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Takuzo Aida, group director at the Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science, shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at its lab in Wako, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 5, 2025

Scientists in Japan develop plastic that quickly dissolves in seawater

The new material is as strong as petroleum-based plastics but breaks down into its original components when exposed to salt.
Sakie Yokota, mother of a North Korean abduction victim, said she feels "great loneliness" after the death of her husband, whom she described as a "serious person."
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2025

Mother of North Korean abductee urges government to have sense of mission over issue

Her husband, Shigeru, died in 2020 at the age of 87 without being able to see his abducted daughter again.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a National Resilience Promotion Headquarters gathering on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 6, 2025

Japan adopts ¥20 trillion anti-disaster program

The program, starting next April, focuses on rebuilding aging infrastructure and stepping up preparations for huge disasters.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during ministerial meeting meeting on foreign residents in Japan on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025

Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry

There have been growing calls for legislative reform to address unpaid medical fees and health care premiums — deficits filled by taxpayers' money.
A police car in Manila. Philippines authorities have detained the suspected leader of the "JP Dragon" crime ring based in the Southeast Asian country.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025

Philippines detains leader of 'JP Dragon' crime ring

The criminal organization, which includes former Japanese gang members, allegedly worked with another Philippines-based fraud group led by a suspect known as "Luffy."
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University. U.S. President Donald Trump has barred Harvard from accepting international students, prompting Japanese universities to offer support.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 7, 2025

Japanese universities step up to help international students after Harvard ban

Eighty-seven universities have announced support measures for international students in the U.S. who face difficulties continuing their studies.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 7, 2025

Japan to hold WWII panel discussions after summer Upper House election

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's administration was considering setting up the panel as early as April.
New data from the National Police Agency shows patterns in where dementia are found after going missing, and how best to locate them.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 8, 2025

491 dementia sufferers found dead in Japan in 2024

Many who were declared missing were later rescued thanks to GPS or other tracking devices attached to their clothing.
Pierre Chen, founder and chairman of Taiwan's Yageo, says his company would keep Shibaura Electronics’s most advanced technology in Japan if it successfully buys the Japanese firm.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2025

Taiwan’s Yageo plans to keep Shibaura’s AI technology in Japan

Yageo is facing off against Nintendo supplier Minebea Mitsumi in its bid for Shibaura and is offering ¥6,200 for each Shibaura share.
A nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant under construction in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2025

Construction of Tohoku nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant ongoing after 30 years

Japan Nuclear Fuel is "now confident to a certain degree" that the plant for processing spent fuel from nuclear power stations will be completed in fiscal 2026.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Ishiba agrees to strengthen ties with South Korea's Lee in call

Reaffirming the significance of bilateral ties, the two leaders agreed to meet in person to further develop relations.
Experts are calling on people not to miss children's signs of trouble, particularly in June after fatigue can accumulate over the two months since the beginning of the school year in April.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 9, 2025

Experts warn of 'June syndrome' among children in Japan

Much like the better-known May syndrome, or May blues, June syndrome is a general term for mental and physical disorders and is medically classified as adjustment disorder.
Personal data leaks involving My Number personal identification numbers reported under the My Number law climbed to 2,052 cases from 334 in fiscal 2023, according to the Personal Information Protection Commission's report adopted by the Cabinet Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025

Personal info leak cases hit record high in Japan in fiscal 2024

Personal data leaks involving My Number personal identification numbers reported under the My Number law climbed to 2,052 cases from 334 in fiscal 2023.
Of the 1,830 children who got into a traffic accident between 2020 and 2024, 613, or 33.5%, ran out into the street, according to a government report.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025

Dart-out cases common among schoolchildren's traffic accidents in Japan

Of the 1,830 children who got into such accidents while walking between 2020 and 2024, 613, or 33.5%, ran out into the street.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks in a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Japan to release extra 200,000 tons of stockpiled rice as prices fall

