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Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida show off the new banknotes in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 3, 2024

Japan releases new banknotes for first time in 20 years

The Bank of Japan plans to introduce a total of ¥1.6 trillion ($9.9 billion) worth of the new banknotes into circulation on Wednesday alone.
Japan forward Mao Hosoya controls the ball during a game against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.
OLYMPICS
Jul 3, 2024

Japan goes with all U-23 men's soccer squad for Paris Olympics

Veterans like Liverpool’s Wataru Endo, 31, had been rumored as possible options to supplement the 18-man squad, but instead Japan will be counting on youth in Paris.
Japan's Tatsuru Saito competes during the 2022 world championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Jul 4, 2024

Japan's Tatsuru Saito aims to emulate late father with judo Olympic gold

Hitoshi Saito was a judo great who triumphed at consecutive Olympics in 1984 and 1988 at over 95 kilograms.
A Vietnamese worker harvests tomatoes at a farm in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2024

Japan faces shortage of almost a million foreign workers in 2040

At the current pace, 5.91 million foreign people will be working in Japan in 2040
Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko speaks during an interview in Kyiv on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2024

Ukraine eyes investment deal with Japan by year-end

A new bilateral tax treaty is expected to enter into force in January next year, according to the Ukrainian government.
Japan has finally scrapped every regulation requiring the use of floppy disks for administrative purposes.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2024

Japan finally phases out floppy disks

One of the world’s most technologically advanced nations has held on to some of the most outmoded devices.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a speech during the closing ceremony of the Asia Business Summit in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Kishida sends congratulatory message to new British prime minister

Kishida expressed his hope to step up cooperation with Britain to strengthen and maintain a free and open international order.
Asami Yoshida (center) practices with Japan at the National Training Center in Tokyo in January.
OLYMPICS / Basketball
Jul 8, 2024

Asami Yoshida bringing experience and swagger to Akatsuki Japan for Paris Olympics

The veteran point guard was Japan's captain at the 2016 Olympics.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games' opening ceremony, which will be held outside of a stadium for the first time in history, has attracted a lot of interest from Japanese fans.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 10, 2024

Japan fans shun pricey Olympics tickets even as top-tier packages sell out

Travel agencies report a noticeable drop in demand for Paris Olympics tours amid a weakening of the yen and the introduction of a new booking system.
Plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits over forced sterilization and their lawyers hold banners that read "victory ruling," after the Supreme Court ruled in their favor in Tokyo on July 3.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 10, 2024

Amid discrimination, Japan's eugenics missteps could be repeated, expert warns

After a landmark ruling that finally declared Japan's defunct eugenics law unconstitutional, some may ask how Japanese society openly endorsed eugenics.
Many second-generation Indian migrants decide to leave Japan for higher education — with Indians making up less than 1% of the country’s student population — but there is evidence that this cohort’s interest in attending Japanese universities is growing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2024

Do university-bound Indian migrants actually stay in Japan?

Can Japan retain second-generation Indian migrants who are seeking a college education? The evidence is mixed, showing an uptick that still has a long way to grow.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday before leaving for Washington for NATO meetings.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 11, 2024

Kishida and Yoon vow cooperation over Russia-North Korea ties

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a mutual defense pledge with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month.
International talks on Pacific bluefin tuna catches began in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024

International talks on bluefin tuna catches begin in Japan

Japan is seeking to more than double the annual quota for large bluefin tuna in the central and western Pacific and increase the quota for smaller fish by 30%.
An empty street in Fukiya, Okayama Prefecture. Japan may be both experiencing overtourism in some places and witnessing the opposite in others.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024

Japan doesn't have too many tourists, statistics suggest. It just feels that way.

