara vows bold revision of security documents

The Takaichi administration, inaugurated Oct. 21, aims to revise the documents next year.
Hussain Al-Shahristani, president of the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs (second from left), and other officials visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Saturday.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2025

Pugwash Conference opens in Hiroshima

The 63rd Pugwash Conference opened in Hiroshima on Saturday, with nearly 200 participants set to discuss the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The capital city's Harajuku district in December 2024. Tokyo’s “coolest” neighborhood is subjective and constantly shifting, as the city’s appeal lies in its diversity of areas, each offering a unique mix of trends, culture and hidden gems.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2025

Tokyo’s coolest neighborhood? There isn’t one.

Tokyo can’t be reduced to a single trendy suburb: What’s appealing is precisely the incongruity of its locales.
Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of the Japan Innovation Party
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 3, 2025

JIP co-leader Fumitake Fujita to stop using secretary’s firm

Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of the Japan Innovation Party, said he would stop placing orders with his secretary’s company following a report of dubious spending.
Aichi Prefectural Police officials hold a news conference about the arrest of a suspect in the 1999 murder case last Friday in the city of Nagoya.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 3, 2025

Police say 1999 killing of Nagoya housewife most likely premeditated

Police in Aichi believe a woman arrested last week over the killing of a 32-year-old housewife had attacked her immediately after she opened her front door.
China is extending its short-term visa waiver for Japanese visitors by one year, continuing the policy beyond December.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2025

China to extend visa exemption for Japanese visitors

Under the program, travelers are allowed to stay in China for up to 30 days without a visa for tourism or business.
Members of U.S. military police patrol entertainment districts of Naha on Nov. 1.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 4, 2025

U.S. Marine held on suspicion of assaulting restaurant worker in Okinawa

The warrant officer is suspected of pressing his hand against the neck of a restaurant employee and causing abrasions on a Naha street at around 4 a.m. on Monday.
Yo Okutani holds a bear repellent spray he developed at Biosiense in Anan, Tokushima Prefecture, last month.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2025

Tokushima company develops bear repellent spray amid record attack numbers

The spray is a rare domestic product in a market dominated by imported options.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) listens to questions from Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), regarding her policy speech at the Lower House in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 4, 2025

Takaichi defends choices for government posts in first debate with Noda

CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda lambasted the prime minister's decision to appoint LDP lawmakers involved in the slush fund scandal to government posts.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ministerial meeting on policies regarding foreign nationals and immigration on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 4, 2025

Takaichi leads first ministerial meeting on policies regarding foreign residents

The government envisions a tougher crackdown on visa overstayers, as well as on foreign residents who fail to pay social insurance premiums.

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