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July 18, 2025
 

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CELEBRITIES

In a statement on their official website, Tokio said it had decided to disband following a compliance violation by Taichi Kokubun, without providing details as to what the violation entailed.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 26, 2025
Japanese pop-rock band Tokio announces disbandment after 31 years
The group said it will bring an end to its activities as Tokio following a compliance violation by member Taichi Kokubun but did not disclose details.
Taichi Kokubun has accepted the decision to leave "The Tetsuwan Dash."
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
Pop group Tokio's Kokubun to leave Nippon TV program over compliance violations
Nippon TV President Hiroyuki Fukuda refrained from mentioning specifics about Taichi Kokubun's problematic acts in a news conference out of concern for "privacy protection."
The Fuji TV building in May. The company has taken responsibility for having enabled "sexual violence" toward an unnamed victim, who is a former Fuji TV worker, along with causing her emotional distress due to its initial reactions to the incident.
JAPAN / Media
Jun 20, 2025
Fuji TV settles ‘sexual violence’ case with apology and compensation to victim
Fuji TV President Kenji Shimizu apologized to the unnamed woman over the incident and how the company handled it.
Comedian Takaaki Ishibashi
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2025
Comedian Ishibashi apologizes over sexual harassment dinner incident
The scandal has been compared to the Fuji TV sexual harassment case involving former television star Masahiro Nakai.
Dewi Sukarno
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 16, 2025
Tokyo police refer Dewi Sukarno to prosecutors
Sukarno is suspected of throwing a champagne glass at a female staff member from her office, sources say.
Ryoko Hirosue was being detained at the Hamamatsu West Police Station in the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 16, 2025
Actor Ryoko Hirosue released from custody after alleged kicking incident
The 44-year-old actor was arrested for allegedly kicking and scratching a medical staff member while in a “panicked state” following a car accident.
Ryoko Hirosue
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2025
Actor Ryoko Hirosue arrested for allegedly injuring medical staffer
Hirosue was in a “panicked state” and injured the medical staff member, her agency said in a statement.
Tokyo police on Thursday sent to public prosecutors papers on six comedians from major Japanese entertainment agency Yoshimoto Kogyo on suspicion of gambling via online casino services.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025
Papers on six Japanese comedians sent to prosecutors over online gambling
They are suspected of accessing and gambling on overseas online casino websites between January 2023 and December 2024.
The National Police Agency has been warning people that gambling on online casinos is illegal in Japan even if they are operating legally overseas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 16, 2025
Police investigate comedians over alleged online casino gambling
Officials warn that online casinos are illegal in Japan even if they are operating legally overseas, but the number accused of using them continues to rise.
Fuji TV executives take questions during a news conference on Monday in Tokyo in which some participants became unruly.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2025
Fuji TV’s go-big PR strategy wins grudging praise globally
Fuji TV held a marathon 10-hour news conference on Monday to address allegations of sexual misconduct by Masahiro Nakai, a celebrity and former presenter for the broadcaster.
Members of the popular Japanese pop group SMAP, including scandal-plagued Masahiro Nakai (right), perform in Beijing in September 2011.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2025
A pop-star sex scandal shows the death throes of old Japan
As the leader of a now-defunct boy band SMAP, the 52-year-old Nakai has been a ubiquitous mainstay in Japanese life for decades.
Members of the media raise their hands for questions as outgoing Fuji TV President Koichi Minato attends a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 28, 2025
What we learned at Fuji TV's marathon Nakai scandal news conference
Longtime executive of Fuji TV Hisashi Hieda, who has been dubbed the “emperor” of the broadcaster, was not present at the news conference and did not resign.
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato (left) and Chairman Shuji Kanoh, also chairman of the broadcaster's parent company Fuji Media Holdings, bow during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. The two have announced their resignations.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 28, 2025
Fuji TV president resigns over handling of Masahiro Nakai scandal
Koichi Minato has been the target of criticism following the revelation that he became aware of the incident involving Nakai right after it occurred in June 2023.
Members of the media crowd the venue before the start of a news conference at Fuji TV's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Society / First person
Jan 28, 2025
Yelling and random tangents: What it was like covering Fuji TV's 10-hour presser
The once-in-a-lifetime news conference showed what would happen when the Japanese press was given total freedom with no time limits.
Fuji Media Holdings' headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Thursday
JAPAN / Media
Jan 25, 2025
Fuji TV board to meet on Monday to discuss scandal
The board is expected to discuss the company's response to calls for Fuji Television executives, including President Koichi Minato, to take responsibility over the scandal.
Fuji TV's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 24, 2025
Scandal-hit Fuji Media stock trading soars 1,767% on shakeup bet
A total of 237.8 million shares changed hands in Tokyo, compared with 12.74 million last week.
Fuji Television's poor handling of sexual misconduct allegations against celebrity Masahiro Nakai has led to an exodus of sponsors from the broadcaster.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jan 24, 2025
What are the real issues behind the Fuji TV scandal?
Fuji TV's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against TV personality Masahiro Nakai led to a firestorm of public disapproval. Where did it go wrong?
TV star Masahiro Nakai abruptly announced his retirement Thursday as the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations against him continued to expand.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2025
Ex-SMAP member Masahiro Nakai to retire amid sexual misconduct allegations
The 52-year-old former SMAP member said his contracts had been wound up, and that negotiations with sponsors were in progress.
Fuji Media Holdings' headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The company will hold an extraordinary board meeting on Thursday over the firestorm sparked by TV host Masahiro Nakai's alleged sexual misconduct.
JAPAN / Media
Jan 22, 2025
Fuji TV scandal sparks probes on exploitation within TV industry
The sexual misconduct allegations against TV host and former SMAP member Masahiro Nakai have thrown a spotlight on the TV industry's culture and ethics.
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato speaks at a news conference on Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Media
Jan 20, 2025
What went wrong at Fuji TV's news conference on allegations against Nakai?
The broadcaster, which imposed various restrictions for the event that included denying access to many media agencies, ended up worsening the scandal.
Tokyo emerges as a top market for global tech talent
Tokyo ranks among the world's top tech talent hubs alongside Beijing, the San Francisco Bay Area, Bengaluru, Paris, New York and Dublin, according to Colliers' newly released global tech markets report.
JSA’s 100th anniversary event is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for sumo fans
Egyptian wrestler Osunaarashi has some fun with children during a special Japan Sumo Association event in 2017.
Tens of millions of yen found at home of Aum Shinrikyo founder's wife
The house of the wife of the late Chizuo Matsumoto, the now-defunct Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult's founder, in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, in July
Japan researchers identify gut bacteria strain that boosts anticancer drugs
Researchers at the National Cancer Center Japan say a new type of gut bacteria named YB328 could help unlock the potential of cancer immunotherapy.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.
Tokyo stocks hit by a perfect storm of tariffs, politics and budget worries
Tokyo stocks are underperforming shares in other large markets globally.
Japan researchers identify gut bacteria strain that boosts anticancer drugs
Researchers at the National Cancer Center Japan say a new type of gut bacteria named YB328 could help unlock the potential of cancer immunotherapy.
Tokyobike founder believes in taking in sights of dynamic cities slowly
Ichiro Kanai, founder and president of Tokyobike, is developing a niche but a new customer base who want to cycle as part of a lifestyle.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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