The average price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice at supermarkets in the week through June 1 was ¥4,223, down ¥37 from the previous week.
A pollster for the national census leaves a note at a house in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in September 2020 after no one answered the door.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2025

Japan faces staffing challenges for crucial census

The pollster workforce is aging, while increased public concerns over privacy have led more residents to refuse to participate.
Reporters question Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's Office in April.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2025

Survey finds nearly 70% of people in Japan trust mass media

A combined 68.7% were very or moderately trustful of mass media, while 6.7% said they do not trust mass media at all.
A law on teachers' salaries was revised to gradually raise their pay and also help resolve the problem of long working hours, though some lawmakers say it's not enough.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2025

Japan enacts law to gradually boost teachers' pay

The revision also requires all prefectural and municipal boards of education to draw up and publish plans to manage teachers' workloads.
A Chinese J-15 fighter jet flies just to the side of a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C surveillance plane over the high seas in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2025

Chinese fighter jets in close encounters with MSDF patrol planes over Pacific

Chinese fighters made “abnormal approaches” to MSDF patrol aircraft over the Pacific Ocean in recent days that risked collisions, the Defense Ministry said.
Satoshi Fujii, head of a subcommittee at the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2025

Nankai Trough quake predicted to cause ¥1.47 quadrillion in damage

The Japan Society of Civil Engineers said that the damage would be spread over the course of 22 years.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2025

Japan to move up auctions for imported rice

This year's first auction for rice as a staple food will take place on June 27 instead of the usual September, agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Thursday.
Voters in Tokyo listen to a speech by a candidate in Japan's Oct. 27, 2024 general election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2025

Japan news media association pledges accurate news for elections

The statement says that social media platforms should take proactive measures against fake and false information on the internet.
Kisaburo Tokai (center right), Liberal Democratic Party political reform chief, and Hiroshi Ogushi (center left), acting Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader, and others attend a meeting on political reform between ruling and opposition party officials at the Diet on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2025

Japan delays decision on reviewing political donations

Political reform chiefs from the parties concluded that it would be difficult to enact legislation on the review before the current parliamentary session ends.
Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa speaks to reporters Friday at Haneda Airport in Tokyo before heading to Washington.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2025

Akazawa sees a deal with U.S. sparing Japan from higher car levies

Akazawa heads to the U.S. as the two nations eye a potential trade deal out of an expected summit in Canada between Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Young women are moving from rural regions to Tokyo due to the lack of opportunities for education and employment, as well as the prevalence of stereotypical gender roles in their hometowns, a survey by the Cabinet Office last December found.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2025

Citing lack of opportunities, young women in Japan are not returning to rural areas

The government also stressed in its 2025 white paper on gender equality the need to eliminate the "fixed sense of gender roles" in rural communities.
A growing number of consumers, particularly people in their 50s and older, are seeking advice on troubles involving social media.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2025

Social media user worries swell to record level in Japan

Consumers in Japan sought advice on social media-related problems in a record 86,396 cases in 2024, an annual government report showed Friday.
Reports about fraudulent online rice shops to consumer affairs centers around the country spiked to 335 cases in April and May alone.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2025

Reports of online rice scams surging in Japan

Reports about fraudulent online rice shops to consumer affairs centers around the country spiked to 335 cases in April and May alone, as much as is normally seen in a year.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's economic revitalization minster, speaks to members of the media in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 15, 2025

Japan and U.S. trade negotiators spoke again Saturday

Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke by phone and explored the possibility of a trade deal.
A registration system linking local governments with the so-called connected population — nonresidents who regularly interact with regional areas — is designed to encourage people living in urban areas to play active roles in rural communities amid their shrinking populations.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2025

Japan considers new system to connect urban and rural populations

The system aims to help those in overpopulated cities to play more active roles in rural communities with shrinking populations.
The primary causes for long-term sick leave among women in their 20s included mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, a survey has found.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2025

Women in their 20s have higher rate of long-term sick leave, survey finds

The primary causes included mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, as well as pregnancy-related problems.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes