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The average gasoline price is likely to start climbing again, toward ¥185, after the government cuts subsidies further on Jan. 16.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024

Japan pump price tops ¥180 per liter for first time in 15 months

The national average at the pump as of Monday climbed ¥4.8 from a week before to ¥180.6, posting an increase for the seventh straight week.
Japan Airlines jets at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in August. On Thursday, JAL announced its systems had been targeted in a cyberattack.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2024

Japan Airlines reports cyberattack on system, impacting flights

JAL's systems appeared to have returned to normal after the router believed to have been causing the disruption was temporarily shut down.
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Type 10 main battle tank fires ammunition during a live fire exercise at the JGSDF's training grounds in the East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2024

Japan set to approve record budget, spending more on defense and regions

While the government will have to lean heavily on debt issuance, record tax receipts will enable the cutting back of fresh bond issuance by almost a fifth.
The labor ministry conducted the survey on foreign workers, the first of its kind, in October to November last year.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2024

Many foreign workers in Japan face high employment agency fees

The survey found that 14.4% of foreign workers in Japan are facing problems or difficulties at work.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from the left) speaks at the AI Strategy Council meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2024

Japan panel seeks law to have AI developers help in case of problems

The government will work so that it can introduce legislation during next year's ordinary parliamentary session, at the earliest.
Education costs for children who attend private schools from kindergarten through high school have hit a record high of approximately ¥19.76 million, according to a survey released by the education ministry.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 26, 2024

Cost of private education through high school hits record high in Japan

Total education costs for children who attend private schools from kindergarten through high school, including tuition and cram school fees, are approximately ¥19.76 million.
Then-Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa (left) and then-U.S. President Bill Clinton meet for talks at the White House on April 16, 1993.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2024

Ex-PM Miyazawa aired doubts about China's democratization to Clinton in '93

In a summit with the then-U.S. president, then-Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said he was skeptical about democracy taking root in China as living standards improve.
In the health ministry's report, customer harassment is defined as "behavior by customers, business partners, facility users and others that goes beyond what is socially acceptable and harms the environment for workers."
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024

Japan eyes law requiring measures against harassment by customers

A new health ministry report urges companies to create an environment in which employees can work without major mental or physical concerns.
The competition rate of employment examinations for public school teachers in Japan hit the lowest levels for all of elementary, junior high and high schools since data began being compiled in fiscal 1979.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024

Japan sees record low competition rate for becoming school teachers

The decline reflected the mass departure of teachers who reached retirement age, which led to increased demand for new recruits, as well as a decrease in the number of applicants.
The health ministry aims to improve accessibility, particularly in areas with few pharmacies.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2024

Japan to allow convenience stores to handle over-the-counter drugs

Under current regulations, OTC drugs can only be sold at stores with pharmacists or other qualified personnel stationed at all times.
Authorities are calling for utmost vigilance as Japan heads into the New Year holiday season, when many people plan getaways.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2024

Flu cases surge above ‘warning’ levels in much of Japan

An estimated 1.67 million people became sick and sought medical care from doctors in the week through last Sunday.
A work boat dropping sand on the seafloor for ground improvement work off Henoko, Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2024

Ground improvement work begins in Okinawa's Henoko

The work is part of the project to build a replacement facility for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan, Okinawa.
Evacuated people rest at a green house converted into an evacuation center in the aftermath of an earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 2. Japan is preparing to create a disaster management agency, with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba particularly keen to improve the conditions of emergency shelters for disaster evacuees.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

Japan preparing to create disaster management agency

Disaster-related deaths exceeded 220 in the 2016 quake disaster in Kumamoto Prefecture and topped 240 in the Noto Peninsula temblor.
Lacquerware maker Takaho Shoji is trying to bring life back to his remote community in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, after a devastating earthquake and subsequent floods on New Year's Day of 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 29, 2024

Japan's Wajima craftmakers see hope in disaster-hit region

Lacquerware makers are determined to bring life back to the remote community after a devastating New Year's Day earthquake, followed by severe floods.
According to the National Police Agency, a total of 3,326 romance scam were reported in the first 11 months of this year, more than double that in the same period of last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 30, 2024

'For our future together': The rising threat of romance scams in Japan

The prevalence of such scams, which prey on the lonely, has led authorities to step up measures to crack down on scammers who are often not even in the country.
A person walks down a street in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the days following a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, which struck off the coast of the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024. More than 500 deaths have been attributed to the event, which was the worst quake since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
JAPAN / 2024 in Review
Dec 31, 2024