The country received 0.2 tourists per capita in 2023, compared with France's 1.5, Greece's 3.4, Portugal's 2.5 and Spain's 1.8.
Ground Self-Defense Force troops conduct a military drill on the uninhabited island of Irisuna in Okinawa Prefecture in November.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 12, 2024

Japan’s new defense white paper delivers strongest words yet on Taiwan

Tokyo pins the blame squarely on China's large-scale military exercises around the democratically ruled island for continued tensions in the region.
The Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. Brennon Washington, a 25-year-old U.S. Air Force serviceman based at Kadena, on Friday pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 12, 2024

U.S. serviceman in Okinawa pleads not guilty to sexual assault

Brennon Washington, who is stationed at the Kadena Air Base, said he did not kidnap or assault an underage girl in December.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speak to reporters in Berlin on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 13, 2024

Japanese and German leaders deepen ties with new economic security framework

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and German Chancellor Olaz Scholz agreed on the new mechanism during the Japanese leader's first visit to the country as PM.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 15, 2024

Can Kishida's diplomacy boost support at home?

Facing calls to step down even from within the LDP, the Prime Minister apparently hopes to shore up support through his latest meetings overseas.
An Air Force CV-22 Osprey at U.S. military's Yokota base in Tokyo in May. U.S. forces in Japan plan to deploy the Navy's CMV-22 Osprey at Yamaguchi Prefecture's Iwakuni base.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2024

U.S. to deploy Navy Ospreys at Iwakuni base

The CMV-22 Ospreys will replace C-2 transport planes that are currently stationed at the base in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
Japan's annual quotas for Pacific bluefin tuna catches were raised at an international meeting held in Hokkaido on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2024

Japan's Pacific bluefin tuna catch quotas set to rise

The bluefin tuna population has been recovering in recent years from overfishing.
Japan's Hikaru Kitagawa dribbles past a defender during an Olympic qualifying match against North Korea at National Stadium in Tokyo in February.
OLYMPICS / Football
Jul 17, 2024

After Tokyo Olympic disappointment, Nadeshiko Japan look for redemption

For many, a disappointing effort on home soil in 2021 was a marker of just how far Japan's women's soccer team had fallen. Now the squad has its sights set on redemption.
Cochlear's hearing implants will be used for a program to train hearing aid experts in Shizuoka Prefecture, as Japan tries to lower the age when children can receive a cochlear implant.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 17, 2024

Australian government funds Japanese hearing implant program for children

Public health experts In Japan want to lower the threshold and the age when children can receive a hearing implant, currently at one year old.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Cook Islands' Prime Minister Mark Brown shake hands during 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting on Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 18, 2024

With eye on China, Japan deepens ties with Pacific islands at Tokyo summit

Collaborations have been agreed in seven fields, including technology and connectivity, climate change, people-centered development and security.
The government is considering introducing a new preclearance system for foreign visitors, starting with tourists from Taiwan, to help shorten the time taken for entry procedures on arrival.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024

Japan to speed up entry process as tourist wave hits new record

The government will introduce a new preclearance system from January, starting with tourists from Taiwan, NHK has reported.
Passersby holding parasols walk through Tokyo on July 9 amid a heatstroke alert in the capital and other prefectures.
JAPAN / Boiling Point
Jul 19, 2024

Boiling Point

This special series focused on this year’s scorching summer will also lay the groundwork for enhanced heat coverage in future years.
A group of Chinese tourists walks through the Ginza district of Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 19, 2024

Japan sees more tourists than before pandemic, breaking half-year record

The weak yen is attracting large crowds to Japan, with many tourists splashing out.
A screen displays an error message at a self-checkout terminal of a supermarket in Sydney on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024

Japan mostly spared in global IT meltdown despite reports of some bugs

Around the world, airlines, network broadcasts and banks said their systems were disrupted.
The Japan Coast Guard and Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration carried out a joint maritime exercise south of the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2024

Japanese and Taiwanese coast guards hold joint drill off Chiba

China said Friday that it firmly opposes Japan undertaking joint maritime training with Taiwan, adding that it had lodged a complaint with Japan.
Matthew Barry (right) tastes sake at the Hyper Japan Festival on Friday in London.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2024

Japanese culture festival kicks off in London

The three-day event is is expected to attract around 25,000 visitors and is said to be one of the largest Japanese culture-themed events in Britain.
Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 21, 2024

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

Can a 700-year-old dance have an effect on extreme heat or torrential rain? Probably not. When you're feeling powerless, though, any little thing helps.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear