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September 16, 2025
 

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COVID 19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swastika Jajoo (fourth from right) began attending the daily radio calisthenics routine at Sendai’s Kitasanbancho Park and struck up unexpected friendships with a group of elderly residents.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 15, 2025
Calisthenic companions bridge cultures and generations
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a doctoral student in Sendai found friendship in unexpected places.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies at a Senate hearing in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 7, 2025
Trump backs Kennedy on vaccines despite health and political risks
Some public health officials suggest the political alliance Trump has formed with Kennedy — and the leeway the president is giving him — is leading to dire consequences.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington on Thursday
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 5, 2025
U.S. senators pit Kennedy against Trump on vaccine policy
Half a dozen heated exchanges during a combative three-hour Senate hearing focused on his decision to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez.
A measles alert sign is posted outside the entrance to the Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York in March.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2025
‘Alternative facts’ aren't a reason to skip vaccines
Donald Trump’s health officials have been endorsing alternative facts in science to impose policies that contradict modern medical knowledge.
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2025
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
Experts believe a recent surge in infections is due to relaxed hygiene measures, drug-resistant bacteria and lowered immunity levels amid extreme heat.
A Qantas Airways Boeing 737 aircraft takes off from Sydney International Airport on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025
Qantas fined $59 million for firing 1,820 during pandemic
Justice Michael Lee questioned the airline’s degree of contrition and its commitment to change, noting Qantas’ "unrelenting and aggressive litigation strategy.”
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles an important public health tool and could weaken America’s ability to respond to future pandemics.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2025
RFK Jr.’s mRNA decision may be his worst yet
U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles a public health tool and could weaken the ability to respond to future pandemics.
A woman adds a message to the a COVID-19 memorial wall in London in March 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Aug 4, 2025
'Long COVID' hits the U.K. economy harder than most other countries
Five years since the start of the pandemic, Britain is still dealing with a spike in public debt, 1.2 million extra people on sickness benefits and a record postwar tax burden.
The U.S. and the world will become unhealthier and vast numbers of children may die now that Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pulled funding from the global vaccine program GAVI. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2025
RFK Jr. is playing with babies’ lives
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cut to U.S. funding for GAVI risks lives globally and damages America’s international standing.
Cases of cancer patients and doctors having conversations about where the patient wanted to spend his or her last days came to 52.9% in 2021, up from 35.7% in the previous survey.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 3, 2025
About half of people who died from cancer discussed last days with doctors
About 60% of cancer patients were able to spend their last days at places where they wished to be, a report has shown.
Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, in February 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 28, 2025
WHO says all COVID-19 origin theories still open, after inconclusive study
The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies and crippling health systems.
A Disaster Medical Assistance Team commander (Shun Oguri, right) and a health ministry official (Tori Matsuzaka) work together to respond to Japan’s first brush with COVID-19 in “Frontline — Yokohama Bay.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 19, 2025
‘Frontline — Yokohama Bay’ revisits nation’s first pandemic struggles
Part docudrama, part recognition of unsung crisis responders, “Frontline — Yokohama Bay” looks back at the ship that warned a nation: COVID-19 is here.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services budget in Washington on May 20.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2025
Kennedy replaces fired U.S. CDC vaccine panel members
His appointments include several who have advocated against vaccines.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies before a Senate Committee in Washington, on May 14.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2025
Kennedy's firing of CDC panel undermines vaccine confidence, experts say
The firing of the vaccine committee comes weeks before a public meeting in which advisers were to vote on the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report to delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025
Trump’s WHO withdrawal could cost the U.S. dearly
Despite progress since COVID-19, the U.S. remains vulnerable to pandemics like H5N1, and withdrawing from the WHO would weaken its ability to respond to global health threats.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center) arrives at Argentina’s Ministry of Health to meet with Argentinian Health Minister Mario Lugones in Buenos Aires on Monday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 28, 2025
RFK Jr. says COVID-19 shot isn’t recommended for healthy kids
The decision reverses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s earlier stance that everyone six months of age and older get vaccinated.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new plan to restrict updated COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups has sparked confusion and criticism, with experts warning it could limit public access and bypass established advisory channels.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025
The FDA’s new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud
The U.S. health agency's promises of transparency and choice for COVID-19 vaccines fall short in its first big test. 
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is seen on a screen delivering his report before delegates during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2025
WHO adopts landmark pandemic agreement
The accord aims to prevent the disjointed response and international disarray that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Jinsei," which follows its protagonist over a century, probes themes of identity and societal issues with a dark comic touch. The director, however, says he created the story without knowing where it would lead.
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2025
For his first feature film, director Ryuya Suzuki created a masterpiece
With no script or crew, the animator created "Jinsei," a bold debut inspired by classics such as "Citizen Kane" and "Scarface."
Takaji Wakita, deputy head of the Japan Institute for Health Security, speaks during an interview on April 21 in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Japan bolsters pandemic readiness with new health crisis institute
The Japan Institute for Health Security represents the centerpiece of a strengthened framework designed to apply lessons from the early missteps of the COVID-19 crisis.
SDF spots China’s biggest aircraft carrier for first time
The Fujian aircraft carrier is seen in Shanghai in May 2024 as it leaves for its first sea trial.
Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
Is America ready for Japanese-style 7-Elevens?
Convenience stores are a fixture of Japanese life and 7-Eleven, a chain that began in the U.S. in 1927, opened its first store in Japan in 1974 — and then became wholly Japanese-owned in 2005 through parent company Seven & I Holdings.
Final weeks of World Expo in Osaka likely to see large crowds
With one month left to go, crowds are expected to swell at the World Expo in Osaka during its final weeks.
Japan's elderly population down at around 36.2 million
The estimated number of people age 65 or older in Japan stands at 36.19 million as of Monday, accounting for record 29.4% of the country's total population, according to the internal affairs ministry.
Strikes on Qatar and Poland shake U.S. sway among friend and foe
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on Sept. 8. Israeli strikes in Qatar and Russian drone incursions into Poland have challenged the U.S. leaders claims of global respect.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

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