Japan news images of 2024: Upheaval, resilience and breakthroughs

Earthquakes and extreme heat made the headlines alongside a low yen and minority government.
The city of Kumamoto has seen a surge in the number of students from Taiwan, following the arrival of chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and related businesses in Kumamoto Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 31, 2024

Kumamoto public schools respond to influx of Taiwanese students

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s arrival in Kumamoto has heightened the need to adapt to the needs of Taiwanese families.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 24. Ishiba has, unsuccessfully, sought to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump since November, with Trump’s team saying at the time that no meetings with foreign leaders would take place before his January inauguration.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 31, 2024

Ishiba rules out pre-inauguration meeting with Trump

Ishiba had sought a mid-January meeting with Trump but said over the weekend that sooner didn't necessarily mean better when it came to talks with the incoming U.S. president.
The first sunrise of the year is seen on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the massive Noto Peninsula earthquake, in Mitsukushima, a scenic spot in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, where part of the mountain face collapsed.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 1, 2025

Japan marks anniversary of massive Noto Peninsula earthquake

Most of the people affected by the disaster have returned to their homes or moved into temporary housing, and are working to rebuild their lives.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed support for allowing for married couples to retain different surnames. 
JAPAN / Society
Jan 3, 2025

Japan's dual-surname option could see turning point in 2025

Support for allowing spouses to retain separate surnames is strong among the opposition, and even within the Liberal Democratic Party, which rules as a minority government.
The Japan Transport Safety Board, which last month released an interim report on a deadly collision between a Japan Airlines passenger plane and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Haneda Airport a year ago, plans to a final report outlining measures to prevent a recurrence.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2025

Safety board to further analyze JAL jet collision at Haneda

The Japan Transport Safety Board will compile a final report that includes measures to prevent any recurrence of similar accidents.
A woman in her 60s talks about her son who became addicted to online gambling and committed a crime through an illegal part-time job.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 5, 2025

Online gambling addiction becoming serious issue in Japan

The number of consultation requests received by one aid group has surged 11-fold in five years.
Solar panels, which typically last 20 to 30 years, will begin to reach the end of their service life in the next decade.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2025

Disposal of used solar panels emerging as challenge in Japan

The annual amount of solar panels discarded as waste is seen peaking at some 500,000 tons in the early 2040s, putting a major strain on industrial waste treatment facilities.
A portion of data showing changes in terrain due to the Noto Peninsula earthquake. The blue areas indicate landslides, while the red areas show accumulated debris.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2025

Japan government promotes laser forest terrain surveys

Data obtained by terrain surveys can be used for disaster responses by analyzing terrain changes after earthquakes or heavy rain.
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi addresses a meeting held at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo on Nov. 21.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 6, 2025

Japan's LDP lawmakers seen actively forming new groups

Moves to create fresh groups and hold gatherings may be seen as a revival of the factional politics at the core of the money scandal.
Children at a traditional festival in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday. A forecast made by Tohoku University professor Hiroshi Yoshida estimates that Japan will be left with just one child on Jan. 5, 2720, based on current birthrate trends.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 6, 2025

2720 — the year when Japan is left with just one child

An expert on the graying of society has warned that the nation will be left with just one child age 14 and below in 695 years if its birthrate continues to decline.
A Mitsubishi Electric Lighting LED product, which shortens installation time, in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, November
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025

Shift from fluorescent lamps to LEDs to accelerate in Japan

Manufacturers and industry groups are calling for the early replacement of fluorescent lamps with LEDs in offices and stores ahead of a 2027 ban.
An investigation conducted by the antitrust watchdog in 2023 and 2024 found that a post office in the Kanto region collected penalty fees from subcontractors without giving them a sufficient explanation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Japan Post received administrative guidance over poorly explained penalties

Penalty fees for failed deliveries and for complaints about cigarette odors were not explained adequately to subcontractors, the Fair Trade Commission found.
A hole, several meters wide, on the edge of the tarmac at Miyazaki Airport in Miyazaki, after an unexploded World War II U.S. bomb blew up less than a minute after a passenger jet taxied past on Oct. 2
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2025

Timed detonator from dud shell likely behind airport blast

Experts have identified a bomb that detonated at Miyazaki Airport as one of the explosives dropped by U.S. forces during World War II.
Tokyo led the country's 47 prefectures with 146 traffic-related fatalities in 2024, followed by Aichi with 141 and Chiba with 131.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2025

Japan's traffic death toll falls to third-lowest in 2024

There were 2,663 traffic-related deaths in 2024. The government has a goal of lowering the annual toll below 2,000 by 2025.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell